IMAP is the most modern and widely used email protocol today. To learn more about the differences between email protocols, see our Knowledge Base article. If you want to switch from your previous POP account to IMAP in Thunderbird, follow these steps:
- Check if your service provider supports IMAP
- Deactivate your POP account
- Create an IMAP account
- Transfer messages to the server
- Delete your POP account
1. Check If Your Service Provider Supports IMAP
Although most email providers, including Rackhost, already support IMAP, some still do not. It’s a good idea to confirm that your provider is among those that support it!
If your provider doesn’t support IMAP but you still want to use it, you’ll need to choose a new email provider, create a new account and transfer your messages from your old POP account to your new IMAP account, as described below.
2. Deactivate Your POP Account
To avoid message duplication when checking for new emails, configure the necessary settings first.
Go to Tools – Account Settings, select Server Settings, and uncheck Check For New Messages at Startup and Check For New Messages Every XX Minutes.
3. Create an IMAP Account
- Open the File menu – New – Existing Account.
- Use the setup wizard to configure your account.
- When prompted to choose between POP or IMAP, select IMAP (remote folders).
- Click Create Account to finish and your new email account will appear at the bottom.
4. Transfer Messages to the Server
If you have messages or folders in your POP account that you want to access from your IMAP account, simply select them and move them to your IMAP account. Depending on the number of messages, this process may take a few minutes, so be patient, you’ll be done soon!
Alternatively, you can use local folders to store older emails, especially if your IMAP server has limited storage space.
After completing the migration, ensure that you can access your emails in the webmail interface of your IMAP account. For Rackhost, this is https://webmail.rackhost.uk.
5. Delete Your POP Account
If you are migrating from POP to IMAP, you can delete your POP account once you are absolutely sure that you have transferred all important messages to the IMAP server or to local folders. This action is difficult to undo, so only proceed if you are certain you no longer need emails from your POP account. For Rackhost users, you can verify that your emails have been successfully transferred to the IMAP account by checking the webmail interface. The deletion process is as follows:
- Start configuring the settings in Tools – Account Settings, then select POP Account.
- Click on the Account Actions button at the bottom of the page and select Remove Account!
If you have created a new email account for IMAP, note that deleting the old POP account may also delete the email address. Before you delete the account, try to inform contacts who have been using the email address about the change and wait before deleting the account to make sure you don’t miss any incoming messages during the transition period.