Importing emails from PC to IPad?

[Lgb0250]

Posted this on the IPad 3 forum and received no response so I thought I'd try here.

I've done a search and found out about importing contacts but am having problems figuring out how to import emails from an old PC into Mail on my IPad! Can this be done and if so, how? They are not stored on the server, only the PC. Thanks.

 

[twerppoet]

It depends on many variables.

On the type of account setup on both PC and iPad. (POP3, IMAP, Exchange)
Your mail provider.
The mail software you are using on the PC.
If the account on the iPad is the same as the PC.

Even then there may not be a good solution, but the above is needed to start looking.

 

[Lgb0250]

It depends on many variables.

On the type of account setup on both PC and iPad. (POP3, IMAP, Exchange)
Your mail provider.
The mail software you are using on the PC.
If the account on the iPad is the same as the PC.

Even then there may not be a good solution, but the above is needed to start looking.

Thanks for your response. I'll try and respond as best I can.

It's a pop account on both the PC and IPad
Earthlink is my provider
Thunderbird is what I'm using on the PC

 

[twerppoet]

Mail isn't going to do it for you then.

With the exception of the Trash, Sent, and other standard folders Mail can't create local folders. With an IMAP or Exchange account you can keep the folders stored on the server, and sync. My recommendation in that case would have been to copy the folders to the server. You could still create a second account, perhaps a GMail account or the @icloud.com account, and copy your folders to them. At that point you could save stuff across accounts to the GMail account on both iPad and computer.

If you get a new account you could just use the online folders, or slowly transfer your traffic to the newer account. Google has the option to access an import POP accounts, to make sure you don't miss emails from those that don't have your new address.

Double check with Earthlink and see if they have an IMAP account options. It would be even easier to change your account setups and transfer your local folders to the server. Last I heard, they did not, but that was a couple years ago. They might have moved forward. It could happen.

Another possibility, if all you need is read only access, is to export the folders in Thunderbird. Depending on the export format you may be able to find a reader app in the App Store. I know there are one or two for the standard Outlook export format (but only one or two).

Finally you could get a third party email client for the iPad. There are a few that handle POP accounts and will create local folders. I have no idea if how you can transfer your current folders to the iPad. I don't really recommend this, but if local folders are an absolute must, third party apps are your only choice for now. ibisMail is the only one that pops to mind at the moment. I haven't looked into it for a long time, so do your own research on this subject.

Good luck.

 

[Lgb0250]

Again, thanks for your reply.

I'm not really worried about folders since I've already created them in the iCloud box in Mail. What I was really interested was just transferring the emails themselves into the iPad and that way I could put them on the folders I've already created!

Way too many to just email myself with so it kind of looks like I'm out of luck. Hard to believe that Apple hasn't addressed this problem. I can't be one of the few that had folders with lots of needed info on their old PC's that would have liked to migrate them to their new toys! I would really like to get rid of my laptop but it looks like I'll have to keep it until I can figure a way around this.

 

[twerppoet]

Set up your iCloud email account in Thunderbird on the PC. I'm reasonably certain this is both possible and easy. After that it should be as simple as selecting and dragging emails from the folders of your Earthlink account to folders in your iCloud account. It will probably take a few minutes or longer for the emails to arrive at their destination.

When I got my @mac.com account (many years ago) almost all my folders were stored locally on the computer. After owning the iPad for a while I got tired of trying to remember what email folders were only on the computer, and which were available everywhere. I moved them all to the server on my (at that time) MobileMe account, and the above is how I did it.

Recently, as part of a different experiment, I moved emails from my iCloud account to my GMail account by dragging them from folder to folder in my computer email client.

So, all in all, I have high hopes that this would work for you.