Moving my Madasafish account from POP to IMAP on Apple devices

[#1]

My account was originally created with Madasafish. To send and receive emails on several accounts I use Apple Mail on an iMac, and also on an iPhone. Both devices are currently set up on POP but I find it really irritating to have to delete the same messages on both devices. I'd like to synchronise my devices and move over to IMAP but I've read many people's tales of woe when attempting this. PlusNet help pages aren't very specific on the details, particularly as my account is not actually with PlusNet.

Can anyone advise me on how to make the switch and what pitfalls to look out for?

[#2]

Hi there.

As long as your devices aren't setup to delete mail automatically from the server, I'd just remove the POP3 mailboxes and re-add them in the same way but by choosing IMAP as the server type instead of POP3.

Easiest way to check if your e-mails are still on the server would be to login at webmail.plus.net using your Madasafish e-mail address as the username and your Madasafish password.

If there are more e-mails on your devices than on webmail and if you're wanting to keep those messages you'll need to back them up first, otherwise you'd likely lose any e-mails you have stored on your iMac and iPhone.

Hope this helps you.

[#3]

Hi Gandalf

Thanks for your response. Just to be clear, are you saying that when I switch to IMAP any emails currently on my devices will be deleted if they're not also on the webmail server?

I've just checked and I have 320 mails on the server, and over 2000 held on the Madasafish inbox on my Mac. I recently had to empty the webmail inbox as it was full and I wasn't receiving any new mail.

This is why I'm confused and a little reluctant to proceed until I understand the consequences. Mac Mail has the option to "archive' my messages - is this the same as backing up?

Secondly, when you say "remove the POP3 mailboxes" do you mean delete them, or go into preferences and reconfigure the mail settings?

Sorry if this seems dumb - I just want to get it right. When I upgraded my MacOS to High Sierra I lost all my emails and it took Mac customer support 90 minutes to retrieve them! I don't want to go through that again.

Thanks

[#4]

No problems.

Just to be clear, are you saying that when I switch to IMAP any emails currently on my devices will be deleted if they're not also on the webmail server?

Only if your devices are setup to remove mail from the webmail server automatically.

There should be a setting in your mail programs with a tick-box something along the lines of "Leave a copy of messages on server"

I've just checked and I have 320 mails on the server, and over 2000 held on the Madasafish inbox on my Mac. I recently had to empty the webmail inbox as it was full and I wasn't receiving any new mail.

It looks like you have a lot more mail stored locally on your devices in that case.

Mac Mail has the option to "archive' my messages - is this the same as backing up?

I believe archiving mail would be the same as backing up. I use Mac Mail myself (for Google Mail) and I often archive my mail. With that said, I'm unsure how you would go about removing the mailbox without removing the archive along with it.

Hopefully one of the community will be able to advise further.

Alternatively a call to Apple Support may be able to offer more guidance.

Secondly, when you say "remove the POP3 mailboxes" do you mean delete them, or go into preferences and reconfigure the mail settings?

As far as I'm aware, you'll need to delete the mailbox completely then re-setup it up from scratch as IMAP. Due to the way mail clients work, I don't think an existing mailbox can be reconfigured from POP to IMAP and vice versa.

Sorry if this seems dumb - I just want to get it right. When I upgraded my MacOS to High Sierra I lost all my emails and it took Mac customer support 90 minutes to retrieve them! I don't want to go through that again.

No worries, I appreciate the concern. That sounds like a nightmare.

[#5]

With POP3 emails are DOWNLOADED from the server to your PC - depending on settings, they might be left on the server AFTER downloading for a short while.

If you then delete a POP3 account from your PC (or other device) then depending one exactly how the device has configured the LOCAL email file store, you might lose all of the locally stored emails.

To mitigate such risks, I suggest that you look for account settings to INHIBIT your email program from sending / receiving the POP3 configured "accounts".

Create new IMAP accounts - these will sync a local view of that is on the server and (if configured correctly) make all sent items visible on all devices (not just the one they were sent from as happens with POP3).

Generally it is possible to have the same email box being configured for both POP3 and IMAP but clearly you do not want both set to receive.  I have done this with WLM to help people switch as you seek to do.  Some email clients might baulk at attempting this, but that can be fudged - try changing the POP3 email address to emailaddress.pop3@... leaving all other settings unchanged.

You can then sort out your local (archive) storage folders.  Most good email applications allow the creation of local mail folders which are completely independent of the email account configuration.  This is where you should store your archived emails - not under the actual email account folder structure.  Doing that presents too greater risk of them being lost!

When you are sure you have secured your historic emails out with the POP3 account set up - ditch it quickly.

[#6]

Does anyone know the correct IMAP settings for a Madasafish account? The examples given on the Plusnet Help page are for a plusnet account, e.g "Incoming server - imap.plus.net". I tried using "imap.madasafish.com" but it didn't work when I tried to connect. Where am I going wrong?

[#7]

I have attached the MAAF settings for you below;

Madasafish
Incoming Server (POP3)	mail.madasafish.com
Incoming Server (IMAP)	mail.madasafish.com
Outgoing Server (SMTP)	smtp.madasafish.com
Username Format	FULL EMAIL ADDRESS
Email Address Format	USERNAME@madasafish.com