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Change Email Provider Without Losing Emails & Account
Overview: Changing email provider for better security & privacy, lesser cost, more integrated feature like Contacts, Calendars etc or for professional reason also come with fear of data loss, interrupted communication as the same email address is connected to multiple services such as banking, clients or university and technical complexity of setup after switch email provider.
Whether you are dealing with a custom domain or moving from one free email service provider to another we have provided step by step instructions for moving emails in a secure way with minimal possible downtime.
How to Change Email Provider? Workflow
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Select Your New Email Service
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Back Up or Export Your Existing Mailbox
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Transfer Emails, Contacts & Calendars
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Configure Email Routing (Forwarding or MX Records)
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Update Accounts & Services associated with your Email
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Check Everything & Delete the Old Account
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What Will Change When You Switch Email Providers?
The components that get updated when you move your email provider vary significantly for free email accounts (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com etc.), Internet Service Provider (BT Mail, AT&T Mail, Comcast, Spectrum, TalkTalk) email and custom domain-based email services.
| Impacted Component | Free or ISP Email Account | Custom Domain Email (eg: [email protected]) |
|---|---|---|
| Email ID | Domain gets modified; although you can create the same username if available | You can keep your professional email address |
| Emails With the Old Service Provider Mailbox | Can be transferred to new email provider mailbox | Can be transferred to new email provider mailbox |
| IMAP, POP & SMTP settings | Requires update | Requires update |
| DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM & DMARC) | No need to modify manually | Will have to modify to continue receiving emails in new mailbox |
| Reconfiguration in desktop email client | Required | Required as server settings are modified |
| Websites linked to your email | Need to Update | No need to update |
Can You Change Your Email Provider Without Changing Your Email Address?
Yes, however this is only for custom domain emails for example, [email protected] that you can continue using after updating DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM & DMARC). However, it is not possible for a free/public account.
Seamlessly Switch Your Email Service Provider in 6 Steps
The process of changing your email provider can vary significantly from one to another. This is because some email providers have built in import tools – like Microsoft 365, while requiring migration using tools or email clients, email forwarding, or custom domain configuration.
Here is the stage by stage walkthrough for moving email providers.
Step 1: Choose & Prepare Your Destination Email Provider
Selecting and setting up the destination mailbox is the most fundamental part of changing an email provider, this is because you cannot receive emails into a mailbox that doesn’t exist.
Even if you want to switch email provider without changing address you need to create the new mailbox by verifying the domain in the email service provider (mostly case with Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Zoho etc.)
Choosing the Right Email Provider Before Switching
Note: If you have already chosen the destination you can skip this step.
Selecting the right email provider should meet the long term need – personal or professional. There are multiple factors like:
- Security – MFA/2FA, OAuth, spam protection
- Server uptime
- Free mailbox quota & pricing plans
- Ease of integration with other tools
- Custom domain support
- Built-in migration support
| User Need | Suggested Email Provider You Can Switch To |
|---|---|
| Better Security and Privacy | Proton Mail |
| Custom domain support for Business & Enterprise | Office 365, Zoho, Google Workspace or even IMAP services |
| Budget-friendly plans | Namecheap Private Email |
| Free Personal Usage With User-Friendly Features | Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com, iCloud |
After selecting the right email service provider:
- Create the new account and set password – for public accounts
- Verify your domain, set up a user account and assign licenses to the mailbox – for custom domain accounts. The new mailbox that you have created will be empty and will not automatically have emails from the mailbox on the original mail provider.
Verify the setup of the destination mailbox when switching email provider:
- Sign in to your new mailbox via webmail or access it by configuring it in an email client.
- Send and receive the test emails.
- Ensure your mailbox with the new email provider has required storage space to hold the data to be transferred.
Step 2: Transfer Your Existing Data to New Email Provider
Before starting to move email providers make sure you have credentials like – username, email ID, password, mail server setting of both the old and new ESP.
Note: This process can be time taking based on your mailbox size, internet speed and also there may be some bandwidth limitation imposed from the email provider’s end.
