Posteo Help Help categories Article

Would you like to copy your emails, contacts and calendars from your current Gmail account to your new Posteo account?

In this article you will learn how to migrate your data from Gmail to your new Posteo account. You will also learn how you can forward new emails to Posteo without providing Gmail with your new Posteo address.

Contents

• Copying emails from Gmail to Posteo
• Copying your contacts from Gmail to Posteo
• Copying calendars from Gmail to Posteo
• Forwarding emails from Gmail to Posteo

How to copy your emails from Gmail to Posteo

In this section you will learn how you can copy emails via drag & drop from Gmail to your Posteo account with the email client Thunderbird as an example. Thunderbird is a free and open-source application. You can also copy your emails with any other IMAP capable email client like Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail or Evolution from Gmail to Posteo.

Setting up Thunderbird

First, set up your Posteo account and your Gmail account as IMAP accounts in Thunderbird.

• Instructions for setting up your Posteo account in Thunderbird can be found here.
• Instructions for setting up your Gmail account in Thunderbird can be found here.
  Privacy notice: This is an external link to Mozilla’s Thunderbird help section. There may be active tracking tools, cookies, etc.

Creating a folder

In this next step you will create a folder in your Posteo account for every Gmail folder (also known as labels at Gmail) that you would like to copy. To do so, follow these steps in Thunderbird:

1. Right-click on your Posteo account in the Thunderbird folder listing.
2. Click on New Folder…

3. Enter an appropriate folder name in the box underneath Name.
   Tip: You can use the same name as the Gmail folder/label.
4. Click on Create folder.

Repeat steps 1 to 4 for all the folders that you would like to copy to Posteo.

Copying emails

After you have created the folders, you can copy your emails to Posteo:

1. Select the emails in Thunderbird that you would like to move.
   Tip: You can select multiple emails at once by holding the Shift key (used for capital letters).
2. Drag the selected emails within Thunderbird from the Gmail folder onto the Posteo folder by clicking and holding the left-mouse button.
3. Release the left-mouse button on the Posteo folder. The copying process will begin automatically.

Repeat steps 1 to 3 until you have transferred all of the emails you want to copy for each folder.

Tip: Copy a maximum of 50 to 100 emails at a time. Wait until the emails have been copied entirely and then begin transferring the next emails. Thunderbird displays a progress bar for the transfer process.

Depending on the speed of your internet connection as well as the amount (and respectively the size) of emails in your Gmail account, the process can take anywhere between a few minutes to several hours. You can reduce the amount of time required for copying by selecting fewer emails at a time.

How to copy your contacts from Gmail to Posteo

In order to import contacts from Gmail to your Posteo address book, export the contacts in an address book file on your computer. Then, import the saved file to your Posteo address book. To do so, first open Gmail contacts. Afterwards, follow these steps:

1. From the menu located on the left side of the screen, click on More.
2. Click on Export.
3. Select the option vCard (for iOS Contacts).
4. Click on Export.
5. Save the file on your computer.

You have now exported your contacts from Gmail. In the next step, you will import the file to your Posteo account. Follow the visual instructions for importing. You can find a detailed step-by-step guide here.

How to copy your calendar(s) from Gmail to Posteo

You can import your calendar(s) by following these steps:

1. Open Google Calendar.
2. Click on the gear in the upper right.
3. Open Settings.
4. Click on Import & export in the menu located on the left side.
5. Click on Export.
6. Save the file on your computer.

You have saved a .zip file on your computer. This contains one or more .ics files with your calendar entries. To import these entries, extract the .zip file.

In the next step, you will import the extracted .ics file to your Posteo account. Follow the visual instructions for importing. You can find a detailed step-by-step guide here.

How to set up a forwarding address from Gmail to Posteo

Would you like to automatically receive emails that are sent to your Gmail address in your new Posteo account? In this section, you will learn how to automatically have emails sent to your new Posteo account by using a forwarding address.

1. Open your Gmail account.
2. Click on the Gear in the upper-right.
3. Open Settings.
4. Click on Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
5. Click on Add a forwarding address.
6. Enter your Posteo address
   Privacy Tip: Use a filter address or an email alias from your Posteo account instead of your Posteo address.
7. Click on Next.
8. Confirm the forwarding address in the next window by clicking on Proceed.

Gmail will send you an email with a confirmation code.

9. Log in to your Posteo account in a new tab and open the email from Gmail.
10. Select and copy the confirmation code.

Change back to the tab with the Gmail settings.

11. Paste the copied code in the confirmation code box.
12. Click on Verify.
13. Click and activate the button next to Forward a copy of incoming mail to.
14. Select the email address you have provided from the first drop-down menu.
15. Select delete Gmail’s copy from the second drop-down menu.
    Note: This option deletes all emails automatically after being forwarded. Alternatively, you can select the option archive Gmail’s copy to save a copy of the emails in your Gmail account.
16. Scroll down to the bottom of the window and click on Save Changes.

That’s it! From now on all emails sent to your Gmail address will be forwarded to your Posteo account.

You can automatically sort emails that arrive via forwarding into a sub-folder with a filter.

Related help articles

• Can I import my existing address book?
• Can I sort emails that arrive via forwarding or an email collector into their own folders?