Migrating email mailboxes from another host.

Files and databases are easy to migrate. Email is the trickier part — messages need to move without losing folders or history. How you do it depends on where the mail is going.

• Business email (managed on a project's Email tab) has a built-in Mail import.
• Mail on the hosting (the mailboxes that come with your website) is moved with a mail client, or ask support.

Into Business email: Mail import

New panel (rivervo.com/panel): project → Email tab → Mail import (or type "Mail import" in the search box) → New import.

1. Source server → Add a source server: pick a preset (Gmail with an app password, Microsoft 365, Yahoo and others), Other server for any IMAP server, or Google Workspace.
2. Add mailboxes to copy — type them in or upload a CSV (there's a Download template button) — then Create import.
3. Check mailboxes — the panel tests the logins before copying.
4. Start copying. If something fails, Retry.

Things to know:

• Mailboxes that don't exist yet on Rivervo are created automatically if your plan has free mailbox slots. Their passwords are shown once — save them.
• The destination password you enter for an existing mailbox replaces its current password.
• Large mailboxes take hours. Copying can't be stopped from the panel once started.
• Set up the domain's email DNS records (MX, SPF, DKIM) on the Email tab first — mailboxes can only be created after they're found.

Into mail on the hosting: with a desktop mail client

Works without anyone's help:

1. Create the mailbox: project → Email → Mailboxes → New mailbox.
2. Add both the old and the new mailbox to a desktop client as IMAP accounts (Thunderbird is the easiest).
3. Wait for both to sync fully (big mailboxes can take an hour or more).
4. Drag and drop folders/messages from the old account to the new one.
5. Compare message counts per folder, then remove the old account from the client.

Pros: you control the timing. Cons: slow for big mailboxes, easy to mess up if interrupted.

If that's not practical for you, write to support (Help → Write to us) and describe what you need to move.

During the migration

Don't change MX records yet. Mail keeps arriving in the old mailboxes while you copy. Switch MX when the copy is done.

A short overlap is fine. Around the switch, a few messages may land in the old mailbox. Copy those over by hand (or run the import again for Business email).

After migration

Update your mail apps. Remove the old account and add the new one:

• Business email: IMAP mail.aegis.email (993, SSL/TLS), SMTP mail.aegis.email (465, SSL/TLS), full email address as the username.
• Mail on the hosting: use the settings from the mailbox → ⋯ → Settings for mail programs.

Details per app: Setting up email clients.

Check SPF/DKIM/DMARC. A new provider means new sending servers. See SPF, DKIM, DMARC.

Common gotchas

"Folders don't match." Providers name folders differently (Sent Items vs Sent). Check both the root and the Inbox subfolders.

"Sent folder is empty." Some clients (older Outlook setups especially) keep Sent mail locally instead of on the server. Those messages aren't on the old IMAP server, so no IMAP copy can pick them up — export them from the client.

"Gmail won't let the import log in." Gmail needs an app password (Google account → Security → 2-Step Verification → App passwords), not your normal password.

Forwarders and aliases

Copying moves messages, not forwarding rules. Recreate them after the move:

• Business email: Email tab → Aliases and forwarding → Add. There's no catch-all address in Business email.
• Mail on the hosting: Email → Forwarders. A catch-all is set under Letters to addresses that do not exist (bounce, discard or forward).