How do I leave my email server and keep my current Thunderbird account?
Hello,
My email server has been absorbed into another company. I do not want to continue with the new company and need to keep my current Thunderbird account active and uninterrupted. Can I do this directly with Thunderbird/Mozilla? In other words, do I need a separate email server or can I just continue with Thunderbird for my email account?
If I am able to continue directly with Thunderbird/Mozilla, what needs to happen next?
Thank you, Edward Fleming
Ausgewählte Lösung
re :My email server has been absorbed into another company. I do not want to continue with the new company.
Your email address - is this supplied by that company? Is that company your current ISP provider and you want to go to another ISP? If you tell company you do not want to keep the account, then you need to find out if you can keep your email address. It may not be possible. If you delete the account with company/ISP, then it's possible the ISP will delete it and all emails it contains. You would need to find out what their policy is and whether it's possible to keep the email address. Some may say you can keep the email address, but they restrict access eg: can only access via webmail account. They may deny IMAP and Pop access.
Some ISP's may allow you to keep using the email address for a fee.
The 'Thunderbird account' is not a 'thunderbird account', it is a 'mail account' for a particular email address and Thunderbird has been set up to use the server settings as specified by company supplying access to emails held on server. If the account does not exist on server then it will not work.
In the meantime you need to ensure you do not lose access to your emails. Just in case they remove all emails before removing account - you would not want your Imap account to synchronise with an empty server account. So sort out your emails before you tell ISP/company that you want to stop using their service.
A few options: 1. You could create a free gmail account - get a gmail email address and set it up to import all emails and contacts from your current (soon to be deleted)email account and also set up Forwarding so any emails received into that current account get copied over. You could then set up an Imap gmail account in Thunderbird to see all those emails and as you would have a new gmail address, it means that email address is not tied to a ISP.
2. If you have an IMAP account, then I would advise you ensure you have a full synchronisation and download of all emails and then get 'Copies' of all emails put into the 'Local Folders' account. That would help to maintain access to those emails. I advise 'Copy' because if something goes wrong you can repeat the action. Make sure you can read those emails stored in 'Local Folders.
If you have loads of folders and emails then it might be easier to copy files via the Profile folders. You would need to ensure you have fully downloaded copies stored in Thunderbird first. Then exit Thunderbird and access your Profile to perform the copying of mbox files and folders with .sbd extension from imap or pop mail account into Local Folders folder. I can give more info on this if required.
If you have a POP mail account, then I'm presuming you already have downloaded full copies. Those emails are already stored on your computer and there is no synchronising of any folder with server. You could also copy emails over to the 'Local Folders' account and later you can remove the Pop account.
IF you can keep using your email address with another server/ISP then it will require the alteration of all the server settings as they need to point to the correct server. Please make sure all emails have been:
- Either migrated to new ISP server
- OR Imported into a free email account like gmail
- OR Copied into the Thunderbird 'Local Folders' account
as changing server settings will mean you have no access to the original server.
Alle Antworten (5)
First, to clarify. Thunderbird is only an email agent. If your email provider requires new server settings, you will need to comply with that to retain your account. If you do not wish to be a customer of the new email provider, then my personal suggestion is to copy all your emails to a folder outside of Thunderbird so that you don't lose them. Then set up an account with a new email provider. However, I also suggest you check with your undesired email provider to see if their website offers the ability to forward mail That is important, as friends and businesses will continue writing to the old email account and you need to keep that process moving, even when using a new account. If the account is IMAP, you can save them all by clicking File>offline>download to ensure all messages are saved. Then, use the addon, 'importexporttools NG' to highlight each folder, rightclick and select importexport option to export mbox. Once you're on new account, you can click to Local Folders, rightclick and select the option to import mbox. That saves and restores the old messages. It's a delicate balancing act, retaining incoming from old account, transferring future messages to new account. Good luck.
Thank you very much David, this is very helpful. Best regards, Edward
You are welcome. I was glad to assist
Ausgewählte Lösung
re :My email server has been absorbed into another company. I do not want to continue with the new company.
Your email address - is this supplied by that company? Is that company your current ISP provider and you want to go to another ISP? If you tell company you do not want to keep the account, then you need to find out if you can keep your email address. It may not be possible. If you delete the account with company/ISP, then it's possible the ISP will delete it and all emails it contains. You would need to find out what their policy is and whether it's possible to keep the email address. Some may say you can keep the email address, but they restrict access eg: can only access via webmail account. They may deny IMAP and Pop access.
Some ISP's may allow you to keep using the email address for a fee.
The 'Thunderbird account' is not a 'thunderbird account', it is a 'mail account' for a particular email address and Thunderbird has been set up to use the server settings as specified by company supplying access to emails held on server. If the account does not exist on server then it will not work.
In the meantime you need to ensure you do not lose access to your emails. Just in case they remove all emails before removing account - you would not want your Imap account to synchronise with an empty server account. So sort out your emails before you tell ISP/company that you want to stop using their service.
A few options: 1. You could create a free gmail account - get a gmail email address and set it up to import all emails and contacts from your current (soon to be deleted)email account and also set up Forwarding so any emails received into that current account get copied over. You could then set up an Imap gmail account in Thunderbird to see all those emails and as you would have a new gmail address, it means that email address is not tied to a ISP.
2. If you have an IMAP account, then I would advise you ensure you have a full synchronisation and download of all emails and then get 'Copies' of all emails put into the 'Local Folders' account. That would help to maintain access to those emails. I advise 'Copy' because if something goes wrong you can repeat the action. Make sure you can read those emails stored in 'Local Folders.
If you have loads of folders and emails then it might be easier to copy files via the Profile folders. You would need to ensure you have fully downloaded copies stored in Thunderbird first. Then exit Thunderbird and access your Profile to perform the copying of mbox files and folders with .sbd extension from imap or pop mail account into Local Folders folder. I can give more info on this if required.
If you have a POP mail account, then I'm presuming you already have downloaded full copies. Those emails are already stored on your computer and there is no synchronising of any folder with server. You could also copy emails over to the 'Local Folders' account and later you can remove the Pop account.
IF you can keep using your email address with another server/ISP then it will require the alteration of all the server settings as they need to point to the correct server. Please make sure all emails have been:
- Either migrated to new ISP server
- OR Imported into a free email account like gmail
- OR Copied into the Thunderbird 'Local Folders' account
as changing server settings will mean you have no access to the original server.
Thank you very much, I really appreciate all the information and help. Edward Fleming
Sie müssen sich mit Ihrem Benutzerkonto anmelden, um auf Beiträge zu antworten. Bitte stellen Sie eine neue Frage, wenn Sie noch kein Benutzerkonto haben.