# How to Migrate Your Emails and Mailboxes to JetHost

> Canonical: https://jethost.com/kb/how-to-migrate-your-emails-to-jethost/ · Last modified: 2026-10-21T09:36:40+00:00

When you switch hosts, your website usually gets all the attention – but your **email** is just as important, and it’s where people most often lose data if they rush. The good news: moving mailboxes to JetHost is straightforward, and old messages come with them. This guide shows how the free managed migration handles it, and how to move email yourself without losing a single message.

## The easy way: free managed migration

Our [free website migration](https://jethost.com/free-website-migration/) includes your email: the team recreates your mailboxes on JetHost and copies across the existing messages, so you don’t have to touch a mail client. Request it from **Client Area → Support** with a list of the email accounts to move. If you’d rather do it yourself, the steps below use standard IMAP and work from any host.

## Step 1: Recreate your mailboxes on JetHost

Before moving any mail, create the same email accounts on JetHost that you have on your old host – same addresses, so nothing changes for your contacts. See [how to create an email account in cPanel](https://jethost.com/kb/how-to-create-an-email-account-in-cpanel/), and give each mailbox enough space for its existing mail (you can always [increase the quota](https://jethost.com/kb/how-to-increase-my-mailbox-quota/) later).

## Step 2: Copy your messages over IMAP

The safest DIY method is to let a mail client move the mail for you. In a desktop client like Thunderbird or Outlook, add **two IMAP accounts** side by side: your old mailbox and your new JetHost mailbox. Then simply drag (or copy) the folders – Inbox, Sent, and the rest – from the old account into the new one. Because IMAP keeps mail on the server, everything you copy is uploaded straight into your JetHost mailbox. Use [webmail](https://jethost.com/kb/category/webmail/) afterwards to confirm it all arrived.

## Step 3: Switch your email over (MX records)

Once the mailboxes and their messages are on JetHost, point your email to us by updating the domain’s **MX records** (and the email authentication records). See [how to set up email DNS (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC)](https://jethost.com/kb/how-to-set-up-email-dns-records/). From that moment new mail is delivered to JetHost. Keep the old mailboxes for a few days to catch anything still in transit.

## Step 4: Update your devices

Finally, update the email settings on your phone and computer to use JetHost’s mail servers. Our [email setup guides](https://jethost.com/kb/category/email/) cover Outlook, Thunderbird, Mac Mail, iPhone, and Android step by step.

## JetHost Experts Tip

Copy the mail *before* you change the MX records, not after. With the messages already on JetHost, the MX switch only redirects new mail – so there’s never a window where a message could land in a mailbox you’ve stopped checking.

## Need more help?

Lots of mailboxes, or worried about losing mail? Let us do it – request your [free migration](https://jethost.com/kb/how-to-migrate-your-website-to-jethost/) or open a ticket through **Client Area → Support** and our team will move your email safely.