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My son switched from BT to Sky as his telephone and BB supplier and now BT are asking for a monthly fee to keep his e-mail account active.

Is there a way of transferring the e-mail account content held in BT to a new account he will set up in Yahoo/Hotmail etc. I appreciate that he could forward all the stuff he wants to keep one by one but if there is any easy way to transfer the lot in one go it would be much better. I was wondering if up and down to Dropbox perhaps if a direct transfer is not possible?

Any advice on this appreciated

Thanks

DWD

Not sure but if he can use an e-mail client such as Thunderbird Mail with BT and sky!

Is it content or use of the account he needs?

If its content only, use an email client to download all the mail to a PC and keep it safe or backed up.

If he needs to use the account, got to keep paying - no option.

Don't forget to change any accounts over to his new mail address before he stops it. Don't want someone taking his old account and getting password reset reminders or personal details.

Last thing he needs is to try and reset an account and it going to a defunkt account he can't access.

BG

It is just the content he needs Billy. As all the messages are held in a BT server rather than on his PC he would like to copy them over to a new mailbox. He has no preference on that service provider and is happy to use any that would suit. I take the point about the BT box best to be cleaned down before closure and this is hopefully what will be done if we can achieve a transfer.

If a direct transfer is out the question do you mean by an e-mail client that he could download the stuff from BT to Outlook say, which he has on his computer, to clear the BT box and just use it as an archive when needed? Is that what Thunderbird is that Aero suggests?

Thanks

DWD

I'm a bit confused by this DWD.

Any emails I get are automatically stored on my PC in outlook and then deleted off my service providers account.

I then have a full copy on my PC. I cannot understand why this is different to your son's dilemma

How did he access the mails DWD, using a web portal or an email client on his PC?

Depends on that really, I'm guessing it's a web site he uses to access them?

Gas4you, it's possible that if he was using an email client, then it's using IMAP to access the mail, so it's all left on the server, but are typically CACHED locally, not stored. Delete it from the client, gone from server and vice-versa. Sometimes, if you remove the account, the mail is automatically removed locally to prevent access.

I suspect you (Mr Gas, not DWD) are using POP3, where the mails are downloaded and removed from the host.

How many mails we talking? It's not possible (other than forwarding) to transfer them to a new host (without considerable effort), unless you forward them all on to the new address.

What I'd do, is this (assuming it's access by web/stored on the internet)......

1. Install an email client, like above.
2. Configure as POP3 if possible. It will suck all the email down to the LOCAL PC, removing all the mail from the BT server
3. Keep a backup of the mail box elsewhere (hard drive, etc), as if it's lost, it's gone forever.
4. If he likes the email client, then you can also configure your new provider through the client too so that is also local (for searching, etc) but kept on the server as a backup (using IMAP)

If my assumptions are right, might be able to knock up a guide over the next day or two on setting it all up if that would help?

SO hungover today, I'm sweating beer so can't be much more use...

BG



edit....yes, Outlook would do it easily - also the other mentioned above, from a quick search.

Ahh...I see. I think that opening Outlook would be the solution here. I never download my e-mails to my PC and leave them all in Yahoo where I can access them from anywhere if needed. I lost all my e-mails once when I had a fatal disc error years ago and I have not used Outlook since. My son does the same with his BT mail. He backs up his computers with a Passport storage thing so I guess it will be a way to proceed.

Thanks for the input all

DWD

The problem is not using a generic email provider such as gmail, yahoo etc.

I had a similar problem when I closed my virgin account and I could no longer access my blueyonder emails.

If I were your son I would create a generic gmail account and pay for one months BT emails. During this month he can inform everyone who needs to know his email address has changed. After a month he can tell BT to poke it

In future regardless of who his ISP is his email address will never change.

The ISP provide you with an email address for this very reason. So you get tied to there email provider.

I prefer to use a PC based email client (using Thunderbird now) You can set it to download emails then delete them off the server, or leave them on the server (but still download them) Most email providers will delete emails after a certain amount of time (or when your inbox reaches a certain limit) I find it useful o keep copies of important emails on my computer (which would eventually be deleted off the server) Very important emails, I print off so I have a hard copy as well.

I forgot about imap.

I have never liked this and for some reason have never got on with it.

I always remove it and use POP3.

gas4you wrote:I forgot about imap.

I have never liked this and for some reason have never got on with it.

I always remove it and use POP3.

It's great if you have multiple devices (phone/tablet/laptop) that you wish to access your email and keep it in sync.

POP3 usually has a time retention if not removed, whereas IMAP is mailbox limited.

Both have pros and cons.

Also don't want to be leaving email on a POP3 host - it's easy to get a 'stuck mail' if someone sends you a mass of BIG attachments

BG