Fix problems importing mail

If you’re having problems importing email from another email account, like Outlook or Yahoo, check your other email account’s settings. Make sure:

• The name of the other email's POP server is the same as the one you entered in Gmail
• The other email program allows leaving messages on the server
• The port is either 110 or 995

If filling in the right info doesn’t work or if your other provider doesn’t provide POP access, contact the provider.

If you’re having problems importing your mail from another Gmail address, including one you got through work, school, or another organization, try these steps.

Check your POP settings

Step 1: In the account you want to import from, check that you’ve set up POP.

1. On your computer, open your email account.
2. In the top right, click Settings 👁 Settings
   👁 and then
   See all settings.
3. Open the "Forwarding and POP/IMAP" tab.
4. In the "POP Download" section, check that it says "POP is enabled."

Step 2: In the account you want to import to, check your import settings.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the top right, click Settings 👁 Settings
   👁 and then
   See all settings.
3. Open the "Accounts and Import" tab.
4. In the "Check mail from other accounts" section, select the account you’re trying to import from.
5. Make sure you’re using the following settings:
   • Username: Your full email address (for example, yourname@yourdomain.com)
   • Password: Your Gmail password
   • POP Server: pop.gmail.com
   • Port: 995
   • Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server: Unchecked
   • Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail: Checked
6. If you aren’t getting emails after 2 hours, check for other problems.

Your other account has more emails than Gmail is able to import. You can:

• Delete emails from your other inbox
• Move some emails from your inbox into folders

Try searching for your mail:

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the search bar at the top, enter "in:anywhere" and then your search terms.
3. Press Return or Enter.

You can also check folders in your other email account for mail that didn’t import.

• Check that you entered the right username and password for your other account.
• If you are importing mail from another Gmail address, make sure POP is turned on.
• Try changing your access settings in the account you're importing emails from. You might also need to stop using an extra security step in that account.

Gmail puts all replies to an email in one conversation thread. To view all emails in a thread:

1. Open Gmail.
2. Open an email.
3. At the top right, click Expand all 👁 Expand All Icon
   . The full emails appear.

Gmail can't import emails that are 150 MB or bigger, including any attachments.

Here’s how to search Gmail for emails by size:

1. Open Gmail.
2. In the search box:
   • To search for emails by size, enter size: followed by the size in bytes. For example: size:1000000
   • To search for emails bigger than a certain size, enter larger: followed by the size in bytes. For example: larger:10M
   • To search for emails smaller than a certain size, enter smaller: followed by the size in bytes. For example: smaller:10M

To check the size of an email from a different provider, like Outlook or Yahoo, refer to the other provider’s customer support.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the top right, click Settings 👁 Settings
   👁 and then
   See all settings.
3. Open the "Accounts and Import" tab.
4. In the "Import mail and contacts" section, check whether your import appears.
   • If your import appears in the "Import mail and contacts" section but you can’t find messages, check your old account to see whether it uses POP. If so, it could mean that your old email client deleted messages before they were moved to Gmail.
   • If your import doesn’t appear in "Import mail and contacts," go to the next section.

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. In the top right, click Settings 👁 Settings
   👁 and then
   See all settings 👁 and then
   Accounts and Import.
3. Find the "Check mail from other accounts" section. If your import appears there, click Edit info.
4. Check whether you checked the "Leave a copy of retrieved messages on the server" box.
   • If the box is checked, the emails might have been deleted from the old account before the import started.
   • If the box isn’t checked, the emails aren't in your old account. Emails might have been deleted from your old account before the import started.