Importing existing email into Cedros

Copy messages from an existing email account into a Cedros-hosted mailbox. The import runs in the background, can resume after interruptions, and keeps messages already copied if you cancel.

This is a mailbox migration. It does not change where new mail arrives, close your old account, or transfer your contacts and calendars. If you want to keep hosting mail in Google Workspace and read it from Cedros, use Connecting your Google Workspace account instead.

Check that your source can be imported

The import form offers three sources:

• OpenSRS Hosted Email: uses Cedros's preset connection to OpenSRS Hosted Email.
• Google Workspace: uses Google's IMAP service with the source account's username and an eligible app password. This form does not open a Google sign-in or reuse an existing Google connection in Cedros.
• Another IMAP host: requires the provider's IMAP hostname and login details. The hostname must be approved for imports on your Cedros server. Ask your site administrator or hosting support to confirm approval before starting.

The source must accept a secure IMAP connection on port 993. There is no custom-port or unencrypted-connection option in this form. Enter a hostname, such as imap.example.com, without a web address prefix, port number, or path.

If the provider requires browser authorization and does not accept an app password or another supported IMAP login credential, this import form cannot connect to it. Ask your provider and Cedros administrator to confirm a supported migration path. Do not assume that every service offering IMAP will accept the same sign-in method.

This form imports directly from a mail server. It does not upload PST, MBOX, EML, or ZIP files from your computer.

Prepare a Google Workspace source

Confirm that the source account can access its mail through IMAP under your organization's policy. Your Google Workspace administrator manages IMAP access for users.

Where your account permits it, create a dedicated app password using Google's app-password instructions. Google requires 2-Step Verification for app passwords, and some account or organization settings make them unavailable. Use the app password in the import form, not your normal Google account password or a one-time verification code.

If you cannot create an app password, consult your Workspace administrator before proceeding. Do not turn off account protections to make an import work. Changing your Google account password revokes existing app passwords, so a password change during the migration may require a new import credential.

Prepare the destination and migration plan

Use an account with permission to manage Cedros email settings. Inbox access alone does not authorize starting, resuming, or cancelling an import.

Before starting:

1. Set up Cedros email on your domain and create the destination mailbox. The destination must be Active, not provisioning, suspended, or scheduled for deletion.
2. Confirm the full destination address and who can read it. Import a person's mail into the intended personal mailbox; importing into a shared mailbox makes the copied messages available to people with that shared mailbox's access. See Creating personal and shared email addresses.
3. Check available storage for both the destination mailbox and the site's mail service. Allow room for existing messages, attachments, and new mail that will arrive during the move.
4. Confirm you can still sign in to the old account and obtain its IMAP login details. Use a dedicated app password where the provider supports one. Keep credentials out of chat, email, and support screenshots.
5. Identify the folders and important messages you will check afterward. Include old and recent messages, sent mail, and messages with attachments.
6. Keep the source account active throughout copying, checking, and any final catch-up import. Retain an independent backup of mail you cannot afford to lose.

For several accounts, record each source account and its intended Cedros destination, then start a separate import for each mapping. The source username and destination address do not have to be identical. Check them carefully; there is no preview of all messages before the import starts.

Coordinate the change of incoming mail delivery separately. Starting an import does not update MX records or forwarding. Agree when to switch delivery and when to check the old account for messages that arrived during the transition.

Start an import into an existing mailbox

1. Open Team → Mail addresses and find the active destination mailbox.
2. Open that mailbox's actions menu and select Import mail here….
3. Check the address in the Import mail into… dialog title. This is the fixed destination for this import. Close the dialog and select the correct mailbox if it is wrong.
4. Under Where is the mail now?, select OpenSRS Hosted Email, Google Workspace, or Another IMAP host.
5. For Another IMAP host, enter the approved IMAP hostname supplied by the source provider. The two named providers use preset hostnames and do not show this field.
6. Enter Username at the old host and App password at the old host. These are the source mailbox's credentials, not your Cedros sign-in or a Cedros mail-app password. Use the login format your old provider requires.
7. Select Start import. Read any validation or connection error. Mail import started means the job was accepted; it does not mean all messages have been copied.
8. Go to Settings → Site → Mail to follow progress under Mail service.

You can close the dialog or leave Cedros after the job starts. The server continues the import; keeping the browser open is not required.

During initial mail setup, the optional Bring your old mail over step offers the same form. Select the active destination in Import into before entering the source details. Skip this lets you leave importing for later. The setup label Import started records that a job was created, not that copying succeeded.

Read progress and recover from interruptions

In Settings → Site → Mail → Mail service, look for Mail imports in progress. Each row shows the destination, source type, status, the number copied, the number already present, and any failure reason.

• pending: the import is waiting to run. Leave the source account and its credential available.
• running: copying is underway. Large accounts and slow source servers take longer; the screen does not provide a reliable completion time.
• failed: copying stopped with an error. Read the reason before choosing a recovery action.

Reopen or refresh the Mail settings page to read the latest progress. Already present means Cedros recognized a message it had copied from that source. It is not a count of everything already in the destination from other sources.

Completed and cancelled jobs disappear from this in-progress list. A disappearing row alone does not tell you which outcome occurred. Check the destination mail and, if the result is unclear, ask the administrator to confirm the job outcome before retiring the old account.

