Changing iMap to POP in Mail - Help

[cosmichobo]

G'day,

About a year or so ago I changed over from POP to iMap mail protocols on my Mac (MacPro5,1, Sierra), thinking it would be better due to also having mail set up on my Phone.

However, as we (wife and I; thus 2 email accounts, same boat) are mail hoarders, we like to keep emails... When we stopped getting any emails from our server, unaware of the impact it would have, like when I was on POP I went in and deleted emails off the server to free up some space so we could continue to get emails... only to then find all those emails had disappeared from my Mac's inbox... including some very important ones.

Ultimately - I'd like to return to POP... but without losing anything.

Can someone walk me through the steps...

I have several "on my mac" archives already, so presume I want to set up yet another one... then move the contents of my active inbox(s) to them, and then change Mail's settings to POP?

Feel like such a dinosaur these days... can remember learning about POP in the early 90s in school...

cheers

cosmic

 

[glenthompson]

Instead of hoarding the emails in your email client have you considered saving them in other formats like PDF and saving as files. How often do you need the old emails as an actual email? Also much easier backing up the file structure compared to the email database.

 

[cosmichobo]

I've been hoarding them for 24 years... if it ain't broke... (except now for IMAP)

 

[James_C]

Before you change back to POP, it might be useful to understand the difference between the two systems.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), allows access to email from many different devices. It does this by keeping email data stored on a server, instead of the user's machine. When a device accesses the email account, the server will pull the up-to-date information for the device.

The device then downloads it and lets you interact with the email. If you make changes to the email - whether deleting it, sending a new email, etc. - the new changes will be uploaded to the server. Essentially, emails are "synced" across devices. Any device that accesses an email client using IMAP will get the most recent iteration of the email mailbox.

In short, the changes you make to your email client on one device will still be in place when you access the email client from another device.

Thus when you deleted the email from the server then the sync process deleted the same email from every client it was connected to.

POP (Post Office Protocol) was originally built for dial-up connections. The mail was stored on your computer instead of on the server so that you could read and respond while you were not connected to the internet. However, with the modern, "always-on" internet connections, this functionality is rarely needed anymore.

POP works well for single, dedicated devices with spotty internet connection because, while IMAP "syncs" data between multiple devices, POP does not.

POP emails are normally stored on the user's machine. Only incoming emails are stored on the server. By default, once the email account is accessed from another device, the server immediately hands the new emails over and deletes them on their end. This leaves the only copy of the new email on the device.

If another device accesses the email, it will not have access to the email that was downloaded on the previous device.

If POP is left to its default settings, each device using POP may end up with differences in their email.

While it is possible to configure POP3 (the most recent version of POP) to keep email data stored on the server, this only applies to email messages. Customizations, like marking an email as read and unread, are not stored on the server and are not synced across devices. However, this configuration is client-specific, so every client you use will need to be configured separately.

In summary if you are using more than one device to access you emails (Mac and Phone) I don't recommend that you use POP, otherwise you will end up having to either manage the same email on each system or that email only being downloaded onto one system, depending on how you have set POP up.

What you should do is keep IMAP, but periodically archive old emails to a local folder (or see if you can increase the storage allowance with your email provider).

 

[cosmichobo]

Hey James,

I want to say I really appreciate you taking the time to write that post!

It has reminded me of the frustration that POP was giving me - retrieving an email on 1 device, and then not being able to see it on another.

I doubt that the company I use will be willing to increase my mail quota... and even if they did - it just postpones the issue.

The problem I see with performing "regular" archiving, is my dedication to such a task...

Ok - so - could I set up 2 "rules" that redirects ALL incoming and outgoing emails to a pair of "On my Mac" folders - and then use those folders to browse my incoming and historical emails, and send emails? So the IMAP accounts will sit there drawing emails from the server, but then the emails will reside in the "archive"?

(I don't retain emails on my phone, so it's just the Mac that I want the copies to be held...)

 

[James_C]

@cosmichobo Yes you are correct the easiest way is to use Mail Rules to auto archive your old emails.

You probably only need to set up a role for incoming mails as I suspect you receive a lot more than you send, although by using similar logic below you can create one for your sent emails,

First create a new Mailbox - From the Menu Choose Mailbox New Mailbox

Make sure the location is 'On My Mac' and give it a suitable name 2+Years Inbox Mail is the one that I used.

Then go into your mail preferences and select the rules tab.

Set Date received to be the cutoff date that you want to Archive mail messages - I have used 2 years in my example (730 days)

Then under perform actions set to Move Message and choose the On your Mac Mailbox you created in the 1st Step.

