How do I Transfer My Optimum Email to Gmail? Explained

How do I transfer my Optimum email to Gmail?” is not a question that anyone should struggle with. That is why I have made this guide that contains all the steps for a successful switch.

For a long time, people with @optimum.net and @optonline.net domains have been looking for an alternative service. It’s not the lack of options but the difficulty in leaving behind a suboptimal service that is holding back users. Not anymore.

Tired of overwhelming spam and tight storage limits in your email communication. Dont worry, with our straightforward guide, it becomes easy to move from an Optimum account to a Gmail account, regardless of your technical expertise.

If you are ready to make a change, then you are at the right place. Here, we will teach you exactly what to do step by step.

Why do People Want to Transfer Optimum Email to Gmail?

As many of its existing customers know, Optimum Mail (or Optonline) is now a legacy service. The company itself has stopped allotting new email IDs to its subscribers. This gives a very strong indication that maintenance of the email service is not a priority for Optimum anymore. Moreover, all these other limitations and drawbacks of using Optimum Mail can be avoided by adopting Gmail:

• The Optimum paid account is capped at 5 GB of storage. On the other hand, Gmail gives 15 GB in its free tier.
• Optimum permanently deletes your account and all its contents if your account stays dormant for 90 days. Google gives a 2-year grace period to its inactive user accounts.
• Despite having spam filters, many people report a massive increase in junk mail while using Optimum. Gmail, in comparison, has a state-of-the-art spam filter.

Although Optimum hasn’t made any official announcements regarding the withdrawal of maintenance for currently active email accounts, its behavior suggests that it may soon disable all email accounts or at least announce an expiry date. Many users have reported significant problems in getting their questions resolved and support requests answered.

Now that you are 100% sure that a one-to-one transfer is what you need, here is the most basic and manual way to do that.

A Video Tutorial to Transfer Optimum Email to Gmail

Step 1: Get Your Optimum Mail Details Ready

This process will import all the existing emails from your Optimum inbox into your Gmail account. It can take some time, so be patient. Before you begin, make sure you have the following information handy:

• Your full Optimum email address (e.g., [email protected])
• Your Optimum email password
• The POP3 server settings.

Don’t worry, if you don’t know the details, we have the Optimum IMAP/POP3 Server Settings here:

• Server: mail.optimum.net
• Port: 995
• Security: SSL/TLS enabled

Step 2: Open Your Gmail Account Settings

Log in to your Gmail account on a desktop computer. Click the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner, then click the “See all settings” button.

Step 3: Navigate to ‘Accounts and Import’

In the settings menu, click on the “Accounts and Import” tab. Look for the section named “Check mail from other accounts” and click on “Add a mail account.”

Step 4: Enter Your Optimum Email Credentials

A yellow pop-up window will appear.

Enter your full Optimum email address (e.g., [email protected]) and click Next.

Select “Import emails from my other account (POP3)” and click Next.

On the next screen, enter your details:

• Username: Your full Optimum email address again.
• Password: Your Optimum email password.
• POP Server: Make sure it says mail.optimum.net and the Port is 995.

Step 5: Choose Your Import Options

You’ll see a few checkboxes. Here’s what they mean and what we recommend:

• Leave a copy of the retrieved message on the server: Check this box. This is very important. It ensures your emails remain on Optimum’s servers as a backup until you are sure the transfer is complete.
• Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail: Check this box. This keeps your information secure during the transfer.
• Label incoming messages: Check this box. Gmail will automatically create a label with your Optimum email address. This is incredibly helpful for keeping your imported messages organized.
• Archive incoming messages (Skip the Inbox): Do not check this box unless you want your imported emails to bypass your main inbox.
• Click the “Add Account” button to finish.

Transport Multiple Optimum Email Accounts to Gmail Accounts Together

The SysTools IMAP migration software, available for both Windows and Mac, reduces the complex, multipart email transfer into a smooth, error-free experience.

This tool uses a GUI-only, zero-script approach to inter-account email transfer and comes with a built-in date filter. So, you are in control of what data from when gets sent where.

Here is the set of steps anyone can follow to transfer an Optimum email to a Gmail account via this tool.

Step 1. Download a copy, activate it, go over to the workload section, mark “Emails,” apply the date filter, and press “Next.”

Step 2. Use the source section to validate the IMAP record of the Optimum server.

Step 3. Do a similar IMAP server validation for the destination Gmail server.

Step 4. Click on “Download template.” You will receive a CSV file. Put in the source and destination credentials, and upload it back into the tool via the “Import” button.

Step 5. Finally, preview the user screen, adjust the details if you want, prioritize a few accounts over others, and click “Validate & Migrate.”

Best Practices to Follow While Migrating from Optonline to Google Mail

Set up an auto-forwarding rule in your Optimum account so that all the new emails get diverted to your new account & you don’t have to migrate them again.

• Step 1. Log in to your OptOnline account >> click on “Options”(upper right corner) >> “Mail” >> “Settings” >> “Mail Forwarding”.
• Step 2. Mark the box that says “Enable Forwarding” >> Type your [email protected] address >> Click “Save”.

Create an auto reply to inform the sender about your new email address. You should also send a preemptive email to every Optimum email contact.

Make sure your Gmail account has enough extra space to hold all the new Optonline mail you are bringing in from outside. Although Gmail provides 15 GB of space, which is nearly 3 times what you have on Optimum. That 15 GB is shared among many different services like Google Drive, Photos, Chat, etc. So, in practical terms, the space you have for mail is not 15 GB but less than that.

On your Gmail settings page, scroll to the bottom. There, you should see a horizontal bar graph along with a % value of occupied storage. Use it to anticipate whether or not the Optimum mail emails will fit, and purchase extra storage if you think that the remaining capacity is not enough. Otherwise, you will face a new Gmail running out of space issue.

Don’t forget to update all the external registration sites where you used the OptOnline mail and replace it with the new Gmail address.

Double-check your account credentials before starting the manual transfer of email data between the two platforms.

Conclusion

You can now stop wondering “how do I transfer my Optimum email to Gmail?” and take action according to the plan we proposed in this write-up. Although you are free to choose the free solution, threats of data loss, duplicate emails, and wasting too much time on such a trivial task are just some of the possible issues you might face. On the other hand, the professional solution is leagues above the competition and provides a smooth transfer of email data, whether you are on a Mac or a PC. Check out the free trial and experience for yourself the intuitiveness of the pro-grade solution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Will I get to keep my Optonline mail after switching providers?

No, unlike many other internet service providers, Optimum has no email-only plan and deletes your email address + data shortly after. So, when you decide to change your provider, you must switch over to an email service like Gmail to continue receiving messages via email.

Q. Do I still get an Optimum email address if I buy their service?

No, Optimum email (formerly known as Optonline webmail) stopped providing new email addresses for both new and existing customers on May 4, 2021. However, if you had been allocated an email address before that, it still works.

Q. Why is Gmail better than Optimum Mail?

Any email metric you consider, storage, speed, spam filter, Gmail outclasses Outmail. Plus, with a Gmail account, you become part of the Google workspace that has many more features and functions for you to use that are not there in Optonline mail.

Q. I want to move my entire family’s Optimum mail accounts to Gmail. Is there a shortcut?

Yes, all you have to do is use the automated utility we have described in this post. It can quickly transfer multiple Optmail accounts to Gmail, which otherwise would have taken a lot of time and effort.