Importing Email from GoDaddy to Gmail

Spartan Spark

We recently on-boarded a client who had their email for the past 3 years with GoDaddy. Since we only support Google's GSuite, we moved him over. It was an extremely painful process to figure out how to import his 10,000 archived emails.

I read all the Google tutorials but nothing would work because his old email and his new email were the same:  name@yourcompany.com

I finally found a solution after 15 days of trying different things.

Start with Send Messages

If you want all of your sent messages moved to your Google Apps email sent folder (and conversations):

• Log in to your Go Daddy web-mail account.
• Go to your Sent folder.
• Select to show 400/page.
• Select all on the page.
• Choose move to InBox.

I was a bit hesitant to do this step, but it actually works. Google's Mail Fetcher only fetches from the InBox, but then Google sorts them into the right folders on the other end.

Set up Account and Import

Sign into the new Google GSuite email (or gmail), then

• Click Settings, which is the cog wheel on the right side.
• Click Accounts and Import tab.
• Click Import mail and contacts, the second one down; click on the blue link "Import mail and contacts".
• Google's email system will ask you to sign in to your other email account.

The trick here is: DO NOT enter  name@yourcompany.com; the system will just go around in circles because that's the email you're using already in GSuite.

Instead write  test@yourcompany.com or any other name you choose.

Setting up the Pop Info

On the next screen you want to enter the correct information:

• Password
• POP Username: your REAL username  name@yourcompany.com
• POP Server: pop.secureserver.net Port 110

On the next screen, you can check off all the boxes. I labeled ours "Imported" and left a copy of the messages on GoDaddy's server.

Now Google Does its Work

You'll get a pop-up that says it might take 24 - 48 hours and that YOU CAN close the window and YOU CAN log out of your email, so you can just go on your happy day and let Google do the rest of the work.

(15 days of this!! And now it's telling me that I don't have to leave the window open. I wish I would have found this 15 days ago!!)

Thanks, someone on the internet, for sharing this obscure tip, and now I've decoded it and the rest of the world can use it. Yay!

Written By: Dafne Canales

Dafne’s expertise lies in creating strategic roadmaps for companies to grow their business through unique marketing approaches. Her company, Spartan Spark, works with million dollar companies, advising them on how to grow their business by using strategy and technology more effectively.

Through articles, vlogs, training and speaking engagements, Dafne shares her marketing knowledge, showing business owners how to leverage all the knowledge they have and use technology to their advantage to increase visibility and lower their cost of acquisition.