HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

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jimimaseye
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HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

Post by jimimaseye » 2015-03-28 17:16

Some users may have an existing system and want to migrate their mailserver to Hmailserver.

There are 2 scenarios that may match:

1, the email client uses IMAP on existing mailserver (Exchange or other) OR
2, the email client uses POP on the existing mailserver

In any case there is now a need to change either:

a, the mailserver to Hmailserver. OR
b, the email client to something else (for example moving away from Outlook over to Thunderbird)

This tutorial specifically concentrates and recommends using Thunderbird email client as an alternative email client (or even temporarily to avoid problems with outlook whilst migrating).

Stage 1

OPTION 1 - To migrate IMAP emails from old mail server into new Hmailserver IMAP folders
Use the email client to create the new account pointing to the new Hmailserver.

Effectively you will now have 2x accounts : 1 pointing to the old server and 1 pointing to the new server. If you are not able to have both servers online at the same time, then modify the existing old account to download and store mail locally on disk for use OFFLINE.

OPTION 2 - To migrate POP downloaded emails from local stored mail into new Hmailserver IMAP folders
Use the email client to create the new account on the new Hmailserver.

THEN

Stage 2

Once you have both accounts showing, you can simply DRAG n DROP emails from the old INBOX folder to the new INBOX folder (and repeat for all folders). As you drop the emails will be copied and uploaded via IMAP to the new Hmailserver.

OUTLOOK USERS - take note:

There have been reports that Outlook can crash or run EXTREMELY slow when do such drag-n-drop moves from old 'offline'/pst account to the new HMS IMAP account - see reference: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=27789. (The theory is that the data is being read from the PST file and then the new copy of the message is being written back to the PST file....and Outlook PST files can be VERY large (depending on the quantity of emails contained). This size will be a significant factor in the speed.) You may use Thunderbird as a temporary or permanent alternative to Outlook for performance and to perform the above migration. Thunderbird may be downloaded as a full installation or just a standalone directory installation if you wish here: http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/t ... d_portable).

In the case that the old email account is accessible as IMAP, then simply install thunderbird, and create the old email account pointing to the old mailserver, and continue with the instructions above (from Stage 1). However, in the case of needing OFFLINE storage of emails for thunderbird, you will need "Keep messages for this account on this computer" set against the old account.

In the case that the old email account is NOT accessible at all ie, the old messages are stored locally in Outlook PST file only, you may install Thunderbird, and then IMPORT OUTLOOK messages into Thunderbird. To do this you must have outlook set as the DEFAULT MAIL APPLICATION, and then run Thunderbird, and choose TOOLS - IMPORT to do the import of messages. READ AND FOLLOW THIS THUNDERBIRD WIKIPAGE CAREFULLY FOR FULL DETAILS: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Import_.pst_files. Then following the above instructions, you will then be able to drag and drop into the new IMAP account on the new Hmailserver.

For a real users report on performing this 'import of email' method from Outlook POP messages to Hmailserver IMAP accounts see this post here: viewtopic.php?p=174045#p174045. It details his experience and gives some idea of timings to complete the actions.

Good luck.
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Re: HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

Post by jimimaseye » 2015-04-01 15:02

ADDITION:

Of course there is always the question: "I have X amount of accounts with emails on an existing/old mailserver and I want to import/move these accounts and emails to the new Hmailserver". Can it be done?

Well the answer is... it depends. It depends on:

a, HOW MANY accounts do you want to be moving? Are there sufficiently few that you can set up the accounts manually on HMS?
b, How good is your scripting ability?

In the case of (a), if you have few accounts then you could set them up manually and use the methods detailed above. However, if you have MANY accounts (for example, hundreds) and it is simply impractical to attempt to do it manually, then the case of (b) applies as scripting is your only option.

For example, If your existing client is Outlook then you could use VB (or whatever is compatible and your choice) to read existing accounts, create a new account on HMS for each existing account and its folder structure, and then copy the emails over to the newly created account/folder structure.

In any case, using SCRIPTING is down to the individual, the existing configuration of hardware and client, and their own abilities to script. This HOW TO was more of a guideline for the 'few' accounts that are manageable purely within email clients without the need of such scripting.
Last edited by jimimaseye on 2015-05-12 23:24, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

Post by mattg » 2015-04-01 17:25

There is also a myriad of products called stuff like IMAPCOPY which can copy multiple accounts simultaneously between servers (if both have IMAP access)
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Re: HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

Post by jimimaseye » 2016-02-25 22:17

To copy the emails: IMAPCopy: http://www.ardiehl.de/imapcopy/
(further nformation can be found by googling "imapcopy")

You will also need to create the domains and accounts first (before copying the messages over), this script will help: viewtopic.php?p=151855#p151855
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Re: HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

Post by opto » 2019-08-20 13:06

copying by Thunderbird: attention, there is still some occasional bug where TB stops copying if large number of emails in folder (several thousand) without notice. There still is an bugzilla bug for this somewher for TB.

So using TB to copy from one mailser to another could result in loss of emails.

Klaus

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Re: HOW TO: Mass migrate mail from old mailserver to Hmailserver using email client

Post by alora01 » 2023-11-17 16:02

If you are looking for a secure nd instant solution to migrate mail form your older mailserver to HmailServer, then you can use the Outlook application. To [link removed] export Gmail inbox[/url] to your HmailServer, first configure both the mail server to Outlook application then dreg and drop emails under the HmailServe email address.

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