How to Transfer Sympatico Email to Gmail in 4 Ways

Are you a Sympatico.ca email account user who prefers Gmail for its better features? Then you are at the right place. Here, I will teach you exactly what to do to transfer Sympatico email to Gmail in not one, not two, not three, but four different ways.

Moreover, don’t be under the impression that you are alone. I have helped many other; many other Sympatico users to make the switch, and I will help you too.

In this blog, I’ll teach every step you need to take, plus all the things you must avoid for a successful migration. Let’s start by looking at reasons why users prefer Gmail over Sympatico.

Why You Should Transfer Sympatico Email to Gmail ASAP?

Perhaps the most sought-after change is the ability to use your email from anywhere. Sympatico, unlike Gmail, is geo-locked. Which means you must be in Canada to access your mail. In a world where intercontinental travel is almost a work requirement, such restrictions hamper productivity. You have to rely on VPNs to look at your emails, but even then, access is not guaranteed.

Gmail is available worldwide; whether you are in North America, traveling to Europe, or visiting Australia, Gmail will work the same.

Aside from accessibility, storage is another area where Sympatico lags. Although the ISP under which you get a Sympatico account claims to have no upper ceiling on the number of emails you can keep in your account, the reality is quite different.

The moment your account crosses an invisible threshold, you get bombarded with constant alerts that your account has too many emails. Moreover, you will notice that emails take more time to open, the UI becomes sluggish, etc. No such problem happens in Gmail; even though there is no unlimited space, the storage you get is clearly defined.

You can see how much is used and how much is left. If, by chance, you didn’t follow best practices of email management and your Gmail is running out of space, you can always fix it pretty easily.

If you are looking to ditch Sympatico for another ISP, you will not only lose your email access; all the emails will also be permanently deleted. So giving over to Gmail first is the smartest choice.

Other factors, like a better spam filtration system and access to the latest AI with Gemini models, make Gmail a future-proof package for email.

Please note, if you are also moving from other ISP-based accounts, you may want to check our detailed guides on transferring Bell email to Gmail and moving Optimum email to Gmail.

Now that we have covered all the major reasons, let’s see the most basic method with which anyone can attempt a DIY switch.

Traditional Way to Move @sympatico.ca Mails to @gmail.com Address

Here, we are going to use Gmail’s internal import mechanism and transfer Sympatico email to Gmail. Given below are the steps. Read and try to do it yourself.

• Step 1. Open your Gmail account on a browser of your choice.
• Step 2. Then, take the cursor to the settings cog at the top-right corner of the screen & click it.
• Step 3. From the drop-down list, click on the ‘See all settings’ option.
• Step 4. On the settings page, switch to the Accounts and Import tab.
• Step 5. Then, click on the ‘Import mail and contacts’ link. (3rd section in the list)
• Step 6. A small box opens up in the top left corner. Fill in the details as they appear and complete the setup.
• Step 7. If everything is done correctly, you should soon see all your Sympatico emails right inside your Gmail account.

Despite how easy this process sounds on paper, implementing it in actuality is quite difficult. You can get all sorts of errors. These range from simple typos to severe issues, such as insufficient storage in the destination Gmail account.

As there are no filters to limit the emails to a particular date range. Moreover, as Sympatico provides no storage information, you are going in blind, so this import may even clog your Gmail account.

Other manual methods offer more control over what gets transferred and what is left in the original account. So let us check them out too.

Forwarding Mail from One Account to Another

Users might have thought of this method on their own. In theory, this sounds pretty straightforward. All you have to do is select emails from the source Sympatico ID and send them to the Gmail ID. However, that’s where the problems lie. Let me explain to you the forwarding method, then discuss the major limitation that outright disqualifies this method.

• Step 1. Log in to the correct account to transfer your Sympatico email to Gmail.
• Step 2. Then, open the message, click the Forward button.
• Step 3. In the new draft, type the Gmail email address in the “To” field, and then click Send.

The limitation I was talking about is that forwarding permanently alters the metadata of an email message. So this is not the same message but rather a new message.

