Whether it’s Gmail or Outlook for personal use, or your own domain with Microsoft 365 for business, moving to a modern, portable email setup is one of the easiest long-term upgrades you can make. And no, you don’t have to lose your old emails. Or your folder structure. Or your contacts. Despite the urban legends, all of that can come with you.
This newsletter is part one of a short series. Today we cover why people get stuck, what not to do, and what actually works. In the next issue, we’ll step through the practical migration process, both for home users and businesses.
Why People Put This Off
Most people hesitate because they think switching email providers means losing years of history. Inbox archives. Folders everywhere. That random “Important Stuff” folder you created in 2014 and never opened again.
Good news: you can keep all of it. Whether you’ve been using Outlook, Thunderbird, or something else, there are safe ways to bring your history with you. We’ll cover the actual how-to next time, but for now just know this: uou do not need to abandon your old email data.
The Surprisingly Common Mistake: CC’ing Everyone
Whenever someone changes an email address, there’s usually one of two strategies:
- Do nothing and hope the world figures it out, or
- Send a mass email announcing the change.
Option #2 sounds responsible – until it turns into a public leak of 68 email addresses because the CC field was used instead of BCC. Aside from exposing everyone’s details to strangers, it looks messy, it clogs up the top of the message, and yes, in extreme cases a shady company on that list could harvest those addresses for spam.
Companies Are Not Reading Your “I Changed My Email!” broadcast
Even if you CC half your contact list, the organisations you deal with – banks, shops, membership sites – won’t see it. They don’t manually read unsolicited change-request emails. They definitely won’t update your account for you. This is too much manual work, and every company allows you to DIY using the username and password login.
In the worst case, a less-ethical company could scrape the CC list and add everyone to a marketing database. In the best case, they ignore the message entirely. Either way, nothing gets updated.
Mailing Lists Aren’t Updated That Way Either
People sometimes reply to a newsletter (including ours) with “please switch me to my new email address.” It doesn’t work. Mailing lists are automated. Some use Gmail, others use commercial platforms, others run on self-hosted tools. The person reading your reply (if anyone reads it) doesn’t know which list you’re even referring to.
And replying to a “no-reply” address… well, the clue is in the name. It would be nice if someone read every single email sent to a company but even a small business like ours is receiving at least 50 emails a day. If it’s not urgent, it gets ignored and eventually archived or deleted.
So What Should You Do?
Changing your address properly takes a little time, but not much effort. Here’s the high-level picture:
- Tell actual humans directly
Family, friends, colleagues – send a short announcement. Use BCC, not CC. This hides your recipients from each other. - Update your online accounts yourself
Log in to each service and change your email address manually. It’s the only way they’ll accept the change. If you signed up dozens or hundreds of websites, you have to change ALL OF THEM. - Update mailing lists correctly
Every newsletter has a link at the bottom for managing your subscription. Use it. It works. This also forces people to think whether they still need that random email they signed up for a decade ago.
But What About My Old Emails?
You get to keep them. All of them. Every folder. Every archive. It’s much easier than people expect, and you won’t need anything exotic – just a desktop email client and a bit of patience. We’ll walk you through the exact process in the next edition.
- How to add both accounts
- How to move folders safely
- How to make sure nothing disappears along the way!
And if you’d rather have us help you do it, feel free to reach out.
