Move your email to Sheernox

Moving email has three parts: create the mailboxes at Sheernox, copy your old messages and contacts across, and switch where new mail is delivered.

Ask us to move it for you

Sheernox moves your email for you at no extra cost, together with your website if you have one. Open a ticket listing the addresses to move and where they are hosted now. The team tells you what it needs and when to switch.

If Sheernox is moving your email, do not change your nameservers or MX records until the team tells you to.

Move it yourself

1. Create the mailboxes

Create every address you use today at Sheernox, with the same names. See Create and manage email addresses. Addresses that only forward mail can be forwarders.

2. Switch where new mail is delivered

Where your domain’s mail is delivered depends on its MX records.

• Your domain uses Sheernox nameservers and was set up for Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace: under Mail routing settings, select Local mail, delete the provider’s MX records, and add an MX record pointing to mail. followed by your domain. See Switching back.
• Your domain is moving to Sheernox nameservers: once the nameservers change, mail is delivered to Sheernox. See Point your domain to Sheernox.
• Your DNS stays somewhere else: ask support for the MX record and add it at your DNS provider.

For a day or two after the switch, some mail may still arrive at the old service while the change spreads. Keep the old account open until you have copied everything, including those last messages.

3. Copy your old messages

The simplest way is a mail app that can hold both accounts at once, such as Thunderbird.

1. Add your old account to Thunderbird, using the old provider’s normal setup.

2. Add your new Sheernox mailbox. See Set up email in Thunderbird and Outlook.

3. Wait until the old account has finished downloading its folders.

4. Select the messages in an old folder, right-click them and choose Copy To, then the matching folder in the new mailbox. Repeat for each folder you want to keep.

5. Check the copies in webmail before you close the old account.

Before you start, check that the old provider allows IMAP:

• Gmail and Google Workspace: IMAP must be turned on in Gmail’s settings, and an account with 2-Step Verification needs Google’s sign-in window or an app password.
• Microsoft 365 and Outlook.com: sign in through Microsoft’s own sign-in window when Thunderbird opens it.

Copying a large mailbox can take hours. Leave the app open until it finishes, and check that each mailbox has room. See Change a mailbox’s password, name or size.

4. Bring your contacts

Export your contacts from the old service as a vCard (.vcf) or CSV file, then import them in webmail. See Import contacts.

5. Update your devices

Remove the old account from your phones and computers, and add the Sheernox mailbox. See Set up email on iPhone, iPad and Android.

Related

• Use Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace email
• Move your website to Sheernox