Changing Your Email Account Without Losing Your Email

| Updated on March 27, 2024

It can seem daunting to switch email accounts, however. As well as letting everybody know about your new email address, you worry that you’ll miss important emails from people or organizations that you cannot ignore.

There’s no need to worry about losing any emails during changing multiple email forwards because it’s fairly simple to do. Below are the steps.

1. Maintain Your Old Email Address for As Long as Possible

To make sure the switch has gone smoothly, you’ll want to hold onto your account for a little while. Plan accordingly if you are switching jobs or leaving school, so you have access to your old email address for a certain amount of time before it is deactivated. Organizations generally won’t let you access your account, but some may send you a welcome email to your new account.

2. Set Up a New Email Address

Use a free-of-cost email service like Outlook.com or Gmail to create an email address. You should not use a school or company email address assigned by your internet provider. Pick an email address that will age well over time, such as your name. Use your last name first or a combination of your initials and your first or last name if you have a common name.

3. Forward Emails to Your New Email Address

Your old mail service will keep a copy of your forwarded messages. Your messages can be forwarded to your new mail server, and the old copy can be deleted.

-Send Emails to Gmail

Enter your existing email address and check the box “Treat as an alias” so that when you reply to some email, it will come from your new Gmail account. Select “See all settings,” “Accounts and Import,” and then “Add a mail account.” After you enter your email address, click “Add a mail account” and enter your email address then click “Send through Gmail.” You will need to “Send Verification” if you still own your old email account.

If all fields are not pre-populated for your email service, you can get this information from your email provider. Click on Add Account.

Go to Settings > Accounts and Import> and select “Always reply from the default address,” which will be your new Gmail address.

-Send Emails to Outlook.com

Click on the settings cog on Outlook.com. Click on “View all Outlook settings.”

Go to Mail > Sync email, click “Gmail” or “Other email accounts.” You’ll be notified to enter your name, email address, and password, and you’ll be asked to choose where your imported emails will be stored. New folder for imported emails or Import into existing folders (like Drafts, Sent Items, Inbox). Your old email provider may require you to enter your email settings manually. As you transfer people to your new account, you can also “Set default From address.”

4. Import Your Old Contacts

Your old email account likely had an address book, and you will want to import it into your new account. To import contacts from your current provider, you will need to export them to a CSV file or, for Google Contacts, a CSV or vCard file. For further instructions, look for “export contacts from (your old email provider).”

Google Contacts Import

Select Import from Google Contacts and upload your *.csv or *.vcf file.

Importing Outlook.com contacts

Contacts must be exported from your current provider before being imported and you can follow instructions by searching “export contacts from” (provider). Select the People icon from your Outlook.com account, then choose “Manage” and then “Import Contacts.”

5. Let People Know Your New Email Address

After you have your new email address set up, it’s time to let everyone know. To prevent accidentally sharing other people’s email addresses with the whole group, use Bcc (blind copy) at the address bar. A signature that mentions that your email has changed may also be helpful. You may go to Settings > View all Outlook settings > Mail > Compose and then reply in Outlook.com. Go to Settings > See all settings >General and scroll down to Signature.


Kanika Singh

Webmail and Internet Expert


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