Moving from Gmail, Outlook, Yandex or Zoho to ArcMail Without Downtime
Last updated: 03 October 2026
When moving your business mail from Gmail, Outlook, Yandex, Zoho or another provider to ArcMail, two things matter: no message may be lost during the switch, and your old mail should arrive in the new mailbox with its folders. Done in the right order, both are easy.
Coming from a service that is shutting down or now charges? We have separate migration pages with the dates and a price comparison for Turkcell Mailim and Yandex Mail.
The right order
- Create the mailboxes first. Add your domain in Workspace and create each person's address with the same name as before. Don't touch DNS yet; mail keeps arriving at the old provider.
- Move the old mail. Each person starts a data migration in their own mailbox (see below). Large mailboxes can take hours; the old address keeps working meanwhile.
- Switch MX. When the migration is done, change the MX, SPF and DKIM records in DNS to the values shown in the panel and delete the old MX records.
- Run it once more. A few messages may land at the old provider while DNS spreads. Restart the migration a day later; messages already copied are skipped and only new ones come across.
Following this order gives you a switch with no gap in mail. For the setup itself, see the business email setup guide.
How to start a data migration
On mail.arcnar.com, open the account menu at the top right and go to Profilim (My profile) → Veri geçişi (Data migration). Webmail is currently in Turkish.
- Pick the source provider: Gmail, Outlook / Hotmail, Yahoo, Yandex, Zoho Mail, iCloud or Diğer (IMAP) (Other). The server and port fill in automatically.
- Enter the old account's address and an app password (see the table below).
- Start. The screen shows the number of messages copied and the status; you can close the page, the migration keeps running on the server.
- Folders come across with their names. The spam folder is not copied; Gmail's duplicate folders such as "All Mail" and "Important" are skipped too, so your mailbox doesn't fill up twice.
- Mail at the source is not deleted; the old account stays as it is.
- A migration that stopped halfway can be restarted without creating duplicates.
- The source account's password is stored only while the migration runs and is deleted when it finishes.
Where to get an app password
Most providers don't let you connect from outside with your normal password while two-step verification is on. Instead you create an "app password" for that account.
| Provider | Where | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Gmail / Google Workspace | myaccount.google.com/apppasswords | Two-step verification must be on; IMAP must be enabled in Gmail settings |
| Outlook / Microsoft 365 | account.microsoft.com → Security → App passwords | On business 365 accounts the admin may need to enable IMAP |
| Yandex | Yandex ID → Security → App passwords → Mail | IMAP must be enabled in Yandex Mail settings |
| Zoho Mail | Settings → Mail accounts → IMAP access | With two-step verification: accounts.zoho.eu → Security → App passwords. The preset is for Zoho's EU servers; if your account is on zoho.com, choose Other (IMAP) and enter imap.zoho.com |
| Yahoo | Account security → Generate app password | — |
| iCloud | appleid.apple.com → App-specific passwords | — |
If you're coming from a mailbox your hosting company provides, choose Other (IMAP) and usually enter
mail.yourdomain.com as the server (port 993, SSL). The "email client settings" section of their control panel shows the exact value.
Common problems
- "Authentication failed": almost always because the normal password was used. Create an app password and try that.
- "A migration is already running for this mailbox": one migration per mailbox at a time; wait for the current one to finish.
- Migration is very slow: some providers limit how much can be read from outside (Gmail allows roughly 2.5 GB a day). Large mailboxes can take several days; if it stops, just restart it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the migration delete mail from my old account?
No. Data migration only copies; mail in the old account stays as it is.
What if the migration stops halfway?
Restart it. Messages already copied are skipped and no duplicates are created.
When should I switch MX?
After creating the mailboxes and copying the old mail. Run the migration once more a day after the MX change to pick up anything that landed at the old provider in between.