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remove imap account (on Thunderbird) but leave the emails on the server without change

  • 2 replies
  • 2 have this problem
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  • Last reply by rgleason

rgleason
rgleason
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We have Thunderbird setup with IMAP and two email accounts under the inbox (call them PrimaryEmail and AliasEmail). On our VPS Virtualmin Centos Mail Server these two accounts are setup as follows: 1. [email protected] as a normal email account. 2. [email protected] as an email alias that forwards to a PrimaryEmail.mywebsite.com

I would like to separate these two accounts into two normal and separate Primary accounts without loosing any of the email stored on the server. In Thunderbird, the two accounts appear as separate folders under the Inbox with subfolders and common folders at the bottom for drafts, sent, trash, junk etc.

Possible Procedures 1. Remove the Thunderbird IMAP account, leaving the server email as configured with all the email messages intact. 2. Separate the two server accounts somehow by deleting the alias account and creating a new normal email account with the same name. Then copy the emails from the primaryemail inbox subdirectory into the new primary account. 3. Set up two pop accounts in Thunderbird for the two primary accounts on the server.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

We have Thunderbird setup with IMAP and two email accounts under the inbox (call them PrimaryEmail and AliasEmail). On our VPS Virtualmin Centos Mail Server these two accounts are setup as follows: 1. [email protected] as a normal email account. 2. [email protected] as an email alias that forwards to a PrimaryEmail.mywebsite.com I would like to separate these two accounts into two normal and separate Primary accounts without loosing any of the email stored on the server. In Thunderbird, the two accounts appear as separate folders under the Inbox with subfolders and common folders at the bottom for drafts, sent, trash, junk etc. Possible Procedures 1. Remove the Thunderbird IMAP account, leaving the server email as configured with all the email messages intact. 2. Separate the two server accounts somehow by deleting the alias account and creating a new normal email account with the same name. Then copy the emails from the primaryemail inbox subdirectory into the new primary account. 3. Set up two pop accounts in Thunderbird for the two primary accounts on the server. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

All Replies (2)

Matt
Matt
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/

Use the import export tools to export all the mails in your secondary account into MBOX files, one per folder. (that is your backup, if everything goes pear shaped)

Then you could use the same tools to import the mails into the secondary account as needed.

rgleason
rgleason Question owner
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Dear Matt I have not used this addon yet will try it. What are Mbox files? It would serve as backup I guess. Would It backup all the email on the server too?

1. How do I remove the imap account from my Tbird setup without also deleting my IMAP emails on the server? A . Could I disconnect from the internet B. Then remove the entire T'bird internet account from my laptop. C. Reconnect to the internet. D. Access the email account via webemail to check that it is there?

2. Then I need to untangle the email on the server somehow. A. Perhaps I delete the alias account. B. All the email forwarded to the primary email account will remain on the server. (hopefully). C. Then I need to recreate the email account as a "non-alias" or "normal" email account. D. Then somehow I need to move the emails in the primary email subfolder that apply to the Alias email, into its new "normal" directory on the server. --How the devil do I do that? If they are backed up, perhaps I use Tbird somehow?

This gets complicated doesn't it?