How to Import Emails to Gmail: Your Ultimate Guide

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Learn how to bring emails from your old accounts to Gmail

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

Last Updated: September 6, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Importing All Emails
|
• Importing Old Mail
|
• Video
|
• Tips

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If you recently switched to Gmail and want access to your emails from the other account, this wikiHow will show you how to import emails into Gmail using a computer. You can choose to import all your email or only old email. If you want to forward email from your old account, you will need to do that from your old account's settings and not through Gmail.

Quick Steps

1. Enable POP access for your old email account.
2. In Gmail, click the gear icon and select See all settings.
3. Go to Accounts and import > Add a mail account.
4. Enter your old email address and click Next.
5. Select POP3 or Gmailify and log in.
6. Check the second two boxes and click Add Account.

Steps

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

Importing All Emails

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1. 1
   Make sure your old email account has POP access. You can normally find this option in your other account's “Settings.” In this method, you will import both old and new messages from your old account to your Gmail account on an ongoing basis. If your old email provider doesn't support POP, you can use our importing old mail instructions to import old messages only.

   • If the account you want to import email from is not a Gmail account, jump down to the next step.
   • If the account you want to import mail from is also a Gmail account, you will need to enable POP access in your settings. Here's how:
     • In the account you're importing mail from, click the gear icon at the top-right corner of your inbox and select See all settings.
     • Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab at the top.
     • Under "POP Download," select "Enable POP for all mail."
     • If, in addition to importing these messages to your new Gmail account, you also want to keep a copy in this account, select keep Gmail's copy in the inbox from the menu. If not, you can choose to delete Gmail's copy.
     • Click Save Changes at the bottom.
2. 2
   Click the gear icon

   

   . If your old account has POP enabled, you can now adjust the settings in your new Gmail account to import the messages. It's at the top-right corner of your inbox. This opens the Quick Settings menu.

   • Complete these steps on the Gmail account where you're importing messages to.
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3. 3
   Click See all settings. It's near the top of the Quick Settings menu.
4. 4
   Click the Accounts and import tab. You’ll see this at the top of the settings box.
5. 5
   Click Add a mail account. You'll see this next to “Check mail from other accounts”.
6. 6
   Enter the email address you're importing from and click Next. This should be the email address for the messages you're importing to this new account.
7. 7
   Choose to use Gmailify or POP3. Gmailify will also allow you to send email as your old address as well as your current Gmail address. If you choose POP3, you will only import the emails.
8. 8
   Sign in to your old email account if prompted. Enter your password to continue.
9. 9
   Check the boxes for "Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail” and “Label incoming messages.” Don't check other boxes.
10. 10
    Click Add Account. Importing all your emails or linking your email account can take a while, depending on how many messages you'll be importing. When they finally import or link, you should see all the mail in your Inbox.
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Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

Importing Old Mail

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1. 1
   Click the gear icon

   

   . You'll see it at the top-right corner of your Gmail inbox.

   • Use this method if you're switching to this new Gmail account and only want to import the existing messages from your old account. This will not continuously import emails to your Gmail account on an ongoing basis.
2. 2
   Click See all settings. It's near the top of the Quick Settings menu.
3. 3
   Click the Accounts and import tab. You’ll see this at the top of the settings box.
4. 4
   Click Import mail and contacts. You’ll see this in the “Import mail and contacts” header.
5. 5
   Enter your old email address and click Continue.
6. 6
   Sign in to your old email account. You’ll need to accept/allow the export of emails from this account by pressing Continue in the pop-up.
7. 7
   Click Start Import. This may take a few minutes, but you’ll eventually find all your old emails in your Gmail account.

   • New mail sent to that old account will also be forwarded to your Gmail for 30 days.
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Tips

• If you are getting errors, make sure your old email supports POP and make sure it is enabled. In this case, you can only import old messages.
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• There is no way to import email directly from your computer to Gmail.
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• To stop importing email messages, click the gear icon and go to See all settings > Accounts and import. Click Delete next to "Check mail from other accounts."
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