Deleting VM account, viewing historic emails (via IMAP) in Gmail account

[FatSam]

Hi,

Hope you all had a good Christmas.

I currently link my Blueyonder.co.uk (BY) email account via IMAP to my Gmail account.

If I leave VM, and therefore lose my BY account, will I still be able to view historic emails sent to my BY account through my Gmail* account? Obviously I won’t be able to see new ones, I know that, but it’s all the ones I’ve received previously.

My understanding is that IMAP is a view to the email server. However, to partially test this, I just deleted a recent email from my BY account but I could still see it via my Gmail* account. I’d like to think all those emails remain.

* In theory what happens shouldn’t be limited to Gmail, but should apply to any provider you use to view emails via IMAP, eg iCloud, or, heaven forbid, Outlook Live.

Sorry, but I’m only interested in a definitive response, not what people think might happen. Many thanks in advance and a happy new year to all fellow Community members.

[Hayley_S]

Hello @FatSam,

Welcome back! Thanks for posting.

Hope you have a lovely New Year.

The Email registered to us would be deleted after 90 days, so if you leave we suggest you create a new email with outlook or other emails to replace this and transfer any emails you want to save.

Many thanks,

[用心棒 · Accepted solution]

---

@FatSam wrote:
⋮

If I leave VM, and therefore lose my BY account, will I still be able to view historic emails sent to my BY account through my Gmail* account? Obviously I won’t be able to see new ones, I know that, but it’s all the ones I’ve received previously.

My understanding is that IMAP is a view to the email server. However, to partially test this, I just deleted a recent email from my BY account but I could still see it via my Gmail* account. I’d like to think all those emails remain.
⋮

Those emails already downloaded will continue to exist under your Gmail account after your blueyonder.co.uk is deleted.

FYI Virgin Media email accounts can only be accessed via the POP3 protocol in Gmail (AFAIK).

―
I'm a Very Insightful Person, I'm here to share knowledge, I don't work for Virgin Media. Learn more
Have I helped? Click Mark as Helpful Answer and solved, or use  Kudos to say thanks

[coenoby]

---

@用心棒 wrote:

---

FYI Virgin Media email accounts can only be accessed via the POP3 protocol in Gmail (AFAIK).

---

Certainly the web based version of  Gmail does only support downloads via POP3 but the Gmail Android app supports IMAP (just like any regular email client) so perhaps @FatSam is using that?

On the other had the results of the test deleting an email from the Blueyonder webmail account ("I could still see it via my Gmail* account.") certainly suggests that POP3 is being used rather than IMAP so we cannot say for certain one way or the other. (Sorry FatSam but we just cannot be definitive 😉 )

Of course if FatSam really is using IMAP as posted then once the underlying Blueyonder email account disappears the copies in the Gmail app are at grave risk of disappearing with it so the Blueyonder emails need to be backed up somewhere safe.

Sign into the Blueyonder webmail account and then select individual messages you wish to download or, if you want to download the contents of a complete Webmail folder just click on "Select all"

Then click on icons 1 and then 2 as they come up:

You will then get the option to save these as a zip file and that file will then be downloaded and available for you to store where you wish

When you open the zip file you will be able to click on individual  EML files. You can open those messages using the "Open with " option using a free email client such as Microsoft Mail orThunderbird.

Coenoby

[FatSam]

---

@用心棒 wrote:

Those emails already downloaded will continue to exist under your Gmail account after your blueyonder.co.uk is deleted.

FYI Virgin Media email accounts can only be accessed via the POP3 protocol in Gmail (AFAIK).

---

Thanks @用心棒,

You're absolutely right, my mistake. With so much linked by IMAP and mail accessed online I almost forgot POP3 still exists (I always associated it with a desktop version of something like Outlook). So that's great news, I should be able to keep my historic emails.

Have a great new year!

[FatSam]

Thank you @coenoby

Was my fault, I assumed IMAP instead of POP3 but thanks for the response 👍. Have a great new year.

[Zach_R]

Hi @FatSam,

Thanks for your posts. I'm so glad to see that our community members were able to help you get a resolution to your email query.

Let us know if there's anything more that we can assist you with.

Thanks,