11

Following the instructions here, I transferred most of my email from my old [email protected] account to a custom domain managed by Google.

In my new Gmail account, POP3 is setup to pull from my old Gmail account. In my old Gmail account, forwarding is setup to forward new mail to my new Gmail account.

Do I need both? Is one better than the other?

Also, how do I transfer email in my old Gmail Drafts folder to my new Gmail Drafts folder?

2 Answers 2

17

You do not need both. I suggest using mail forwarding because you will receive mail from your old account more quickly than using the POP3 method. Forwarded mail seems to be sent nearly instantly, while POP depends on the new account to poll from the old account. GMail varies the polling frequency based on how often the polled account gets mail. The delay could be as long as an hour. I don't think POP3 will ever be as fast as forwarding.

POP3 forwarding has one advantage: it logs into your old account and keeps it alive. This does not apply for GMail, but some email accounts are closed if inactive. My .edu university account is closed if it is not accessed for a certain period of time. In this case it may make sense to enable both: to get undelayed forwards and keep your account active.

3
  • Good answer. That's exactly why I chose forwarding over POP (I'm reading from other Gmail accounts).
    – Senseful
    Commented Nov 16, 2010 at 10:57
  • I always had forwarding on, but noticed that some (rather important, sadly) emails didn't go through (refused by gmail server). I then added that account to gmail directly and worked through POP3 fetching. Those messages now did go through but the polling was far too slow. Just now, I switched forwarding back on and left the POP3 fetching on too. All seems to work fine, and with some luck I'll have the best of both worlds (speed and reliability). (I am talking about one non-gmail account, of course)
    – Domus
    Commented Jan 31, 2019 at 16:35
  • Is there a way to also sync sent mails?
    – Qwerty
    Commented Jul 23 at 13:57
2

No you don't need both. One is enough, so you can disable the forwarding from the old account.

As for the Drafts there is nothing you can do about them. The easies way is to send them to your new account as a regular mail.

3
  • Is there any advantage to using POP3 over forwarding?
    – Greg
    Commented Nov 15, 2010 at 21:08
  • Well since they are both on Google I wouldn't say so.. but I think POP3 looks more right :)
    – Lipis
    Commented Nov 15, 2010 at 22:48
  • @Greg: see @Leftium's answer.
    – Senseful
    Commented Nov 16, 2010 at 10:58

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.