Guide to Email Migration with Minimal Downtime

How to Prepare for Email Migration

Do these things before migrating your email to avoid downtime and email loss.

1. Don’t cancel your old email host yet

Keep your old email hosting service active while migrating your email (and for at least 48 hours afterward). This reduces the risk of losing emails during the migration process.

2. Lower your DNS TTL

You can update your DNS records inside your domain registrar account. For this step, you’ll need to edit your DNS TTL (Time to Live). TTL controls the amount of time that DNS records are cached.

24 hours before migrating your email, lower your DNS TTL to 300 seconds. A lower TTL allows for faster updates and a faster migration process.

3. Back up your existing emails

Backing up your existing emails guarantees that you won’t lose them if something goes wrong with the migration process. Many email hosts, including Google, Outlook, and Apple Mail, have built-in tools for backing up emails.

4. Plan a quiet time to migrate your emails

Choose a time for email migration when you aren’t expecting a lot of emails, such as in the evening or over the weekend. This reduces the likelihood of missing emails.

5. Gather the information you need

To migrate your email, you’ll need the username, password, and IMAP server address for your old email account. You can get the IMAP server address from your old email provider. For some popular email providers, you can also find your IMAP server information online.

Why Switch To A New Email Host?

Before getting down to business, we are going to list a few reasons why you would switch from Microsoft.

1. Security – Your information is very important and so are the conversations you have with everyone in your network through email. There is a high demand for personal data that is steadily increasing, which means there us an even greater need for secure communication more than ever. Sadly many email hosts use your data for marketing and even sell it for profit. However, here at Northwest, we keep your information safe and never sell you out.

2. Consolidation of Services – There are so many different aspects of a business that must be managed, but typically management is spread across multiple platforms. Just like how you can lump things together like car, home, and boat insurance, the same can be done with where you host your emails. You can start your business, host your website and email in one place while saving. Check out our business Identity bundles and save.

3. Cost – Managing overhead costs can sometimes be as painful as grocery runs. Sometimes older platforms have hidden fees, pricey renewals, and out of date technical support. All of this costs time and money. Switching to a new email host can reduce cost and time spent on fixing things, so you can spend time doing your business.

How to Migrate Your Email Hosting

Follow these steps to migrate your email to your new email host.

1. Create an email account with your new hosting service.

When creating your email account, use the same email address(es) that you used with your former email host. It’s also a good idea to use the same username and password, to simplify the transition process. To get the ball rolling, you will need to secure a new email hosting plan with us. Before you make your purchase though, there are three important things to consider when looking for a plan to lock in.

• Email Storage – Space matters. Chances are the plan you are switching from is either not enough or too much for what you need. Make sure you analyze the new host’s email storage so that you have enough space to migrate your emails to. Here at Northwest we offer options ranging from 5GB up to 30GB of email for storage. For context, 30 GB is roughly 300,000 to 600,000 emails depending on attachments.Note: Each email account is currently allotted 1GB of storage for all email plans.
• Number of Accounts – This is the amount of email accounts you can have under one email plan. Most businesses have at least 3-4 accounts to organize their email correspondence. Make sure that you select the correct plan that supports the desired number of email accounts you need.
• Cost – Consider the value you are getting for the price you are paying. If you do not need a bunch of bells and whistles, switching to a cheaper plan and using exactly what you need can make a world of a difference. Checkout our email plan features and see which one is right for you.

2. Edit the MX (Mail Exchange) DNS records

To transfer your email domain, you’ll need to edit your MX records so that they’ll direct your emails to your new email host’s server. You can do this in your domain registrar account. Your new email provider should give you the information you need for this step.

3. Update your email server settings

Next, update your email server settings on all devices where you access email. You can typically update server details in your device’s account settings. You’ll need to update your incoming server (IMAP) and outgoing server (SMTP). The server details should be provided by your new email provider.

4. Migrate your existing emails

Most popular email providers have built-in tools for migrating your emails. The process varies by platform, but typically you’ll go to admin settings and select “Import Email” or “Email Migration.” If your email doesn’t have built-in migration tools, consider using an email migration tool like imapsync or MailJerry.