Resume a failed import

Resolve the reported cause, then open the failed row's actions menu and select Resume import. Cedros continues from its saved progress and recognizes messages already copied from the same source.

Resume uses the source credential already saved for that job. It does not ask for a replacement password. If the password is wrong, revoked, or no longer available, cancel the old job and start a new import with the correct credential. Check the same source account and destination again before submitting.

Avoid creating several overlapping imports for the same source and destination. A job waiting or running in the background does not need another Start import submission.

Cancel an import

Open the job's actions menu and select Cancel import. This cancels further work and deletes the job's saved source password. Messages already copied remain in Cedros; cancellation does not roll the destination back or delete mail from the old account.

If you selected the wrong destination, cancel promptly and ask the administrator to review access and the copied messages. Starting another import into the right mailbox does not remove copies from the wrong one.

Cedros also deletes the saved source password when an import completes. A failed job retains its credential so it can be resumed. Deleting Cedros's stored copy does not revoke an app password at the old provider; revoke a dedicated migration password there when you no longer need it.

Understand what is copied and the limits

The importer copies email messages, including their message content and attachments, from folders the source exposes through IMAP. It does not migrate contacts, calendars, forwarding rules, signatures, passwords, or the old provider's account settings.

Inbox messages go to the destination inbox. Recognized sent, draft, archive, junk, and trash folders map to their corresponding mailbox folders. Other folders are imported too, although their names may be adjusted. A provider's virtual Starred folder is excluded; message flags such as read and starred are copied with the messages where supported.

Check custom folders in webmail or a connected mail app if they are not visible in the Cedros inbox view. You can open Webmail → Open webmail from the Mail service card. Do not judge the import solely by the number of conversations shown in Inbox.

Current limits to plan around:

• Maximum message size: 26 MiB, including the complete encoded message and attachments. This is not a 26 MiB attachment allowance. A message over the limit fails the job rather than being silently omitted.
• Maximum source folders: 200 eligible IMAP folders. An account above the limit cannot complete through this importer until the source is prepared appropriately.
• Storage capacity: both mailbox and site limits apply. A full destination can stop copying even when the source connection works.
• No folder or date selection: the form does not offer a way to import only a chosen period or selected folders. Check what the source exposes before starting.
• Duplicate detection has limits: it recognizes previously copied messages from the same source account and folder. The same message exposed in several folders, or moved or reidentified by the source provider, can produce additional copies. It is not a general cleanup of duplicate content.
• No continuous synchronization: a completed import does not keep watching the old account or mirror later deletions and folder changes.

If an oversized message or folder limit blocks the job, keep a safe copy and work with your mail administrator on how to preserve and handle that content. Repeatedly resuming without changing the cause will not bypass the limit.

Verify the result and finish the move

Before closing the old account:

1. Confirm the import outcome and resolve any failed job. If the in-progress row has disappeared and completion is uncertain, have the administrator confirm it.
2. Open the destination as the person who will use it. Check several old and recent messages, sender and recipient details, message dates, sent mail, important folders, and attachments that actually open.
3. Compare representative folder contents with the source. Conversation counts and Gmail labels may not correspond to a simple one-message, one-folder total; investigate missing examples rather than relying on a single number.
4. Check where new mail is arriving. Complete the planned delivery change using email DNS verification, and verify outgoing delivery separately.
5. After the first import completes, run another import with the same source provider, hostname, username, and destination to pick up mail added during the move. Enter a valid source credential again. Cedros uses the previous completed import's progress to copy newer messages; do not assume it also restores messages you deleted from Cedros after the first import.
6. Send a new message from an outside account you control to the Cedros address, reply from Cedros, and confirm receipt at both ends. Check the old account for late arrivals before ending the overlap period.
7. Once the content and delivery checks are complete, revoke the dedicated migration credential at the source. Retire the old service only when you have kept any needed backup and confirmed no other accounts or services depend on it.

If a problem remains, provide the source provider, destination address, visible status, copied/already-present counts, exact error, and when progress last changed. Include a few non-sensitive examples of missing folders or messages; do not send passwords or private email contents. Use Getting help and reporting a problem for support.

Common problems

• Import action missing: confirm the destination is a Cedros-hosted mailbox and your account can manage email settings. A Google-connected inbox is not a native import destination.
• Target mailbox is not active: finish provisioning or resolve its suspended/deleting state before starting. Check the intended address rather than creating a duplicate mailbox.
• Hostname is not approved: ask the Cedros server administrator or hosting support to approve the exact provider hostname. Do not substitute an unrelated server.
• Login fails: check the source username, IMAP access, and provider-approved app password. A successful browser login does not prove that IMAP authentication is allowed.
• Connection or certificate error: verify the provider's secure IMAP hostname and service availability. Have the administrator check network access and the reported error; do not disable certificate checks.
• Pending with no progress: refresh the status, check for other imports, and ask the administrator to check the mail service if the job remains waiting. Repeated submissions add jobs rather than fixing a stopped service.
• Copied some mail, then failed: copied mail remains available. Resolve the reported storage, size, connection, or source-message problem and use Resume import where the credential is still valid.
• Old messages arrived but new ones did not: review incoming delivery and MX records. An import's success does not establish that senders now deliver new mail to Cedros.