If you check the raw original message, you can see the difference in the header section pretty clearly. In industries where compliance and protocols reign supreme, forwarding may not be possible at all.

However, at the same time, if metadata data isn’t something you care about preserving, then forwarding is a choice you could go with.

Open Sympatico webmail, go to the Settings (gear icon) > Mail Forwarding, enable forwarding, enter your new Gmail address, choose whether to keep a copy, and then select Save.

Then repeat the same thing over and over again untill all the mail is in its intended location.

Accompany this method with an email rule to reduce your manual work. Add an auto forwarding rule in your Sympatico account that pushes every incoming email directly to your Gmail account.

Please note that spam filters act before the rules take effect, so any email your Sympatico account marks as junk may never reach your Gmail inbox.

Direct webmail-to-webmail transfer has enough downsides that prompt me to introduce another method for you to use for a Sympatico email to Gmail transfer.

Set Both Accounts in a Single Email Client for Direct Transfer

Email clients are used by many working professionals for their countless features. However, one underutilized feature is the ability to drag and drop messages between accounts. That’s what we are going to use to transfer Sympatico email to Gmail.

All you have to do is select a suitable client (Thunderbird or Outlook will do just fine). Then add both your existing Sympatico and Gmail accounts to the same client.

After that, open two instances of the same client on your PC. On one side, adjust the UI to view just the Sympatico emails, and on the other pane, open Gmail.

Then select one or many emails, hold your cursor > Drag and drop emails. Repeat this as many times as you wish. As Gmail accounts sync with each other, any changes you make to your account in a client will automatically reflect everywhere you have this Gmail account.

Despite this, the method is quite risky, especially in accounts where there is a lot of data. First, you risk duplicating a single email multiple times. Then another risk is missing out on important messages just because you forgot to select them.
Instead of dealing with all this, there is a super simple method that handles all this for you. All you need to do is click a few times. Let me tell you all about it.

How Professionals Transfer Sympatico Email to a Gmail Account

Using the SysTools IMAP Migration Tool, anyone can very easily move all their emails between two different email service providers.

Download a copy today and follow these steps to move the first 100 emails for free:

Step 1. On the setup screen, let all settings remain as they were, just add a date filter if you feel the need for it.

Step 2. Then, on the source page, toggle the dropdown and scroll all the way to the bottom of the list and select Others. Once that is done, add these details in the appropriate field: imap.bell.net | Port: 993 | and Validate. Hit Next.

Step 3. Likewise, on the destination screen, toggle the dropdown, and this time select the first option in the list, which would be Gmail. The tool will automatically fetch the port number and server name. Just validate and hit Next.

Step 4. After that, you need to download the template and fill it with the appropriate details. For Gmail password columns, make sure you generate an app password for Gmail and use it; don’t type in your regular password. However, you can use your regular password for the Sympatico account, no issues.

Step 5. Finally, all that’s left to do is select, prioritize, and validate the user list. Then start migration.

Also consider the top-rated IMAP Backup software to preserve your Sympatico data beyond its regular lifetime.

Author’s Verdict on the Best Way to Transfer Sympatico Email to Gmail

Out of all the methods I have discussed here, the tool is the only one that offers speed with security. The ease you get cannot be compared to any other method in the list. Not to mention the filters and migration reporting facility.

That’s why many IT admins and even average users choose it as their go-to utility for all things IMAP, including this scenario of Sympatico to Gmail transfer.

Quick Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. Is there a way to forward new Sympatico emails to Gmail automatically?

Yes, you can do this by enabling forwarding in your Sympatico email settings as explained in an earlier part of this text.

Q2. Will this also move my contacts to Gmail?

No, contact moving is not possible by any of the methods described here. For that, you’ll need to manually export/import contacts or sync them through an email client.

Q3. Does Gmail delete emails from Sympatico after import?

Only if you uncheck the “Leave a copy on the server” option while configuring.

Q4. Can I access Sympatico on the Gmail app directly?

Yes, by adding it as an IMAP account inside the Gmail app.

Q5. Which method is best?

For users with only one Sympatico account, Gmail’s internal method will work just fine. For multi-account migration, the tool is the best solution, no question about it.