Will I lose my existing emails stored in Webmail if I change the DNS MX records?

Question

I want to point my MX records from my existing server (Hostgator) to Google mail, to receive in Google my new emails. If I don't delete the email addresses that I set up in Webmail, can I still access my old emails stored there, or will they be lost when I change the MX records in the DNS?

Answer 1

If you don't delete or cancel your eMail service with Hostgator then your existing eMails should remain in your Webmail account. I'm guessing as I don't use Hostgator that you access your webmail via an address like webmail.yourdomain.com or directly via the Hostgator webmail (again a guess). If you use webmail.yourdomain.com then just leave this entry in your DNS and you will be able to continue accessing it as you do now once you change your MX records to Google.

Depending on how much mail you have in your current Hostgator account you could look at using Mailbox Imapsync https://imapsync.lamiral.info/X/ which will allow you to 'move' your eMails from Hostgator to Google Mail. I've used ImapSync a few times and it works well but I have not tried to send anything to Google. If you do try it with Google please let me know if it works for you.