How do I move from a POP3 email account to IMAP whilst maintaining Outlook's folder structure, settings etc?

Question

My mother who has little experience with technology uses two POP3 email accounts in an old version of Microsoft Outlook. She just bought a new computer and I've been trying to get her emails set up on the new computer. I quickly learned what a POP3 email account is, and that she has one (someone set it up for her many years ago).

So I'm just wondering what is the best way to move them from POP3 to IMAP accounts whilst retaining the same email addresses as well as her previous folder structure that she set up?

When transferring from POP3 to IMAP, do all the local POP files essentially get uploaded to the IMAP server? And then she can access the IMAP account from any device and have all of the emails (and folders) that were previously stored locally via POP3 appear on the IMAP account?

The end goal is to get her moved over to something really simple like a Gmail or Outlook webmail account. Is this the next step after moving over to the IMAP account?

This stuff is a bit confusing and I want to make sure I do it right.

Any help much appreciated

Answer 1

Hi @Yoni

Welcome to our forum!

Switching from POP3 to an IMAP email account while maintaining the same settings may not be directly imported\exported.

For POP accounts, all emails are saved to a local *.pst data file. So, first you need to export this data.

File > Open and export > open .pst data file (this nmust be located on the local PC usually in \My Documents\ Outlook File)

Then add your IMAP account, and if your mailbox space allows, you can choose to import the current email and folder structure downloaded via POP3 into your IMAP account.

Import email, contacts, and calendar from an Outlook .pst file.

If your folders don't automatically appear in your IMAP account, you may need to move them manually. You can do this by dragging and dropping folders from the old PST file into the new IMAP account in the Outlook folder pane.

Finally, make sure that your settings are synced properly. Check that your email rules, signatures, and other settings are properly configured in your new IMAP account.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our [documentation][1] to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

---