IMAP Import
If you’re coming from a provider other than Google – Fastmail, Hetnet, iCloud, your own server, or anywhere that speaks IMAP – you can bring your mail across with an IMAP import. Unlike Google Sync, an IMAP import is a one-shot copy: we read your old account once, mirror it into Cirrux, and that’s it. You can re-run the import as often as you like to catch new mail.
How it works
Set up an import
Go to Settings → Sync & Import, choose IMAP, and enter the server, port, username, and password of the account you’re leaving. Cirrux discovers the folders and you pick which ones to import and which Cirrux label they map to.
Re-run to catch up
IMAP imports don’t run continuously. When new mail arrives at your old address, trigger the import again from the same page – Cirrux checks every message and skips anything it already has, so re-running never creates duplicates. New messages are added, and existing ones get their labels updated if needed.
If something looks off, the easiest fix is to delete the IMAP connection and create a fresh one. The dedup is per-message, not per-connection.
Read, unread, and starred state
IMAP import preserves the read/unread flag and starred flag on each message, so your old inbox doesn’t suddenly look full of unread mail after the import.
Source rate limits
Some providers (Fastmail in particular) enforce strict per-minute IMAP limits. On large mailboxes the import will pace itself to stay within those limits, so imports can take a few hours to complete. The import log shows progress and surfaces any messages that couldn’t be fetched.
If you see a large number of failures or ignored messages, drop us a note at help@cirrux.co and we’ll take a look.
During the cutover: forward at the source
Because IMAP import is a one-shot copy, anything that arrives at your old address between import runs won’t appear in Cirrux until you run the import again. While you’re still flipping DNS and telling people about your new address, the simplest way to avoid missing mail is to set up an automatic forward at your old provider, pointing at your Cirrux address. New mail then flows into Cirrux in real time, and you can keep the import around for one final catch-up sweep when you’re ready to retire the old account.