Click OK.

Then Click Apply to run the rule on your existing messages.

You could use similar logic to archive old sent messages, but use Date Sent rather than Date Received.

I hope that helps

 

[cosmichobo]

Thank-you again so much for your help! I'll give it a shot.

 

[cosmichobo]

Hi again,

I have now set up Mail on my MacPro to send incoming emails to a "On My Mac" folder (one each for myself and my wife) after 1 month.

I then dragged all existing emails from the IMAP inboxes into those new Inboxes, which of course wiped them from my ISP's server - but that wasn't such a bad thing as at least the server is now basically empty (and I have copies of everything on the Mac). I did a bit of testing first before moving all hundred thousand emails... (Kidding; was about 10k I think).

Thanks again for your help with this.

 

[alcforest]

POP works fine if you simply direct it not to remove emails from the server. It will then download emails onto more than one device, then you can delete messages from one (such as your phone) and keep them on, for example, your Mac. It is invaluable for people who do not want things synchronised, for example need to keep confidential emails only on computer, not on phone.

 

[cosmichobo]

Yes - the issue I think I was having was that the iPhones were set up as IMAP, and computer as POP... so things tended to only be accessible on 1 device before "disappearing" from the other device/s.

I'll try this out and see how it goes... hopefully problem solved.

 

[Tallus]

Before you change back to POP, it might be useful to understand the difference between the two systems.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), allows access to email from many different devices. It does this by keeping email data stored on a server, instead of the user's machine. When a device accesses the email account, the server will pull the up-to-date information for the device.

The device then downloads it and lets you interact with the email. If you make changes to the email - whether deleting it, sending a new email, etc. - the new changes will be uploaded to the server. Essentially, emails are "synced" across devices. Any device that accesses an email client using IMAP will get the most recent iteration of the email mailbox.

In short, the changes you make to your email client on one device will still be in place when you access the email client from another device.

Thus when you deleted the email from the server then the sync process deleted the same email from every client it was connected to.

POP (Post Office Protocol) was originally built for dial-up connections. The mail was stored on your computer instead of on the server so that you could read and respond while you were not connected to the internet. However, with the modern, "always-on" internet connections, this functionality is rarely needed anymore.

POP works well for single, dedicated devices with spotty internet connection because, while IMAP "syncs" data between multiple devices, POP does not.

POP emails are normally stored on the user's machine. Only incoming emails are stored on the server. By default, once the email account is accessed from another device, the server immediately hands the new emails over and deletes them on their end. This leaves the only copy of the new email on the device.

If another device accesses the email, it will not have access to the email that was downloaded on the previous device.

If POP is left to its default settings, each device using POP may end up with differences in their email.

While it is possible to configure POP3 (the most recent version of POP) to keep email data stored on the server, this only applies to email messages. Customizations, like marking an email as read and unread, are not stored on the server and are not synced across devices. However, this configuration is client-specific, so every client you use will need to be configured separately.

In summary if you are using more than one device to access you emails (Mac and Phone) I don't recommend that you use POP, otherwise you will end up having to either manage the same email on each system or that email only being downloaded onto one system, depending on how you have set POP up.

What you should do is keep IMAP, but periodically archive old emails to a local folder (or see if you can increase the storage allowance with your email provider).

Hi,

Just joined this forum because I'm contemplating the switch from IMAP to POP.
The thing is, I don't have any devices other than another computer with Eudora 6.2.4 on a POP account.
At least it was until I moved into this newer computer and when setting up Mac mail, I didn't notice that it just automatically set me up with IMAP.

So now when i boot up the old emac Eudora will no longer connect.
I have two ethernet cables from the modem to each of the computers.
So then i figured that the only way to use both computers off the same modem both computers have to use a POP. account. Setting up the newer computer to IMAP has caused the older computer to be unable to connect.

I read and copied from this forum how to switch back to POP from IMAP.
ACTUALLY I read the instructions from another forum on how to make the switch back to POP.
the explanation was by:

change imap to pop in mail - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

cardsfaninexile
in response to Neville Hillyer

If I do that, will both computers then connect to my isp using POP.

I forget whether eudora can use IMAP or not. I'll have to go look, but I know that my Startmail account is not able to use Eudora and IMAP. Been there with the Startmail techie.

I also like the option of having my email deleted from the server on checks as I had set up my Eudora to do.

One thing that wasn't explained was if I have two addresses with my isp, which I do, how will that affect the procedure, because only one address at a time can be changed according to the instructions. Maybe my second
address will automatically revert back to POP as well after i change the first one. (?)

Thanks,
T