Many of you may have been using a Google account for a considerable time, relying on it for various services and online activities. However, there might come a time when you need to transfer all your data to a new account.
Numerous reasons could lead to the decision of migrating data from one Google account to another. It is crucial to understand that our Google account holds a vast amount of valuable information, including email messages, contacts, personal calendars, and more. Therefore, transferring all this data to a new account with a different username requires careful consideration and the knowledge of both old and new account credentials.
It’s important to note that Google does not offer a direct function to seamlessly transfer content from one account to another. Additionally, during the migration process, there is a possibility of data loss from the source account when moving it to the destination account. Therefore, it is essential to proceed with caution and consider alternative methods for transferring data safely and efficiently.
Transfer emails from one Gmail account to another
Transferring email messages from one Google account to another requires a manual process, as there is no automated option available. To begin the migration, access Gmail using the old account credentials and enable the IMAP email system. Ensure that the “Enable IMAP” option is checked under Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP mail.
Next, go to Settings > Tags and verify that all the system tags you wish to back up have “Show in IMAP” checked.
Once IMAP is activated for Gmail, you can use an IMAP compatible email client to facilitate the transfer of your emails. For instance, you can use Thunderbird on Windows. Install Thunderbird and enter the old Gmail account details to access the emails from that account. Then, within the Thunderbird application, add the access data for the new Gmail account. Now, you should be able to see both the old Gmail account and the new one within Thunderbird’s manager, enabling you to proceed with the email migration process.
Configure Thunderbird
To facilitate the migration process, we will use the “Copy Folder Mod” plugin from Thunderbird.
After installing the add-on, go to the settings of your old Gmail account in Thunderbird and ensure that the option “Keep messages from this account on this computer” is activated under the Synchronization and Storage section.
By doing this, we will copy the content of the old Gmail account to our local computer in Thunderbird. Right-click on the top list of the old account to transfer its content to a local folder. Please note that this process may take several hours.
Once the transfer of the old account to the local computer is complete, we can proceed to move the emails to the new account. Keep in mind that the root directory of the local computer is “Local Folders,” and for the new Gmail account, it is “USER@gmail.com.” While copying, ensure that you check the confirmation message for each folder to maintain the folder structure intact.
Migrate Google Drive data
Migrating between two Gmail accounts is a straightforward process. Begin by accessing the old Google Drive account and selecting all the documents you wish to transfer to the new account, for instance, by using Ctrl + A.
Once the files are selected, right-click and choose “Share” to add the email address of the new account. Ensure that the sharing preference is set to “Editor.”
Next, without deselecting any files, right-click again and select “Share,” but this time, from the “Editor” dropdown menu, choose “Transfer Ownership.” This will complete the migration, transferring the ownership of the selected documents to the new Gmail account.
Move the Calendar from one account to another
Transferring calendars from one Google account to another is a straightforward process. Start by accessing your old Google Calendar and navigate to Settings. From there, select “Import and export” and export the calendar to be passed on to the new Google account.
Next, access Google Calendar from the new account and create a new calendar to import the old one. As you can see, this is a quick and simple process that allows you to easily move your calendars between accounts.