Switching hosting provider: taking your email along without loss
Moving your website to a new host? Do not forget your email. Here is how to bring your mailboxes without losing messages.
Website and email are two separate moves
When switching to a new hosting provider the attention often goes to the website, while email is just as important. Your mailboxes do not move automatically — that is a separate step you have to plan deliberately.
Create the new mailboxes first
Create the same mailboxes at your new host as your old addresses. Then copy the content of each mailbox from old to new over IMAP. Only once everything is in place do you move the MX records.
Avoid the classic pitfall
The biggest mistake is flipping the MX records the moment the website is live, while the old mail has not been copied yet. Always copy first, switch over second, and run a final sync for the mail that arrived during the move.