In this article, you will learn:
- What conditions must be met for automatic email migration
- How to perform automatic email migration
- Common problems
- Frequently Asked Questions
Conditions for automatic email migration
To ensure that automatic email migration runs smoothly, make sure you meet these conditions:
- You know the working IMAP server address of your current mailhosting. If you enter the address in the form imap.domain.tld, where domain.tld is the name of your domain, make sure that this address points to the correct server and has not been overwritten, for example, by a change of DNS servers or DNS records.
- You know the login credentials of all the mailboxes being migrated.
- The service you are migrating emails from allows access for third-party IMAP applications. Some such services require additional configuration.
Automatic email migration
If you have the IMAP access details of your original provider ready, open the automatic migration interface by following these steps:
- Log in to the Customer Administration ⧉.
- In the top menu, select Hosting services Webhosting, Mailhosting, or WMS.
- From the list of services, select the service you want to migrate the data to.
- In the left menu, select Migration from competitors – emails.
Open the interface for automatic email migration to the service:
In the section Source mail server details fill in the IMAP server. Then select the migration type (you can use either one on its own or combine them):
Synchronization of existing mailboxes
This migration type downloads emails from the specified IMAP server into mailboxes that already exist on the hosting. New emails are mixed with those already in the mailbox.
With this tool, you can download the contents of any other mailbox available through the given IMAP server into existing mailboxes.
Follow these steps:
- In the section Synchronization of existing mailboxes tick the mailboxes you want to migrate to.
- Fill in the heslo (on the VEDOS service) and the corresponding login credentials of your original provider.
Migration of new mailboxes
This migration type creates new mailboxes with the same name (the text before the @ character) and then downloads emails into them. You create the mailboxes in bulk by entering values into the field.
In the section Migration of new mailboxes (not yet existing at VEDOS) enter the logins and passwords of all the mailboxes you want to migrate. Follow these rules:
- On each line, enter the login name, a space, and the password of one mailbox.
- Enter the login name as a full email address, that is, mailbox@domain.tld.
After the migration is complete, you can follow the guide Email - Mailbox Management to change passwords or set up aliases.
DNS changes
After the migration is complete, check that the domain uses the correct MX records.
If you want to change the IMAP, SMTP, and POP3 addresses to names containing your domain, edit the corresponding CNAME records.
Common problems
Common email migration problems include:
- Invalid mailbox login credentials
- Failed transfer from one VEDOS hosting to another
- Insufficient space on the new hosting
- Repeated failure of automatic migration
Invalid login credentials
Problem: The system returns a login credentials error.
Cause: The most common cause of this error is an incorrect IMAP server address. Less often, it is an incomplete login name (for example, a mailbox name without the domain) or an old password.
Solution: Check that you are logging in to the correct IMAP server, that you are entering valid login credentials for the original mailbox, and that the original system is able to process these credentials. If you have changed DNS recordsas part of a service change, check that the IMAP server address you are entering still points to the original service.
Email migration between VEDOS services
Problem: Email transfer from the old WEDOS mailhosting to the new one does not work.
Cause: If you created a new service with emails, you probably renamed the old one (having the name removed by Customer Support is also a form of renaming). The mail server therefore sees the old mailboxes under the new service name.
Solution: In the address of the migrated mailbox, enter the existing name or alias of the original hosting. If the name has been removed from the hosting, enter its identifier from the Customer Administration, for example mailbox@w123456.
Insufficient space
Problem: The migration ended with an insufficient space error.
Solution: Increase the mailbox capacity by following the guide Email – Increasing Mailbox Space, wait at least 1 hour for the changes to take effect in the system, and start the migration again. Alternatively, you can delete emails in the original mailboxes.
Migration keeps failing
Problem: All settings look correct, but the email migration keeps failing.
Cause: Some providers (commonly Microsoft, Google, and others) may block migration over the IMAP protocol because of weak access authentication. In that case, automatic migration fails even if the login credentials are correct.
Solution: Migrate the emails manually, for example by following this community guide ⧉.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to the emails on the original hosting?
The migration has no effect on the emails on the original mailhosting.
How do I find the IMAP server address of the original mailhosting?
If your mailboxes are with VEDOS, follow the guide Email – SMTP, POP3, IMAP. In other cases, find the address with your current provider, or, for example, in the settings of your email client if you use one.
How do I migrate emails from a renamed VEDOS hosting?
If you are migrating emails between VEDOS services, for example because of a switch between Webhosting and Mailhosting, vyplňte IMAP Server of the original service, typically wes1-imap.wedos.net (it may differ; find the exact address in service details). After @ in the original mailbox address, use the domain to which you renamed the source service, or its code if the name was removed. For example, if the old hosting is renamed stary.wds-test.cz, enter the original mailboxes with the address (mailbox-name)@stary.wds-test.cz. If hosting Support removed the name, enter the service name from the Customer Administration, for example (mailbox-name)@w123456.
Can incorrect MX records cause problems with the migration?
Migrační skript stahuje e-maily přes protokol IMAP, tedy stejně jako poštovní klient. MX záznamy by na jeho funkčnost měly vliv pouze pokud by e-maily na novou schránku zasílal, což se neděje. Můžete je tedy bezpečně nasměrovat na nový hosting i před zahájením migrace. Zkontrolujte ale, že případný CNAME record with the imap subdomain points to the original mailhosting.