change imap to pop in mail

Hello,

You cannot just change it, if POP is an option with that provider you have to first setup a new separate POP account & move any wanted eMails to the new POP account.

The first thing to do when changing an existing IMAP account to POP is to move any online emails in online folders to the online Inbox - POP only fetches emails from the online Inbox.

Most email servers are IMAP with very efficient POP facilities and hence you will not have to change any online settings with most providers but with some you may have to - consult their web site.

You will have to change your local mail client eg Mail or Thunderbird. Move all emails out of your client Inbox and try to keep this reasonably clear in future - some clients get confused with large local POP Inboxes.

Below you will see typical POP settings for Mail. You may not have to change SMTP settings if you are staying with the same provider. Thunderbird settings can be seen at: http://links.zero.eu.org/thunderbird/images.html#b

Move all emails out of your client Inbox - -

I should have mentioned that the above should be done after ensuring that the old IMAP interface has been disabled to prevent it attempting to synchronising with the server.

Whilst the simple process I described earlier in this thread works well the more technical may wish to have a cleaner email folder by starting afresh as follows:

Mail

Quit Mail. Put a copy of your Mail folder in your Library onto your Desktop. Here are two different methods:

1. Delete the original Mail folder in your Library to invoke the install wizard
2. Use the simple process described earlier in this thread

At any time old mbox folders can be given a unique name and imported into Mail. Before you import change the old containing folder names to a short name which will not conflict with account names.

Thunderbird

Quit Thunderbird. Put a copy of your Profile onto your Desktop. It is in your Thunderbird folder in your Library. Here are three different methods:

1. Remove your old Profile to invoke the install wizard
2. Make a new Profile - both Profiles will be functional
3. Follow these instructions: http://links.zero.eu.org/thunderbird/seed-1.html

At any time old mbox files can be given a unique name and moved from one profile to another.

See above Thunderbird link to discover how to avoid old email being downloaded again.

I just had the same problem in el Capitán. Eric, a senior advised from Apple tech support walked me through the steps. I'm using Comcast but this will work for any ISP. Here are the steps: Mail>Preferences>Accounts. Now, select "+" which brings up the window "Choose a Mail account provider..." Select one of those listed (AOL, GMAIL, YAHOO, etc.) or, as in my case, choose "Other Mail Account...", Continue to "Add a Mail account" window. Fill out the three fields: Name, Email Address and Password. BEFORE YOU SELECT "SIGN IN," ADD ANOTHER LETTER TO THE END OF THE EMAIL ADDRESS; example, add the letter "k" to the end of the address:: John@comcast.netk, NOW select Sign In. This will open a window with the email address, user name and password from the previous page. REMOVE THE ADDED LETTER (IN THIS CASE THE "k" at the end of the email address. Now, in the field marked ACCOUNT TYPE, toggle out of the IMAP to POP. Fill in the incoming mail server (eg., mail.comcast.net) and the outgoing mail server (eg., smtp.comcast.net) and select SIGN IN. The account created will now appear in Mail>preferences>accounts as a POP account. In the field marked Description, you may wish to put a shortened email address as this is what will appear in the Mailboxes column on the left side of the opened Mail app. I hope this helps. (The reason for this post is that it took more than one advisor to solve the problem. Two different advisors suggested that the solution was to contact Comcast tech support which I did only to get NO help whatsoever. I have tested these steps many times and the solution works. BUT REMEMBER, YOU MUST ENTER AN INCORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS (AN ADDITION LETTER WILL DO) IN ORDER TO GET THE IMAP to POP FIELD TO APPEAR)

Great tip, thanks! 🙂

Excellent, thank you so much for sharing.

You're welcome. The number of times you have helped me and others deserves a tip of the cap. I'm passing along what I think is a great tip from Eric.

sdgard, we have to help each other whenever possible. I searched for days and questioned knowledgeable support staff until Eric made it all good (and quite easy!) Regarding imap being "better" than pop, I simply go to mail>preferences>accounts>advanced and uncheck the box "Remove copy from server after retrieving a message" This way I have a copy of the email on my computer, which I can read whenever and wherever I want, and then, even if I remove it on the MBP, there is always a back-up on the server.

Thanks Cards!

You're welcome.

This was a great help. It worked. Thank you

Glad to help. (Off topic: your user name, "MikeinParis" made me wonder whether you are in Paris, France or one of many US cities named Paris. In any event, my sympathies and prayers are with the people of Paris, the City of Light.)

I do in Paris, France. Thank you for your thoughts. I am fortunate in that neither my friends nor myself were touched directly by the violence but friends of friends were. My concern is what we will become because of what happened.

Thanks @CardsFaninExile great advice I have just changed all my IMAP accounts to POP following your instructions, works like a dream, so easy. To be safe I copied all message from my IMAP folder into my new POP folder. Glad I found your post. Great, thanks 🙂😁😁