Switch POP to IMAP Account in Thunderbird

If you’re currently using a POP3 email account in Thunderbird, we recommend switching to IMAP. IMAP keeps your emails stored on the Ecenica server, so you can access them from any device and keep everything in sync. Follow the steps below to make the switch.

Step 1: Disable your POP3 email account in Thunderbird

1. From the menu click Tools > Account Settings
2. Select your Ecenica email account and then click Server Settings
3. Uncheck Check for new messages at startup and Check for new messages every X minutes

Step 2: Add your IMAP email account in Thunderbird

1. From the menu click New Account > Email
2. Enter your full name, Ecenica email address and mailbox password. Then click Continue
3. Ensure IMAP is pre-selected in the Ecenica automatic configuration and click Done and then Finish.
4. You’ll see your new IMAP email account set up in Thunderbird below your existing account. Check everything works.

Step 3: Transfer emails from your PC to the server (optional)

Typically accessing your email via POP downloads all your email from the mail server to Thunderbird on your PC or Mac and the copies servers removed from the Ecenica mail servers. To move any emails you’d like to access to your IMAP account simply select, drag and drop them onto the IMAP account.

The time it takes to upload emails depends on the number of emails you want to copy, the size and the speed of your internet connection.

If you want to skip this step you can keep your emails in the Local account on your Thunderbird. This may be useful if you have a large amount of emails.

Step 4: Delete your POP account (optional)

If you’ve transferred all your emails you wish to keep from your POP account to your IMAP account and no longer need it then you can delete your POP account. Just remember if you delete your POP account any locally stored emails and data will be removed so please double check you have saved your emails and you have taken backups before proceeding. You may not be able to recover deleted emails.

1. From the menu click Tools > Account Settings
2. Click Delete
3. Confirm the deletion.