Switching Email Provider? How to Move Without Losing Emails

Moving email provider is one of the most common times for businesses to lose emails, and it’s almost always avoidable with a bit of planning. Messages go missing when the switch happens before everything is ready, or when something still depends on the old setup.

Whether you’re moving from your web host’s email to Google Workspace, from Google to Microsoft 365, or the other way round, the steps are much the same. This guide walks through them in order.

Your email lives in two places: your mailboxes at your email provider, and your DNS records at your domain provider, which tell the world where to deliver your email. A move means changing both, and problems happen when they get out of step:

• email starts arriving at the new provider before the mailboxes are set up
• old emails, contacts and calendars are left behind
• other systems, like your website or invoicing software, are still set up to send through the old provider
• security records still point to the old provider, so emails from the new one go to spam

Before you touch anything, write down:

• every mailbox and who uses it
• every extra address (such as info@ or sales@), forwarder and group
• every device that has email set up: computers, phones and tablets
• everything else that sends email as you: website forms, accounting software, booking systems, newsletters
• where your domain’s DNS is managed, and that you can log in to it

This list is your checklist for the rest of the move. Most lost emails come from something that wasn’t on it.

Create all the mailboxes, extra addresses and groups at the new provider before changing anything else. The new provider will ask you to prove you own your domain, usually by adding a verification record to your DNS. This doesn’t affect your existing email.

At this stage, your email still arrives at the old provider as normal.

Both Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have built-in tools for copying email from another provider, and there are specialist migration services too. Copy your existing emails, and export and import contacts and calendars.

For large mailboxes this can take hours or even days, so start early. It’s normal to do a main copy now and a final “top-up” copy after the switch to catch anything that arrived in between.

This is the moment email starts arriving at the new provider. It’s done by changing your domain’s MX records to the ones your new provider gives you. A few tips:

• Pick a quiet time, such as a Friday evening or a weekend.
• A day or two before, lower the “TTL” (time to live) on your MX records if your DNS provider allows it. This makes the change take effect faster.
• Expect a changeover period. For a short while, some email may still arrive at the old provider while the change spreads. That’s why you keep the old account open (step 7).

This is the step most often missed, and the reason so many businesses find their emails going to spam straight after a move.

• SPF — update your SPF record to include the new provider, and remove the old one once you’ve finished with it. Keep it to one SPF record.
• DKIM — switch on DKIM at the new provider and add the records it gives you. It’s often not on by default.
• DMARC — keep your existing DMARC record, and check your emails are passing before tightening it.

My guide to what SPF, DKIM and DMARC mean explains these in plain English.

Go back to your list from step 1 and update:

• email apps on every computer and phone
• website forms and plugins that send through your old email account
• accounting, booking and shop systems that send email as you
• printers and scanners that email scans

Then test each one. Website forms are the most common casualty of a move; my guide on why contact forms stop sending emails explains how to fix them.

Don’t cancel your old email straight away. Keep it running for at least two weeks after the switch, so you can:

• catch any emails that arrived there during the changeover
• run a final top-up copy of messages
• check nothing important was left behind

Only cancel it once you’re sure everything is working, and you’ve downloaded anything you want to keep.

Once the move is done, run through my 10-minute email setup check to confirm everything is passing at the new provider. If you’re still deciding which provider to move to, my guide on setting up professional business email compares the main options.

If addresses like info@ or sales@ stop working after the move, my guide to fixing email aliases after a migration explains why it happens and how to put it right.

Moving because Virgin Media is closing its email service? My guide to Virgin Media email moving to Junara explains your deadline and your options.

A move is a one-off job that’s easy to get slightly wrong. If you’d rather it was done properly first time, I can handle the whole thing for you.

If your emails start landing in spam after the move, see emails going to spam after moving to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.

Email stopped after changing nameservers?, if your email stopped when your website or domain moved.

Need help fixing this?

I provide:

• Free initial assessment
• Clear explanation of the issue
• Fixed-price solutions
• UK-based support

If you’d rather not risk it, I can plan and carry out the whole move for you, with no lost emails.