How do you migrate to a new mail host?

[JohnMike]

Any idea how to ensure a smooth migration to a new mail provider?

Can anyone list the likely options. I haven't looked for many years so I have no idea what is out there nor what the likely costs might be?

Can I keep my existing mail addresses and have them act as a pass through to some other service?

[BritTim]

Originally Posted by JohnMike

Any idea how to ensure a smooth migration to a new mail provider?

Can anyone list the likely options. I haven't looked for many years so I have no idea what is out there nor what the likely costs might be?

Can I keep my existing mail addresses and have them act as a pass through to some other service?

Switching to a new mail service is always a pain ... worse even than the issues we have been dealing with today.

The considerations vary a lot depending on whether you were using your own domain (which I suggest:, in spite of some work to set up initially, because it ultimately offers much more flexibility).

Assuming you have been using your Fastmail account name and aliases (rather than email addresses based on your own domain) you will need to

• Plan a migration across to a new set of email addresses
• Find an email service that has the features and reliability you need
• Redirect incoming emails received at FM to your new mail service. The FM classic interface has features easily accomplishing this. Optionally, depending on how quickly you want your correspondents to switch to using your new addresses, you can also set up a "Vacation Response". This can inform senders that you are still receiving at the old address but they should update their Address Book with the new address to use it in future.
• Move existing email messages to your new email account. How this is best done will depend on the new service. However, it will often involve using an external mail client to "Move" messages between FM and the new server. This is typically time consuming but not difficult.

Depending on your personal circumstances, there are going to be many details to deal with. I have helped several clients with their migrations from FM, and there are features available here that are hard to find elsewhere and very useful. I advise people who rely on email to have contingency plans (own domain helps) but only to make the move if truly necessary.

I must admit, the events of the last few hours make me question FM's suitability as a service for serious business use. It is incomprehensible to me that anyone with any experience could make these changes with no notice and no obvious method (for regular users) to get back to the interface they are familiar with. (FM ... REGULAR USERS ARE TOO BUSY TO MONITOR THE FM BLOG AND THESE FORUMS!) However, I would counsel against precipitate actions that could just make the chaos worse.

[SUNTIME]

I must admit, the events of the last few hours make me question FM's suitability as a service for serious business use. It is incomprehensible to me that anyone with any experience could make these changes with no notice and no obvious method (for regular users) to get back to the interface they are familiar with. (FM ... REGULAR USERS ARE TOO BUSY TO MONITOR THE FM BLOG AND THESE FORUMS!) However, I would counsel against precipitate actions that could just make the chaos worse.[/quote]


Absolutely agree...Total betrayal and disgrace by Fastmail.
Apart from the principles,this new change of theirs is nothing but a clean downgrade.
Either they give their clients the option to go back to the old system
or Im definately leaving them now after several years.

[BritTim]

Actually, you can get back to the previous interface (mostly).

1. Log out
2. Go to https://classic.fastmail.fm [Do not be confused that this is still the new interface login screen with a different URL]
3. Click "More" under the password text box. Ensure "Use classic interface" is checked.
4. Provide your FM user and password and press enter

[alirezanasibi]

I just wonder why you are so dissatisfied with new UI while you still have the choice to use older UI.

[BritTim]

Originally Posted by alirezanasibi

I just wonder why you are so dissatisfied with new UI while you still have the choice to use older UI.

I can only answer for myself. I am dissatisfied because it was unannounced and I have spent much of my day dealing with the fallout. Yes, it is possible to largely revert to the previous interface (though some important functionality is still gone). However, the "Use classic interface" hidden behind a tiny "More" link is not going to be seen by most users. My customers are busy people. They are not going to find and browse these forums to find out that they can, indeed, partially get an interface back that they had been using up until yesterday.

[squiggle]

Originally Posted by alirezanasibi

I just wonder why you are so dissatisfied with new UI while you still have the choice to use older UI.

