How to Convert IMAP to POP3 with Ease?

An email specialist had said once: “Email happens to be the backbone of digital communication. So, preserve it always.”

Today, we cannot think of a world without emails! They have literally penetrated our work lives as well as personal lives so much so that every person cherishes his email data as precious belongings. At the work front, these emails are highly critical to protect. While IMAP won’t help with the local storage of these emails, POP3 would, thus offering greater control! So, let us dig a little deeper into this process to convert IMAP to POP3.

Quick Takeaways

• Change from IMAP to POP3 for storing mails locally to access them without the internet, and have higher control on them.
• IMAP tends to keep emails online on the server, while POP3 stores them permanently on your machine. So, POP3 is ideal for backup purposes, offline access, & long-term email storage.
• While manual function works only for small mailboxes and could be slow, a dedicated software provides faster results to gain offline email access quickly.
• This method is mostly used by business units, IT admins, & users needing offline email access for legal use or compliance purposes.
• Always remember to take a backup before initiating the conversion.

Topics Discussed Here

When users want more control over their emails, specifically offline access & local storage, they convert IMAP to POP3. Here, in this blog, we will be discussing why such a conversion is required, the manual functions to do this, and a professional tool that makes the entire process simpler & speedier to attain the control quickly.

Why Does the Need to Convert IMAP to POP3 Even Arise?

Just imagine that you opened your mailbox one morning and realized that your old emails are gone all of a sudden. Or even worse, your internet is down so you can’t access your crucial mails. It will be beneficial if you change from IMAP to POP3 for greater local email control. Here are some queries asked often related to this process:

Q: Why should I switch from IMAP to POP3?
A: This is because POP3 saves emails locally, so you will have permanent email copies even without needing the internet.

Q: How to change IMAP to POP3 safely?
A: Do this safely with the help of a professional tool.

Let’s Study about This Process 

IMAP works by saving mails on an email server. Upon opening the mailbox, emails get loaded from that server. If the server somehow deletes data, emails are lost.

POP3 tends to work differently. It downloads the mails to your machine and saves them locally there. This is the reason why many people wish to change from IMAP to POP3 for offline access, backup purposes, and/or long-term email storage.

The issue comes when people don’t know the right method of doing this conversion.

IMAP vs POP3 Difference

When Do People Mostly Change from IMAP to POP3?

It is required to switch from IMAP to POP3 under the following situations:

• When your internet access becomes limited
• When you want to store your mails permanently
• While switching jobs or changing email clients
• While taking backups for legal use or business purposes
• While using old PCs that support POP3 only

Statistics about Email Usage

As per The Radicati Group, more than 347 billion mails are sent on an everyday basis globally. Email data loss thus becomes one of the top user concerns. Microsoft Learn documentation also indicates that POP3 tends to remain  broadly utilised for users preferring local email storage. Such facts indicate why people prefer to convert IMAP accounts to POP3 when greater email control is what they want to achieve.

An Actual Scene!

A veteran businessman lost 5 years of his client mails after a sudden email server crash. He later realized that if he had shifted to POP3 earlier, his emails would have been safe on his machine in such a scenario. This proves why such smart email storage choices really matter.

Let us now move to the methods by which you can perform this conversion.

Manual Function to Switch from IMAP to POP3

Manual functions chiefly involve email programs such as MS Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird.

Manual Function Using an Email Client

Below are the general steps to perform this conversion using an email client. These are applicable to most email programs such as Outlook, & Mozilla Thunderbird etc.

• First, add a new POP3 account:
  • First, go to your email client’s account settings to add a new account.
  • When prompted, you must choose “Manual setup” and then select POP (not IMAP) as the protocol.
  • Now, enter your email credentials here along with server details (check with your service provider for POP/SMTP server addresses & ports).
• Then, download IMAP Mail (if required):
  • In the IMAP account settings, do ensure that all folders that you want are set to download (under “Sync & Storage” sometimes or maybe similar).
  • Then, force a sync or download all mail messages to ensure that they are on your local machine.
• After that, move email data to POP3 account:
  • In your email program, you will be able to now see both your old IMAP account as well as the new POP3 account.
  • Now, drag & drop or copy/move mail messages from your IMAP folders (Inbox, Sent Items, & custom folders etc) to the corresponding folders in the new POP3 account.
  • (Note: For MS Outlook, you may need to move calendar, tasks, Contacts etc., from local IMAP folders to the new POP3 data file before deleting the old account.)
• Disconnect/Remove the Old IMAP Account:
  • Once all crucial emails & data comes in the POP3 account, you can safely remove the IMAP account from the settings in your email client.

Pros of This Manual Function

• No software cost has to be paid in this case.
• There is full user control here.
• Such a process will work for small mailboxes.

Cons of This Manual Function

• This is a time-taking procedure so you need to be patient.
• There is a high risk of email data loss.
• You do not enjoy bulk conversion with such a process.
• This method needs you to be technically sound.

Limits Bounding the Manual Function

Manual function will not always work, especially in case of big files, it fails usually. Check out the limits that bound the manual function:

• Such manual function is not ideal for big-sized mailboxes
• There is no automatic backup done here.
• There are very high chances of making human errors.
• You cannot be ascertained about email format preservation in such a way.

Software Features Aiding in IMAP to POP3 Migration

Some software features would be really helpful to you in this case, as follows:

• This software helps in moving IMAP emails to multiple email programs.
• This tool helps to convert IMAP inbox items to POP3-supported file formats.
• The software allows the migration of single as well as batch email files even with big attachments all at once. So, nothing to worry about even if your email data is massive.

How to Convert IMAP to POP3 with Pro tool?

Below are the easy steps telling how this amazing tool converts IMAP to POP3:

1. Firstly, launch this tool.
2. Then, select the relevant IMAP email source from the left panel.
3. After that, enter the credentials.
4. Now, click Login.
   
5. The tool will analyse your email folders.
6. You can even see the folder list on the left side.
   
7. Next, you have to select the required POP3-supported saving option here.
8. Now, choose a destination path for saving the resultant files.
9. You can also pick the folders/emails which you wish to convert.
10. Clicking the Backup button will start the conversion. Monitor the progress till completion.

Comparing Manual Function with the Professional Tool

Manual Function	Pro Tool
Time-consuming	Quick
Possibility of data loss	Safe process
Bulk not supported	Bulk supported
Technical skills	Simple for all

 

DOs & DON’Ts That Will Help You!

DO

• Do make use of a professional tool for big-sized mailboxes.
• Do remember to keep a backup before initiating the conversion.

DON’T

• Do not make use of the manual functions for large-sized files.
• Do not try to interrupt the conversion process midway, let it complete first.

Here’s the FAQ Section 

Q: How to convert IMAP to POP3 in Outlook without losing emails?
A: By using an automated tool, you can ensure safe conversion.

Q: Is manual conversion good enough for business emails?
A: No! Manual functions could be risky for critical business email data.

Q: Which one is better, POP3 or IMAP?
A: POP3 is basically better for offline storage as well as long-term access.

Q: How to convert IMAP to POP3 in Thunderbird?
A: You can either use a risky manual way or employ a desktop solution for this task.

Over to You! 

If you convert IMAP to POP3, you can gain complete control over your emails. So, what is the wait? Fetch a dedicated offline tool right away and do the conversion. The manual function won’t help in gaining such control quickly and it is risky too, while a professional solution would be a much faster & safer option to try. So, it is up to you now to make the right choice!