How to migrate from Gmail to Tobava Mail: a complete step-by-step guide

Leaving Gmail feels risky — years of mail, contacts, and everything signed up with that address. It doesn't have to be. Here's the migration path we recommend, in the order that keeps your old mail intact and nothing falling through the cracks.

Before you start: set aside 30 minutes

The actual switch takes minutes. What takes time is importing years of archived mail in the background, and updating the accounts tied to your old address. Do the first three steps in one sitting, then let the import run.

Step 1: Create your Tobava Mail account

Sign up at mail.tobavamail.com. If you own a domain and want mail at you@yourbusiness.com rather than a shared domain, set that up first — it's much easier to import into the address you actually intend to keep than to migrate twice. Our custom domain guide covers the DNS side.

Step 2: Turn on IMAP access in Gmail

Gmail won't let another client copy your mail until IMAP is enabled.

1. In Gmail, open Settings → See all settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
2. Under IMAP access, select Enable IMAP, then Save Changes.

If your account has 2-Step Verification enabled (it should), you'll also need an App Password rather than your normal Google password — go to your Google Account → Security → 2-Step Verification → App passwords, and generate one for "Mail". Copy it somewhere safe; Google shows it exactly once.

Step 3: Import your existing mail

In Tobava Mail, open Settings and go to the Migration section. Pick Gmail from the provider list and enter:

• Server: imap.gmail.com
• Port: 993 (SSL/TLS)
• Username: your full Gmail address
• Password: the App Password from Step 2

Set your expectations correctly here, because this is where most migrations disappoint people. The importer copies messages and attachments from one folder at a time, in batches — it does not mirror your Gmail label structure, and imported mail arrives in your inbox rather than recreating your old folders. Run it once per folder you actually care about, and check the migration screen for progress.

Imports run server-side, so you can close the tab. A large archive won't come across in a single pass — plan on running the import more than once, and treat forwarding (step 5) as the real safety net rather than assuming everything has landed.

Step 4: Bring your contacts across

In Gmail, open Google Contacts → Export → Google CSV (or vCard). Then in Tobava Mail, open Contacts and use the import option in the sidebar — there are separate buttons for .csv and .vcf. Both work; the CSV importer understands Google's export column names, and entries without an email address are skipped.

Step 5: Forward, don't abandon

Do not delete your Gmail account. Instead, forward it so nothing sent to the old address is lost while you update everything else:

1. In Gmail: Settings → Forwarding and POP/IMAP → Add a forwarding address.
2. Enter your new Tobava Mail address and confirm the verification email.
3. Choose Keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox so you have a safety net during the transition.

Step 6: Update the accounts that matter most

Work through these in priority order — the cost of missing one is a lost password reset:

• Your bank, and anything financial
• Password manager and identity accounts (Apple, Microsoft, Google)
• Domain registrar and any hosting or DNS provider
• Government and tax portals
• Work SaaS tools, then everything else as it trickles in through forwarding

The forwarding rule from Step 5 does the finding for you: anything that still lands in Gmail over the following months is an account you haven't updated yet.

Step 7: Set an auto-reply on the old address (optional)

For a personal address, a short Gmail vacation responder for a few months — "I've moved to name@newdomain.com" — catches human correspondents who have you saved in their address book.

What actually improves after the move

Gmail's business model requires processing message content. Tobava Mail's doesn't: received message bodies are encrypted at rest with AES-256-GCM, outbound mail is DKIM-signed, and there is no ad network or profiling pipeline attached to your inbox. You also get Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Calendar and Meet in the same login — so "leaving Gmail" doesn't mean losing the workspace around it.