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Migrate from Zoho Mail to MailSprout

Your old emails come with you. Zoho exposes IMAP cleanly, so the migration is one of the smoother ones. About 30 minutes per account, most of which is sit-and-wait.

Before you start

  • Your Zoho sign-in (and 2FA, if enabled. Most Zoho users have it on).
  • A MailSprout account already created with the same address (create it in the dashboard).
  • Your domain's MX records currently pointed at Zoho. We change them last.
1

Create the destination account in MailSprout

In your MailSprout dashboard, open the relevant domain and click Add account. Type the same name (the bit before the @) that you have at Zoho. Go to the account page in your MailSprout dashboard. In the Bring over old emailsection, you'll find the destination server credentials you need.

MailSprout shows you a strong password once. Save it for Step 3.

2

Generate a Zoho app password

Zoho blocks third-party IMAP logins unless you enable an application-specific password.

  1. Go to accounts.zoho.com/home#security/app_password (opens in a new tab).
  2. Click Generate New Password.
  3. Name it MailSprout migration. Copy the password Zoho displays.
See Zoho's official Application-Specific Password help
Zoho's own walkthrough for generating an app-specific password while 2FA is on.
If you have a free Zoho plan that was migrated to the new region (e.g., zoho.eu, zoho.in), your IMAP host changes accordingly. Use imap.zoho.eu / imap.zoho.in in Step 3 instead of imap.zoho.com.
3

Run the migration with imapsync

Go to imapsync.lamiral.info/X/ (opens in a new tab) and fill in your credentials.

Source (Zoho Mail)

  • Host: imap.zoho.com (or your region's host)
  • Port: 993 (SSL)
  • User: your full Zoho email
  • Password: the app password from Step 2

Destination (MailSprout)

  • Host: fusion.mxrouting.net
  • Port: 993 (SSL)
  • User: the same email address
  • Password: the MailSprout password from Step 1

Click Start. imapsync copies every folder, every message, and the read/unread/flagged states. Plan on ~30 minutes for a 10k-message inbox.

4

Verify the migration looks right

Scan the MailSprout QR code on the account page with your iPhone Camera and install the profile. Open Apple Mail and check that all your Zoho folders are present.

5

Cut over MX records

Open your registrar's DNS panel and follow the relevant tutorial:

Old Zoho MX records look like mx.zoho.com, mx2.zoho.com, mx3.zoho.com. Remove those; add fusion.mxrouting.net (priority 10) and fusion-relay.mxrouting.net (priority 20), plus the SPF/DKIM/DMARC records from your MailSprout dashboard.

6

Run imapsync one more time

About an hour after the MX change, re-run imapsync. It only copies new messages, so this is fast. Catches anything that landed at Zoho during the cutover window.

7

Close or downgrade your Zoho subscription

After a week of verifying nothing's missing, downgrade or close the Zoho mailbox. If you were on the free tier, simply stop using it. Zoho will recycle the account after a long idle window.

Troubleshooting

imapsync authentication fails against Zoho.
Regenerate the app password in Step 2; the one Zoho shows is one-time-visible and copy/paste can drop trailing spaces. If 2FA is off entirely, app passwords may not be enabled. Turn 2FA on first.
Zoho is in a different region (zoho.eu, zoho.in, zoho.com.au).
Use the regional IMAP host: imap.zoho.eu, imap.zoho.in, or imap.zoho.com.au. The free-tier US-based mailboxes use imap.zoho.com.
What about storage limits?
Zoho Free is 5 GB per user. MailSprout Starter is 10 GB shared across all your accounts on all your domains. Most one-person migrations fit fine on Starter. If you had a team with several packed Zoho mailboxes, do the math on aggregate usage first; Growth's 30 GB is built for that case.

Set up your domain first

GoDaddy→

The #1 registrar by market share. Most small businesses start here.

Namecheap→

Popular among indie founders and developers.

Cloudflare→

Power-user favorite. DNS panel is the cleanest in the business.

Porkbun→

Indie-hacker darling. Fast, cheap, fair pricing.

Squarespace Domains→

Includes former Google Domains customers who got migrated here.

Hover→

Long-time favorite of founders and writers.

Stuck on a step?

Email support@mailsprout.io with the step number and a screenshot. We reply same day.