For some of us, it's the disappointment in the new service levels announcement, coupled with this very poorly-planned UI rollout (that many of us simply do not want), that is driving us to migrate to a new email host.

My account is up for renewal this month, and I've been with fastmail since 2004-ish. I'm seriously thinking of migrating to a new host after these last two major snafus under new management.

[sflorack]

Originally Posted by BritTim

They are not going to find and browse these forums to find out that they can, indeed, partially get an interface back that they had been using up until yesterday.

And this is the single, biggest mistake that they've made... Although releasing an interface without a single line of a help documentation composed is right up there!

[Quilleron]

Originally Posted by BritTim

Actually, you can get back to the previous interface (mostly).

1. Log out
2. Go to https://classic.fastmail.fm [Do not be confused that this is still the new interface login screen with a different URL]
3. Click "More" under the password text box. Ensure "Use classic interface" is checked.
4. Provide your FM user and password and press enter

I had a highly customised interface using the
http://fastmail.wikia.com/wiki/NewIn...an_and_Compact customisations (my own) and now the interface - even when switched to classic - thinks I am a 2-year old and need BIG WORDS with so much space it almost looks like a desert.

I've been a long-time fan of Fastmail and was thinking of paying some money for a not-for-profit that I'm running.

The only other suggestion I can make is that everyone install Thunderbird or SeaMonkey and uses that interface rather than the Fastmail one.

I haven't got the time to waste working out how to use this new interface - in my view we should bring a class-action for breach of contract by Opera.

[nighthawk700]

I am having a large amount of trouble using the folders in the new interface. If I want to find messages in subfolders, I can't seem to open the subfolders. They don't have any unread messages in them, and I have it set to not show folders with unread messages. However with the older interface I could still get to those folders, with the new one I can't. Hopefully this is a glitch that will quickly be fixed.

I'm up for renewal in 3 weeks. Previously I renewed for 5 years at a time. I'm probably only going to do one year to see if this is cleaned up. I follow the forums and knew that a new beta was being worked on, but didn't play with it myself. If Fastmail had said "Okay, we plan to switch things over on such and such a date, I would have started experimenting with it a month out. The sudden shift really surprised me.

[hankfoner]

"I must admit, the events of the last few hours make me question FM's suitability as a service for serious business use. It is incomprehensible to me that anyone with any experience could make these changes with no notice and no obvious method (for regular users) to get back to the interface they are familiar with. (FM ... REGULAR USERS ARE TOO BUSY TO MONITOR THE FM BLOG AND THESE FORUMS!)"

I've been off these forums for a while, but if a stalwart like BritTim is writing this sort of stuff I am seriously worried - and so should FM be too.

[flinchlock]

Originally Posted by nighthawk700

I am having a large amount of trouble using the folders in the new interface. If I want to find messages in subfolders, I can't seem to open the subfolders.

There is a tiny triangle to the left of the folder that has sub-folders. Try clicking on that triangle.

Mike

[nighthawk700]

Originally Posted by flinchlock

There is a tiny triangle to the left of the folder that has sub-folders. Try clicking on that triangle.

Mike

I did. It only shows the folders that have unread items, not the folders with no unread items. I'll try again when I have more time to "play."

[flinchlock]

Originally Posted by nighthawk700

I did. It only shows the folders that have unread items, not the folders with no unread items. I'll try again when I have more time to "play."

Oops... I did not correctly understand what the problem is.

Mike

[SUNTIME]

Originally Posted by BritTim

Actually, you can get back to the previous interface (mostly).

1. Log out
2. Go to https://classic.fastmail.fm [Do not be confused that this is still the new interface login screen with a different URL]
3. Click "More" under the password text box. Ensure "Use classic interface" is checked.
4. Provide your FM user and password and press enter

Thank you BritTim,I did manage to login to the "Classic version"
but its still not the same.I will give Firefox a try as well but I doubt I will find a way back
to my personal interface that I had 2 days ago...Moreover this is taking up my time wich is wrong.
Anyway,Im done with Fastmail...