I've tried doing this once before, and couldn't. I have a bunch of mail messages going back 12 years or so in mail.app. Right now, my mail server is configured as a POP server. I can change it, but unfortunately, it's an either/or option. I can't have some addresses POP and others IMAP like I could with my last hosting provider (something I didn't know when I switched).

Anyway, in order to change from POP to IMAP in Mac Mail.app, it says I'll lose all the mail in that account. Of course, I don't want to do that. I've thought about importing everything into another email program (like Thunderbird) and then importing it back into Mail.app after setting it up as an IMAP account but I'm not sure this will work, either.

There are about 7 different accounts (currently all checked on one computer/copy of Mail.app) that this will affect. I know I'll probably have to put all of the mail onto the server (about 2 Gigs worth). Then I'd bring it all back locally and then remove it again once it's on the different computers' hard drives.

So, now to the question: What's the easist/best way to do this?

Obviously, the reason I want to switch to IMAP is so I can check and send e-mail from multiple computers (or via web-mail) and have them all synced automatically.

Please let me know if you've done this using Mail.app. I've done it several times usind different e-mail programs and it's different with Mail.app. It seems much more difficult.

Thanks for reading such facinating prose.

maybe I'm under thinking this, but what about selecting "archive mailbox", make the switch, then importing from the archived box?

I've thought about that, but I don't know if it'll mess things up. I'd rather not find out the hard way that I've lost stuff.

I could put all the mail onto another computer (like the laptop) and not run mail.app until everything's worked out. I might lose some mail in the meantime, though. That's probably my best bet.

I'm hoping that someone on OSP has actually done this before and can tell me exactly how to do it.

Hey Adam,

First things first- definitely archive the mailbox first and tuck it away for safe keeping.

Have you tried setting up a new account with the IMAP settings and then take the POP account offline?

To take an account offline, right click on the account name in the left side bar in Mail.app and choose "Take offline" from the flyout menu.

This keeps the account and all of its folders, messages, etc. intact without downloading new messages.

Hope that helps!

-Leon

**Bonus Tip:

Eventually once your old account is pretty dusty and rarely used, you can go to Preferences>Accounts>Advanced and uncheck "Enable Account."

This will remove the account and all of your folders from view but will keep everything intact. If you need to grab something from the old account, follow these steps:

• Manually disconnect from the internet.
• Re-enable the account
• Take account offline
• Connect to the internet

Why, you may ask??? The account will attempt to download new messages the moment it is re-enabled.

Thanks, Leon. I thought about doing that, too, but I want to keep the account intact -- i.e.; keep the account the same but just have it as an IMAP account. I want to be able to view all of the old messages and use them as if they were sent to the IMAP account.

I've done this several times before and it works -- just not with Mail.app -- and it's seems much harder than it should be.

You might check this link out... I think it's handling a similar scenario, though it's specifically for a college.

Cool. That looks like it'll work. Thanks for the call, too.

Cool, gotcha... let us know how this works!

-Leon