New email address? How to forward from one account to another

By Kim Komando

March 15, 2020

© Ekachai Lohacamonchai | Dreamstime

Email has been around for decades, but email providers have never made it clear how users can transfer messages between accounts. Luckily, it’s a very easy process.

If you’ve amassed quite a number of email accounts over the years and you’re simply looking for a way to move all of them to one easily accessible place, tap or click here for instructions on how to do so.

But for those who have tired of the older, less professional, usernames or who want to forward all messages from one account to another, try migrating your emails. Not sure how? It’s surprisingly simple. Here’s how to migrate emails to and from the top platforms.

How to migrate email to and from Gmail

Gmail is one of the most popular email providers, but if you’re curious about other platforms, tap or click here for Gmail alternatives. And if you’re ready to leave Gmail behind, forwarding your messages to another account is simple.

1. On a computer, sign in to your Gmail account.
2. Click the gear icon on the top right of the screen, then click Settings.
3. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
4. Click Add a forwarding address button and enter the email you’d like to forward to.
5. Enter the email address and click Next, then follow the onscreen prompts and you’re done.

Now, all your Gmail messages will be sent to your new email address.

If you’re happy with Gmail and would like to import messages from another account, Google offers a handy setting to help.

1. On a computer, sign in to your Gmail account.
2. Click the gear icon on the top right of the screen, then click Settings.
3. Click the Accounts and Import tab.
4. In the Import mail and contacts section, click Import mail and contacts.
5. Follow the onscreen prompts and choose which email account you’d like to import from and what, specifically, you’d like to import from the account.

Google notes this email import feature works for Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL and other email services. Though Gmail isn’t listed, you can still migrate your email from one Gmail account to another. You’ll just have to make one simple change on the Gmail account you’d like to migrate from.

1. On a computer, navigate to Gmail and sign in to the account you’d like to import from.
2. Click the gear on the top-right of the screen, then click Settings.
3. Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
4. Toggle Enable POP for all mail on.
5. Choose what you’d like Gmail to do with the original messages.
6. Click Save changes.

How to migrate email from Yahoo!

Yahoo Mail does not have a dedicated import feature like Gmail, but migrating email from Yahoo to somewhere else is made easy with forwarding. Here’s how:

1. On a computer, navigate to Yahoo Mail and sign in to the account you’d like to forward from.
2. Click the gear on the top right of the screen, then click More Settings.
3. Click Mailboxes on the left side of the screen.
4. In your Mailbox List, click on the email account you’re currently accessing.
5. Under the Forwarding section, enter the email address you’d like to forward to.
6. Click Verify.
7. Follow the onscreen prompts.

Now, all emails sent to your Yahoo account will be forwarded to your favored account.

How to migrate email from Outlook

Depending on which version of Outlook you use, the options you have to back up data and import and export can vary, but the simplest method of moving email from Outlook to another provider is by way of forwarding.

1. On a computer, navigate to Outlook and sign in to the account you’d like to forward from.
2. Click the gear on the top right of the screen, then click View all Outlook settings.
3. In the Mail tab, click Forwarding.
4. Select the Enable Forwarding checkbox.
5. Enter the email address you’d like to forward mail to and decide if you want to keep copies of the forwarded messages in your Outlook account.
6. Click Save.

Now, all emails sent to your Outlook account will be forwarded to your new account.

Once your email is centralized within one account, you might receive a metric ton of emails you aren’t interested in. If spam becomes an issue, tap or click here to learn how to cut down the amount of spam in your inbox.

Tags: email, email providers, Gmail, Google, Outlook, settings, spam, Yahoo Mail