I am looking into changing my web hosting provider, as I did not research pricing sufficiently before signing up for the one I am currently using, and I have developed a preference to avoid American companies since.

My domain is registered with a separate company, and my website is completely static and home made, so I think the move should be somewhat painless. I expect that it’s as easy as signing up for another service provider, and redirecting the domain to whatever information they provide. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

What I’m a little concerned about is my email at [email protected]. I’m assuming setting up a new address under the same name would be trivial under most hosting providers, but is there a good way of keeping my current emails available on the server? Alternatively, does anyone know of good options for making local backups of my inbox?

Last, if anyone has recommendations for somewhat affordable, green & European hosting providers, it would be much appreciated. I guess Hetzner is an option, but I wouldn’t mind supporting a slightly smaller company if I can.

Thanks!

  • lurch (he/him)@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    5·
    28 days ago

    if it’s imap or pop, you can download them onto a PC with a mail client like thunderbird. Make sure you copy them to Local Folders or whatever it’s called, so they are not just cached for offline use, because that would delete them if you sync with an empty account. Make sure to keep a backup somewhere safe, in case you accidentally delete them.

    • cabbage@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      21·
      28 days ago

      Thanks! Ideally I’d want it all to stay on the server though, which it seems imapsync can help me with. But if that fails I’ll make sure to find a way to make local bakcups in Thunderbird! :)

  • exception4289@lemmy.world
    4·
    28 days ago

    To transfer existing email messages from one mailbox to another, you can use imapsync if you are familiar with cli applications.

    It can synchronize messages from host1 to host2.

  • lowspeedchase@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    28 days ago

    Damn that example.com domain you got there is worth a pretty penny ;) If they host the emails (which if I read correctly they do) you’ll need to back them up before the move, which you have figured out already well done - just confirming.

    • cabbage@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      11·
      28 days ago

      Pretty fantastic, I know!

      And thanks for that - I guess I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t doing anything incredibly stupid before I make the change. :)

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
    2·
    28 days ago

    Use a mail client.

    Connect to both providers with the mail client.

    Update your mx records. (And spf and dkim and dmarc)

    Copy or move your emails to the new provider using the email client.

    • cabbage@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      11·
      28 days ago

      I was looking up some guides to import and export mail to/from servers using Thunderbird, but the only relevant thing I could find suggested using an add-on that doesn’t seem to exist any more. :/

      The suggestion of @[email protected] seems to be working great though - at least it is running on my computer, I guess I’ll see when it’s done if it worked or not. :)

      Thank you!

      • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
        1·
        28 days ago

        You don’t need to import or export, just move the messages between the mailboxes. I’ve done it with outlook but thunderbird would probably be the same.