5. Monitor your new email account before canceling the old one

New emails should start arriving in your email account anywhere from a few hours to 72 hours after you update your MX records. For this reason, wait at least two or three days before you cancel your old email account to make sure the migration was successful.

Note: There is a propagation period after updating your DNS settings where it can take up to 48hrs for the DNS setting change to take affect.

How to Migrate Your Emails From Google Workspace

The method we are going to walk you through is the most versatile way to migrate your Google Workspace emails onto our hosting platform.

1. Re-Create Email Accounts

After purchasing a hosting plan with us, you will need to recreate your email accounts from your Google Workspace onto our servers. Pay close attention to the spelling and keep everything the same as this is going to reduce the amount of errors you come across.

2. Back Up Emails

Once you have signed up for a new hosting plan and created your email accounts, you are ready to start migrating your emails. The most efficient way to do this is to configure your email accounts from Google Workspace to an email client on your computer such as Apple Mail, Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, etc. For the next step, the configurations may very depending on which application you are using.

1. Using the email client your account is signed into, navigate to the settings and look for “Export” or “Export Mailbox.”
2. You will be taken to an export wizard. Follow the steps to select all of the inboxes you are migrating (Try with one inbox first to ensure everything goes well).
3. An exported file downloaded onto your computer as a .mbox or .pst file.

3. Update DNS Settings

If you are keeping your domain with Google, you’ll need to change your name nerver records to Northwest’s name servers. This must be done on both your Google Workspace and Northwest accounts so that your emails will be directed to our email servers. We will you provide you with the name server information once you sign up for email hosting.

4. Update Your Email Server Settings

Next, on the email client your email account is signed in to, update your email server settings, also called incoming (IMAP) and outgoing mail server settings (SMTP). This can be found in the account settings of the email client. IMAP and SMTP settings that you need to update, will be provided in your Northwest email dashboard for you to copy and past in your email client.

5. Monitor For Completion

After updating all of the settings, it will take a few minutes or hours depending on how large is your inbox for everything to sync. Browse through your account on the email software to ensure your emails are all there. In the case where your emails are not there, no worries, simply import the emails file you downloaded earlier and point them to the correct mailbox. From there all of your emails should popup.

How To Migrate Emails From Microsoft Business

There are companies that offer Microsoft Office email migration services at a cost, but we are going to go over the manual method. This method is a free and versatile way to migrate your Microsoft Business emails onto our hosting platform.

1. Re-Create Email Accounts

Next, you will need to recreate your email accounts from your Microsoft business account onto our servers. Pay close attention to the spelling and keep everything the same as this is going to reduce the amount of errors you come across.

2. Back Up Emails

Recreate your email accounts from Microsoft to the Outlook (desktop version) email client on your computer. For the next step, the configurations may very depending on which application you are using.

1. Using the Outlook your account is signed into, navigate to the settings, File and look for “Export” and Click Get Started.
2. You will be taken to an export wizard. Follow the steps to select all of the inboxes you are migrating (Try with one inbox first to ensure everything goes well).
3. An exported file downloaded onto your computer as a .pst file.

3. Update DNS Settings

If you are keeping your domain with Microsoft, you’ll need to change your name server records to Northwest’s name servers. This must be done on both your Microsoft and Northwest accounts so that your emails will be directed to our email servers. We will you provide you with the name server information once you sign up for email hosting.

Note: There is a propagation period where it can take up to 48hrs for the DNS setting change to take affect.

4. Update your email server settings

Next, on the email client your email account is signed in to, update your email server settings, also called incoming (IMAP) and outgoing mail server settings (SMTP). This can be found in the account settings of the email client. IMAP and SMTP settings that you need to update, will be provided in your Northwest email dashboard for you to copy and past in your email client.

5. Monitor For Completion

After updating all of the settings, it will take a few minutes or hours depending on how large is your inbox for everything to sync.

Key Considerations

• Large Mailboxes – Migrations can take time based on the amount of data, start syncing a few days before you cut over the DNS. Also, depending on your hosting plan, you may need to upgrade the plan if your migrating more data than your plan allows.
• Security – Make sure that you have all of your devices and passwords there with you if you are using 2-step verification for any accounts.
• Domain Transfer – If you are transferring your domain to Northwest, it is best to complete the email migration first before initiating the transfer. This will ensure less errors while migrating emails.