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Table of Contents
How to 'switch' POP3 to IMAP mail account in Microsoft Outlook
Backup your email
You must backup your emails to prevent any email loss during the process.
1. First, open the Microsoft Outlook. Then, go to [File].
2. Next, go to [Open & Export] and [Import/Export].
3. Choose [Export to a file] and click [Next].
4. Create the [Outlook Data File (.pst)] and click [Next].
5. Select your mail account and tick the [Include subfolders] option. Then, click [Next].
6. You may Click [Browse] and type the file’s name. Or, you can just use the ‘backup.pst’ file. You can select ‘Replace duplicates with items exported’ and proceed to [Finish].
7. Fill in the password for your backup emails then click [OK].
8. To open the backup emails, you can go to [File] > [Open & Export] > [Open Outlook Data File].
9. Select your backup emails file and click [OK].
10. Fill in the password then click [OK].
11. Here, you can check and compare the emails in your backup file (Outlook Data File) and your original mail account.
Remove your POP3 mail account
After finished the emails backup, we can proceed to remove the POP3 mail account.
1. Go to [File] > [Account Settings] > [Account Settings].
2. Select your mail account and click [Remove].
3. Click on [Yes] to continue.
4. You may choose to close both mail account (backup and the previous POP3 mail account) by right-click on the accounts.
Add your IMAP account
After finished removing the mail account, then, you can proceed to add the new IMAP account.
1. First, go to [File] > *[+Add Account].
2. Fill in your email address and select ‘Let me set up my account manually’. Then, click [Connect].
3. Select IMAP.
4. Fill in the IMAP Account Settings:
- For incoming mail setting, make sure that:
| Server | mail.yourdomain.com OR
imap.yourdomain.com
(where yourdomain.com is your actual domain) |
| Port | 993 |
| Encryption method | SSL/TLS |
- For outgoing mail setting, there are two options:
(I) If you are using None/STARTTLS:
| Server | mail.yourdomain.com OR
smtp.yourdomain.com
(where yourdomain.com is your actual domain) |
| Port | 587 |
| Encryption method |None/STARTTLS |
(II) Or if you are using SSL/TLS:
| Server | mail.yourdomain.com OR
smtp.yourdomain.com
(where yourdomain.com is your actual domain) |
| Port | 465 |
| Encryption method | SSL/TLS |
| My outgoing (SMTP) server requires authentication | YES with “Use same settings as my incoming mail server” |
5. When you use SSL/TLS encryption, the internet security warning will be prompted. So, you can proceed by clicking on [Yes].
6. Then, click on [Done] and your IMAP account will be successfully added.
==== Transfer the backup emails to IMAP mail account ====
Please note that you must make sure that your email storage is sufficient to store all your emails if you want to move the backup emails in your new IMAP account.
1. Go to [File] > [Open & Export] > [Import/Export].
2. Choose ‘Import from another program or file’ and click [Next].
3. Select ‘Outlook Data File (.pst) and click [Next].
4. Click [Browse] to choose your backup email file. Select ‘ Replace duplicates with items imported’ and click [Next].
5. Type the password for the backup email file and click [OK].
6. Select the folder to import from and ‘Include subfolders’. If you want your emails to be imported to the same folder as the current IMAP account, you may select ‘Import items into the same folder in:’ and choose your current mail account. Finally, click on [Finish]**.
7. All the backup emails should be imported to your current IMAP mail account.
