Switch from POP3 to IMAP

Support
1

As a user of Netease mail, which requires ID command in IMAP protocol, I have to use POP3 to access its server. Now since the ID command support is added in to K-9, I’m planning to switch the protocol for Netease mail from POP3 to IMAP when the next release comes out.

However, I find that K-9 doesn’t support switching the protocol in the settings.

Then I find it’s also impossible to import/export the mails in an existing account. So I guess I can’t create a new account with all of my old data there.

Is there any way to switch from POP3 to IMAP without losing the mails on the local storage?

2

As a workaround: keep the old POP3 account in K9 - but do no longer use it for sending/retrieving, just as a “backup” to not lose those mails.

Add a new IMAP account in K9 to the same mail account for new mails.

Did you try that?

Sorry, I do not know a tweak how to convert - think it is not possible.

3

Does K9 support adding duplicate accounts?

4

I have a similar situation. Not the same, but perhaps analogous in respect of switching from POP3 to IMAP. In my case, creating another account with another email address is out of the question, as the email address I have used is important and not subject to change. My mail host (panix.com) uses netbsd servers. So far as I know, they support both POP3 and IMAP. However, if I understand correctly, there is no way I could delete the POP3 account and set up an IMAP one with the same email address and still keep all the emails I have saved in the Sent folder on K-9. Otherwise K-9 Mail suits me well on my Chromebook (which can run many Android apps).

5

The idea is not to create a new email address. The idea is to add the same address to K-9 again (as a second account).

1 Like
6

I tested it with my account - it seemed to work.

1 Like
7

I guess this is the only workaround now.

8

The workaround @stphn mentioned works, but it’s still not convenient.
Would K-9 consider adding the import/export mails feature? I think this feature is important because:

  1. It helps with the migration from POP3 to IMAP. I guess most of the developers of K-9 supports using IMAP instead of POP3, according to the post. The POP3 users are not likely to consider the migration unless it’s easy to transfer the old data to the new type of account.
  2. It’s good for many Chinese users who have been using POP3. Netease mail has a lot of users in China. These users are almost “forced” to use the POP3 protocol in K-9 before because Netease make the ID command mandatory. They might be blocked by the inconvenience even if they want to use the modern IMAP protocol(just like me).
  3. It follows the philosophy of K-9 in a manner. I have read the “philosophy” of K-9. K-9 is a synchronization based app, and I think local storage is also a good way to do synchronization. As a FOSS user, I choose K-9 because I want to rely less on the tech giants. The synchronization provided by their servers is not controlled by me, so It’s better to have the ability to do sync or make a backup by myself.
9

I agree that lack of export/import is the only major complaint I have with K-9 mail. Otherwise it works very well on my Chromebook (running an Android app). Whether I could set up an IMAP account alongside my current POP3 account on the same server I don’t know and am reluctant to try in case things could mess up.