How to Move Your Company Email to Tifamail Without Losing Mail (Gmail, Outlook, cPanel, Zoho)
How to Move Your Company Email to Tifamail Without Losing Mail
The biggest fear when switching email providers is losing years of correspondence, or missing client emails during the changeover. Tifamail is designed around preventing both: it imports your old mail before you move the domain and keeps catching late mail for a week after. Here is how to do it from the most common Kenyan setups.
How the Migration Works
- You create the new addresses in Tifamail.
- For each mailbox, you give Tifamail the old mailbox's IMAP login.
- Tifamail copies the mail in the background on its servers - you can close the browser. If it is interrupted, it resumes where it stopped and skips messages it already has, so re-running an import never creates duplicates.
- You switch the domain's DNS to Tifamail.
- For seven days, Tifamail re-checks the old mailboxes and pulls in anything delivered there during DNS propagation. Then the old passwords are deleted.
Step 1: Take Stock of Your Mailboxes
List every address on the domain, including shared ones like info@ and accounts@, and note who has the password. Decide which old mailboxes to import and which to retire. Tidy up first: emptying spam and trash in the old mailboxes makes the import faster.
Step 2: Get IMAP Access From Your Old Provider
| Old provider | IMAP server | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| cPanel / web host email | mail.yourdomain.co.ke (or your host's server name), port 993 | Use the mailbox's normal password |
| Gmail / Google Workspace | imap.gmail.com, port 993 | Turn on 2-Step Verification, then create an app password and use it instead of the normal password |
| Outlook.com / Microsoft 365 | outlook.office365.com, port 993 | IMAP may need enabling by your admin; app passwords may be required |
| Zoho Mail | imap.zoho.com (or imappro.zoho.com for business accounts), port 993 | Enable IMAP access in Zoho Mail settings first |
| Yahoo Mail | imap.mail.yahoo.com, port 993 | Generate an app password in account security |
Server names occasionally change; if in doubt, check your provider's IMAP settings page.
Step 3: Run the Import
In Tifamail's domain setup, open the import step, enter each mailbox's IMAP details and start. Large mailboxes with several gigabytes can take a few hours. Remember that Tifamail storage is 10 GB shared across the company, so if your old mailboxes together exceed that, either archive very old mail first or add a 10 GB storage block (KES 1,200).
Step 4: Switch DNS
Once imports are complete or well underway, follow the DNS steps in our Tifamail setup guide: sending records first, receiving records next, MX last. Do this at a quiet time - a Friday evening or weekend works well for most businesses.
Step 5: The Seven-Day Safety Net
DNS changes spread gradually. For up to 48 hours some senders may still deliver to the old provider. Tifamail's seven-day catch-up checks the old mailboxes and brings that mail across automatically, so nothing falls through the gap. Do not cancel the old email service until the seven days have passed.
Step 6: Tell Your Team and Update Devices
- Remove the old account from phones and Outlook so staff stop checking it.
- Install the Tifamail app from the browser on phones and desktops.
- Ask staff to turn on two-step sign-in.
- Update any website contact forms or software that sent mail through the old server.
Common Questions
Will my folders come across? Yes, IMAP import copies your folder structure along with inbox and sent mail.
What about contacts? Tifamail's address book learns from what you send and receive, so frequently used contacts appear in autocomplete quickly.
Can I migrate one person at a time? You can import mailboxes individually, but the MX switch moves the whole domain at once, so plan the switch for everyone together.
A Migration Checklist
| When | Task |
|---|---|
| One week before | List mailboxes, collect passwords or app passwords, tell staff the plan |
| Two to three days before | Create addresses in Tifamail, start imports for large mailboxes |
| Switch day | Add sending records, then receiving records, then switch MX |
| Day one after | Check new mail is arriving, send test emails, help staff set up devices |
| Days two to seven | Catch-up sync runs; monitor for missing mail |
| After day seven | Cancel the old email service, remove old accounts from devices |
Communicating With Your Team
Send staff a short note before the switch: what is changing, when, their new sign-in details, and who to contact for help. Most problems on switch day come from staff still checking the old account on their phones. A five-minute walk-through on installing the Tifamail app saves hours of confusion.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does an email migration take? The hands-on work is a few hours; imports of large mailboxes run in the background and can take several hours. The full process, including the seven-day catch-up, completes in about a week.
Will clients notice the switch? No. Your addresses stay the same, so clients keep emailing as usual.
Can I migrate from a free Gmail address? Tifamail runs on your own domain. You can import mail from a free Gmail account into a new domain mailbox, but the old Gmail address itself does not move.