Move your email to veldhost

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Moving your email has two parts: getting your old mail into a veldhost mailbox, and pointing your domain's mail at us. They happen in that order, and the second only when you press the button. Until then, mail keeps arriving at your current provider exactly as it does today.

Before you start

  • A veldhost mailbox to move into. Your old mail has to land somewhere. Create it first: see the Email plan for a domain without a site here, or create an email address on your domain for a site's domain.
  • The domain is on your account. It must be one of your account's domains here: an email domain, a site's domain, a DNS zone or a registered domain.
  • Your role. Starting a move and every step after it needs a role that can manage domains (see roles and permissions).

1. Tell us what's moving

  1. Open Email and choose Move mail in. You can also use Move mail in in a domain's ⋯ menu, or Move existing mail first in a domain's DNS records panel.

  2. Where does your mail live now? Choose one:

    • Another host (cPanel, Plesk, or your own server)
    • Google (Gmail or Google Workspace)
    • Microsoft (Microsoft 365, Outlook.com or Exchange)

    You can change this later; anything you have already typed stays.

  3. Read What that means for your provider. It explains two routes, step by step for that provider:

    • Route A — we copy it for you. You give us an app password (or, at another host, the mailbox password) and we copy every folder over IMAP.
    • Route B — you export it yourself. You get your own copy out and tell us it is safe. We never see a password.

  4. Under Tell us what’s moving, fill in The address you’re moving, Its domain and Land it in this veldhost mailbox, then pick a route under Which route?. Not sure? Choose I’m not sure — have a look for me.

  5. For Route A, check Your current mail server’s settings: we fill in what your provider normally uses. Don't type a password here; we ask for it on the next page.

  6. Add anything we should know (shared mailboxes, a deadline) and choose Start the move.

This changes nothing about your email. It opens the move's own page, which you can come back to under Mail you’re moving in Email, and puts the move in front of us.

Note: Microsoft has switched password-based IMAP off for most Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com accounts, and nothing in your own account changes that. Unless your administrator has told you IMAP is on for your mailbox, take Route B. On Google Workspace, an administrator can turn app passwords off; Google Takeout (Route B) still works then.

2. Get your mail across

The move's page shows where it is up to, what happens next, and a Progress line: Requested, Planning the move, Mail copied across, You confirm, MX switched, Live.

Route A: we copy it

  1. Under Route A — let us copy it for you, check the IMAP server, Port, Encryption and Username.
  2. Paste the app password (or mailbox password) and choose Save it and start copying.

The page shows Copied so far in folders and messages as the copy runs. The password is encrypted, never shown back to anyone, and deleted automatically when the move finishes or you stop it. To delete it sooner, choose Delete the password now; we ask again if we still need it.

If the copy stops, the page says why. Add a fresh password the same way to continue.

Route B: you export it

  1. Follow the export steps for your provider under Route B — export it yourself.
  2. Under Where has your old mail ended up?, choose either:
    • I’ve exported it to a file, and type the file's name. We read mbox and .eml files, on their own or inside a .zip.
    • I’ve already copied it into my veldhost mailbox, for example by dragging the folders across in Outlook.
  3. Choose My mail is safely out.

If the page offers Want us to import the file for you?, choose Get an upload link for a single-use link straight to our mail server. The page shows the largest file it takes and when the link expires. Don't forward the link: anyone with it can upload to this move. Imported mail lands in a folder called Imported in your mailbox.

Note: A .pst, .ost or .olm file is Outlook's own store on your computer, and no mail server can read one. Instead, add your veldhost mailbox to the same Outlook and drag the folders from the old account into the new one. Or add the old account to Thunderbird and export the folders as mbox.

3. Switch your mail over

When your mail is across, the page says Ready when you are. Open your veldhost mailbox (in webmail or a mail app) and check everything is there. Not everything there yet? Don't press the button: email us and we will go back for the rest.

Caution: This is the step that changes where your mail is delivered. After you confirm it, you can no longer stop the move from the portal.

  1. Choose My mail is across — switch it over.
  2. Confirm with Switch it over.

We change one DNS record, the MX, so new mail comes to us. Mail already on its way still lands at your old provider, and your old mailbox stays exactly as it is.

If the domain's DNS is at veldhost, we make the change. If it is managed somewhere else, the page says Waiting for one change at your DNS provider and lists the records under Add these at your DNS provider. Add them there; we check every few minutes and finish the move as soon as we see them. See verify your domain for email for what each record does.

When the page says Your mail runs here now, the move is done. Close your old mailbox whenever you are ready.

Stop a move

Caution: a stopped move cannot be resumed; you would start a new one. The password you saved and the upload link are deleted.

Until the switch starts, choose Stop this move at the bottom of the move's page and confirm. Your mail stays exactly where it is.

If neither route works for you, say so in the notes or email us. One of us then takes the move over by hand, and the page says A person is on this. Your mail keeps arriving at your current provider meanwhile.

Stuck? Contact support — replies within one business day.