Imapsync. IMAP migration
Migrating an IMAP account from one IMAP server to another { 1 } in Linux { 2 }:
imapsync --host1 imap.this.com --user1 email@example.com --passfile1 /home/user/imap/passwordfile1 --ssl1 --host2 imap.another.com --user2 email@example.com --passfile2 /home/user/imap/passwordfile2 --ssl2 --skipsize --allowsizemismatch
There is a web site (example.com) and an email box (email@example.com) hosted at a web hosting company. The IMAP server: imap.this.com. The IMAP server supports SSL.
The email@example.com box is to be transfered to another web hosting company with all its contents and keeping its folders structure. The IMAP server of another web hosting company: imap.another.com. The IMAP server supports SSL.
1. Set up an email box named email@example.com and a password to it on the server of the web hosting company the email@example.com mailbox is to be transfered to.
2. Create two text files in /home/user/imap/: passwordfile1 with the password for the mailbox on the first IMAP server and passwordfile2 with the password for the mailbox on the second IMAP server.
3. chmod 600 /home/user/imap/passwordfile1
4. chmod 600 /home/user/imap/passwordfile2
5. Install imapsync
6. Run imapsync
Imapsync transfers a mailbox - keeping its folders structure - from imap.this.com to imap.another.com. SSL is used to enable encryption and passwords are saved to protected files (chmod 600).
Note: migration between two accounts of a common free email service may happen to require to make use of more imapsync options { 3 }. Like transfering contents of one Gmail.com box to another demands to have "--port1" and "--port2" specified:
imapsync --host1 imap.gmail.com --port1 993 --user1 email1@gmail.com --passfile1 /home/user/imap/passwordfile1 --ssl1 --host2 imap.gmail.com -port2 993 --user2 email2@gmail.com --passfile2 /home/user/imap/passwordfile2 --ssl2 --skipsize --allowsizemismatch
Footnotes
{ 1 } A simple and common case: contents of one email box are transfered to another, empty mailbox. But there can be more complicated ones like: Gmail to Google Apps Email Migration and Moving to Google Apps with imapsync.
{ 2 } Imapsync IMAP migration under Windows: Imapsync IMAP migration under Windows.
{ 3 } For more command options: Migrate mail from one server to another with imapsync and imapsync(1) - Linux man page.
Operating systems
- Linux
More
- Imapsync IMAP migration under Windows
- Home page of imapsync