Move your old mail
Each person can copy their mail from their old provider into their Patra mailbox, in the same folders. It runs on our side, so you can close the page.
When to import. Start your import once your domain’s MX record points to Patra and your old provider has stopped receiving new mail. That’s usually a few hours after the switch, and occasionally up to two days. That way the import also picks up the mail that reached your old provider during the switch.
The import copies each folder once. Run it again from the same old account and it continues folders it hadn’t finished, but it doesn’t pick up mail that arrived later in folders it already finished. Move any such mail by hand, for example by dragging it across in a desktop mail app. Keep your old account open until you’re done.
What you need
- Your old account’s email address and password, or an app password.
- IMAP access turned on at the old provider.
- Your new Patra password.
Steps
- Open your setup page (from your setup email, or ask your admin for your Phone & computer setup link).
- Open Move your old mail here.
- Under Where is your old mail?, choose your provider. If it isn’t listed, choose Another provider and enter its IMAP server.
- Enter your Email at the old provider and Password at the old provider.
- Enter your new Patra password and choose Copy my old mail.
- The page shows progress. You can close it: we email you when it’s done.
Provider notes
| Provider | What to know |
|---|---|
| Gmail and Google Workspace | Use an app password (in your Google Account: Security, then 2-Step Verification, then App passwords). Some Workspace accounts can’t create one; ask your Google admin. |
| Gmail in a language other than English | Before you start, open Gmail Settings, then Labels and untick Show in IMAP for All Mail, Important and Starred (shown with your language’s names). Otherwise they’re copied as ordinary folders and your mail arrives twice. |
| Yahoo Mail | Use an app password (Account security, then Generate app password). |
| Zoho Mail | Turn on IMAP access in Zoho Mail settings. With two-factor sign-in, use an app-specific password. Choose your Zoho region in the list, or choose Another provider and enter the IMAP server from your Zoho settings. |
| Fastmail | Use an app password. |
| GoDaddy, Titan, Hostinger, Rediffmail Pro | Choose your provider from the list; the settings are filled in. |
| Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com | Not possible this way, because Microsoft doesn’t allow passwords over IMAP. Add both accounts to a desktop mail app, such as Outlook or Apple Mail, and drag your folders across. |
| Anything else | Choose Another provider, with port 993 (SSL) or 143. |
What gets copied
- Every folder keeps its name.
- Sent, Drafts, Junk and Trash go to the matching Patra folders.
- Gmail labels become folders. A message with several labels is copied into each matching folder.
- With Gmail in English, the All Mail, Important and Starred views are skipped. In other languages, see the provider notes above.
- Mail you archived in Gmail without a label is only in All Mail, so it isn’t copied. To bring it, label it first: in Gmail, search for
has:nouserlabels -in:inbox -in:sent -in:drafts, select all the results and apply a label such as “Archive”. - Messages over about 38 MB are skipped, and the page counts them.
If it stops
A full mailbox, a wrong password or a lost connection stops the import, and the page says why. Fix the problem, then start again with the same old address: it continues where it stopped.
Your passwords are stored encrypted until the import ends, then deleted.
Contacts
Export them as a vCard file from your old service, then import them in webmail. They live in webmail and don’t sync to phone apps.
For admins
Each person starts their own import, because it needs their old password. Send them their setup link.
Related: Switch to Patra · Go live · Storage and limits
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