Before choosing the new email provider, you can connect them, and inquire about inbuilt migration options which are available. If yes, it is better suggested to go with the native tool. However, they are only suitable for smaller mailboxes. For larger mailboxes and batch migration, a pro utility like RecoveryTools Email Backup Tool is suggested.
- Download the tool on your computer.
- Choose the source email provider from the left pane. For custom domain choose IMAP.
- Connect your email account with the source email provider via credentials.
- Select the data you want to move when you change email provider.
- From the saving option choose your new email provider. Connect the destination account and press Backup.
Expert Tip: If your new provider doesn’t have a built-in import option and you don’t want to invest in a utility, you can still transfer data from old provider to new by connecting an account inside an email client (like Outlook or Thunderbird) and copy folders across manually.
Why is RecoveryTools a Better Solution to Move Emails When Switching Email Providers?
- Limitless bulk data migration with complete integrity including attachments, folder hierarchy, formatting and complete meta data.
- Batch support for enterprises migrating multiple user accounts to a new email service provider.
- Complete security with methods like OAuth, app passwords, and direct API connection.
- Advanced filter for selective data transfer when switching email providers.
- Supports multiple email providers available throughout the globe like Gmail, BT Mail, ProtonMail, Zoho, Office 365, etc.
Important Limitation: Your contacts and calendars won’t be automatically transferred to the new email service provider. You will need to manually move them with an email client drag & drop method or with the export and import features supported by your email service providers.
Note: Even after transferring your existing emails to your new email service provider, it is not recommended to immediately delete the account or cancel license/subscription from your older service. You need to verify details like mailbox size, number of emails imported into the new email provider account, integrity of data after the transfer is completed.
Step 3: Start Receiving Emails in Your New Mailbox After Changing Email Provider
Since the email with your original email service provider is linked to multiple services and is used for communication with friends, family, employer, university, etc., it is likely that you continue to receive emails on your address with the original service provider.
Note: For ISP-based email addresses, once you cancel the internet subscription, your mailbox will be from the server end. Hence, you’ll not continue to receive any emails on the source account. Thus, it is crucial to communicate this change to all the important contacts.
After setting up the forwarding or redirection, it is important for you to verify if the emails are landing in the mailbox associated with your new email service provider.
Step 4: Update Login, Subscription and Connected Accounts
You do not need to perform this step if you have changed your email provider without changing your email address, as is the case with custom domain email providers.
For free and public email accounts (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook.com, iCloud) you will have to update your email ID and password manually in every service or app where you have registered via the same mail account.
The Final Step
After all this you can disable / delete your old email address with the old email service provider.
User Issues When They Decide to Change to Their Email Provider
There are many issues for replacing the old email provider from security concerns to cost-cutting, etc. Here are real-world cases behind email provider switch:
| Case | User Issue |
|---|---|
| Case 1: Andrea Casacci | I have a domain registered with a subscription that currently costs $6, $4.60 per month, and I want to switch to another one for around $2. |
| Case 2: Lisa Kudro | ptera.net recently closed their ISP email service. To continue receiving emails I want to switch my email service provider to free Gmail. |
| Case 3: Ronald Miller | I have been seeing a lot of unnecessary personal emails advertisements and need to shift to a more privacy focused email provider. |
FAQs: Change Email Provider
Q: How do I change my email from one provider to another?
In order to move to a new email provider, you need to create an account/mailbox with your new email provider and transfer emails, contacts, attachments, and other details from your original provider. Set up forwarding & auto-reply, and update the DNS records. Lastly update all the contacts and subscription accounts associated with original email ID before deleting or canceling subscription.
Q: What is the approximate downtime when switching webmail providers?
When migrating from a free/public email provider like Gmail, Outlook.com, or Yahoo to another free or public email service provider, the downtime is zero. However, for custom domains, the downtime is also very minimal, as your mailbox will only be inactive while the DNS records are being updated.
Q: What happens to my email if I switch providers?
Your email address and mailbox will usually remain active unless you are using an ISP-based email service. That said, your email service provider may have retention or inactivity policies that could eventually lead to your account being deleted.
