How to Backup Your Emails When Moving to New Email Address

Last time, we talked about why changing your email address is overdue for anyone still relying on Bigpond, Optusnet, iiNet or other ISP-issued inboxes. In this follow-up, we’re looking at the part that worries people most: keeping your existing messages, folders, and years of history.

How to keep your emails when moving to another account

Why People Hesitate to Switch

Most people assume that changing email providers means losing everything they’ve filed away over the years. The truth is simpler: your emails aren’t tied to your ISP. They’re just data. And data can be moved.

You can take your inbox, folders, archives, and even your sent mail with you. The process takes time, but it’s easier than moving to another suburb and getting your mail sorted.

How Email Transfers Actually Work

To migrate emails or back them up properly, you need a desktop email client – something you install on your laptop or desktop computer to check emails. That’s the tool that acts as the bridge between your old account and the new one.

You may already know Outlook or Thunderbird, but in 2025 the most practical and user-friendly option is eM Client. It’s fast, reliable, free for personal use, and doesn’t bury settings three menus deep.

Once installed, the workflow is straightforward:

  1. Add your old email account.
  2. Download the messages – or import them from an existing email client already installed.
  3. Add your new email account (as IMAP).
  4. Drag folders from one account to the other.
  5. Let the program synchronise the changes with the server.

Anything you move into the new account inside eM Client will be uploaded to the new provider. The “master copy” lives on the server, which keeps your phone, computer, and tablet in sync.

This is why IMAP matters. POP downloads email but does not keep devices aligned and does not reflect folder changes back to the server. For a migration, IMAP is the only correct approach.

What About Contacts and Calendars?

eM Client handles contacts and calendar well and can sync them to your new account too. You can also export your contacts and import them into the new account. The key point: your address book does not have to vanish just because you change providers.

Backing Up Your Email the Right Way

Once your accounts are set up in eM Client, the program automatically downloads your messages and stores them locally. That happens in the background while you use the program. This gives you something you currently don’t have: a real backup of your email on your own computer.

Why this matters:

  • Your mail provider can lose data.
  • Accounts can be closed or locked.
  • ISP email services are being retired one by one.
  • “It’s in the cloud” is not a backup strategy.

A desktop client solves all of that. Once your messages are on your computer, they become part of your regular system backups – external drive, cloud storage, disk images, whatever you use. It automatically creates multiple layers of safety.

Our recommended backup strategy is still the same – 3 copies of your data:

  • On your computer – stored in the Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders
  • In the cloud – synced with OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox or Google Drive
  • And on an external hard drive.

Why This Matters More Than Ever

The shift to “cloud-only” email tools has left many people one password reset away from losing access. ISP email services are being decommissioned, mobile apps don’t store anything locally, and online interfaces don’t give you control over your own history. Running a proper desktop client puts ownership back in your hands.

If you’d rather not deal with it yourself, we can handle the migration and backup for you, so feel free to call us.

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