I am moving POP3 emails (around 100,000) to an IMAP address. Should it take so long to copy/move all my emails over? Is there a better way?

Hi Josh, I suppose, your emails are stored on your local System(s) and now you're uploading them to your provider. So it may be your upstream bandwidth that is limiting your transmit speed. regard Georg

Trying to move all those emails into an IMAP mail account means uploading them back to the server, this may have the effect of changing all the dates to the date you uploaded them. I can think of a couple of options. '''1. Move emails into 'Local folders' and delete the pop mail account.''' These emails will not be on the server, they will be on your computer, but you can still access them via the same Profile under Local Folders. You can create a new IMAP mail account in the same Profile. So both old Pop emails and new IMAP emails can be seen in the same Profile. If you download the addon 'ImportExporttool', you can move all whole folder and create a backup at the same time. importExporttool addon: * https://freeshell.de//~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html * right click on folder * select 'ImportExporttools' > Export Folder * select where to save but not in Thunderbird. then rename the saved file if it is a default folder name; eg: if it was Inbox to OldInbox. This will also mean you have a backup of that file. In Thunderbird select the folder where you want the file to be imported. * right click on folder * select 'ImportExporttools' >Import mbox file * select 'Import directly one or more mbox files and click on OK (As your files may be large, I would do this one file at a time) * then select the saved file and click on Open When all folders and emails have been successfully moved and you can see them in Local Folders, you can remove the Pop mail account. * Tools > Account Settings * select the pop mail account * click on 'Account actions' * select 'Remove Account' * click on OK '''2. Keep the Pop mail account, but stop it from checking for new mail, downloading etc.''' This means all folder and emails stay in the same place, but the mail account is not actively connecting to the server. You can create a new IMAP mail account in the same Profile. So both old Pop emails and new IMAP emails can be seen in the same Profile. The downside of this is that if you later click on 'GetMail' whilst looking at those emails in that account, it will attempt to connect to server, discover no password and may prompt for one. Or if you click on 'Get all new messages', it will include the account. When you want to Write a new message and at the time you were viewing those folders, the email address using that server will also still be available, now if the email address is the same as the IMAP account, this could be confusing especially if one appears to prompt for a password. This may be irritating if you keep doing it, hence why moving emails to Local Folders may be preferable. Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings for the mail account under 'server settings' * uncheck all of the following. * 'check for new messages at startup' * 'check for new messages every xx minutes' * 'Automatically download new messages' * 'Leave messages on the server' under 'Message storage' * uncheck 'empty Deleted folder on exit' click on OK Then remove the saved/stored password - if you instructed TB to do this. * Tools > Options > Security > Passwords tab * click on 'Saved Passwords' * click on 'Show Passwords' * highlight both mailbox and smtp passwords for that pop mail account * click on 'Remove' and then click on 'Close' * click on OK to save changes to options. '''3. Create a new Profile for the IMAP emails.''' Disable the Pop mail account as described in (2) above, but this time you create a new Profile and then create the new IMAP mail account in the new Profile. This means that you can still see the old emails but you have to swap Profile to see them and remember to never create a new Write message in the Profile containing the old Pop messages. Creating another Profile: * https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles From the desktop: Move your mouse pointer to the lower-left corner of the Desktop screen, right-clicking, and selecting Run in the Quick Access menu. Enter the following in the Windows 'Run' box (you should substitute the actual path if you installed it in another place): enter all of what is written below, include the "" and the space-P '''"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -P''' This will open Profile Manager. You can now create a new Profile. If you want Profile Manager to ask you each time, which Profile to open on start up, do not select 'Don't ask at startup'. If you select 'Don't ask at startup' it will open on the last used Profile by default. '''Make a shortcut icon to the Profile Manager.''' If you have multiple Profiles, then you may find it much easier to create a shortcut to Profile Manager on your desktop. First close Thunderbird. * From the desktop, open 'Computer' * Select the OS(C:) drive as this is the usual place where Thunderbird is installed. * then open 'program files' folder. * then open 'Mozilla Thunderbird' folder * look for thunderbird.exe application * right click and select 'create shortcut' it will say cannot create short here do you want it placed on the desktop, say yes. then located the new 'Thunderbird shortcut on your desktop. * right click and select rename and type 'Thunderbird Profile Manager' or similar. * Then right click on the shortcut and choose 'Properties' * look at the 'Target'. * It will say: eg: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" (enclosed in double quoation marks) * you need to add a space followed by -P (dash and capital P) * so that it now says: ''' "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe" -P''' * click on apply and then OK You should be able to now use the shortcut as quick access to Profile Manager.