Transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail in A Variety of Ways

I have prepared this guide for all those looking for a way to transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail. Here I have compiled not one, not two, not three, but four different ways in which you can make the switch on your own. Although all methods work, some are significantly better than others, so read through the entire tutorial and make the right choice for yourself.

Let me first explain to you why there is such a rush to change email service providers, especially from Yahoo to Proton.

Reasons to Transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail

Privacy is by far the biggest and perhaps the only reason to choose Proton over Yahoo. Yahoo has been infamous for its huge data breaches and has been compelled to cooperate with U.S. intelligence in the past through secret court orders.

On the other hand, Proton takes user data privacy pretty seriously and comes under Swiss law, one of, if not the most stringent, privacy laws in the world.

Another reason to switch from a @yahoo.com address to a @proton.me account is freedom from ads. For Yahoo, you are the product, and thus it shows ads to generate revenue. However, this practice is quite unpopular, and users are even willing to sacrifice the extra storage to enjoy an ad-free experience. That is exactly what they get with proton.

Proton is open source; all of its code is readily available for public scrutiny, and anyone with technical expertise can easily verify the security claims that Proton offers. None of that is possible with Yahoo, which is already facing a large user exodus due to the recent unpopular change of slashing the Yahoo Mail storage limit from 2 TB to 20 GB.

So you should switch to Proton Mail, as you can’t go back to the old Yahoo UI anymore.

Prepare to Forward Yahoo Mail to Proton

To transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail, my first method is to simply forward all messages. However, before you begin forwarding, make sure the Proton ID is ready to accept the messages and won’t treat them as spam.

To guarantee it, what you can do is add your Yahoo email to the Proton account’s allow list.

Here is how you do it:

• Step 1. Log in to your Proton Mail account.
• Step 2. Click on the Settings cog.
• Step 3. Click All settings.
• Step 4. On the Left menu pane, scroll till you see Filters and click it.
• Step 5. Scroll down a bit and click the Add address or domain button in the Spam, block, and allow lists section.
• Step 6. Choose Allow from the flyout menu.
• Step 7. Keep the radio button on Email and in the Email field, enter your Yahoo mail account.
• Step 8. Press Add account.
• Step 9. The box will close, and a new entry will appear in the list below that will be none other than the @yahoo.com account you just added, along with the list value of allow.
• Step 10. Now go back to your Yahoo account and continue from there.

Transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail One Message At a Time

Follow these steps.

• Step 1. Log in to your Yahoo Mail.
• Step 2. Then, open an existing email.
• Step 3. Click the Forward button (it is a solid arrow icon pointing towards the right).
• Step 4. In the new message draft, add your @proton.me address.
• Step 5. Press Send.
• Step 6. Repeat for every message.

Note, this will only work for messages in your account, so whenever a new email arrives, you have to replicate the process. There is a way to bypass this. Which is by using the Auto Forwarding. However, since 2020, this feature has been premium only, so you need to Yahoo Mail Plus or Access + Forwarding subscription plan for this to work.

Which is counterintuitive, as why would anyone want to pay a premium noncancelable recurring fee for a service they are about to quit?

If you already have the minimum requirements to set up auto forwarding, then you can use these steps.

• Step 1. Log in to Yahoo, click on Settings, then select More Settings.
• Step 2. In the Settings menu, choose Mailboxes
• Step 3. Select the primary mailbox.
• Step 4. Under Forwarding type your forwarding address and hit verify.

As forwarding is out of question for the large majority, let’s move on to another method, which uses a desktop-based email client.

Set up Email Client with Proton Mail Bridge

Use this method to transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail when you dont want to pay for the premium way to auto-forward Yahoo Mail to Proton ID. However, it is important to note that you must subscribe to the premium Proton Mail plan for this to work.

The process would follow this path: first, install an email client (you can choose Thunderbird or Outlook Classic)

Set up your Yahoo Mail account in that particular client. You must also generate a Yahoo Mail app password, as you can’t use your regular password.

Once the Yahoo Mail account is set up inside the client, install the Proton Mail bridge as per the instructions in the official guide.

Then, use the client configuration guide for ProtonMail Bridge, make sure you select the correct platform, as the steps vary slightly depending on the email client.

Once both accounts are set up in the email client. Open two instances of the client and set them up side by side in a split-screen configuration.

Then drag and drop emails from the Yahoo part to the Proton Mail part. Setting up these many support clients and apps is time-consuming, not to mention confusing. So instead, let us learn to use Proton Mail’s built-in mechanism to shift email data.

Use Proton Mail Quick Switch Mechanism

This is the native way to transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail. Here is how you attempt it.

• Step 1. First, log in to Proton Mail > toggle Settings > All settings > Import with easy switch
• Step 2. Scroll to one-time import > Select Yahoo > Pick Emails as the workload
• Step 3. Make a new app password in Yahoo and use it for any credential validation.

Let Proton Mail handle the import.

Transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail with An Automated Tool

The SysTools IMAP to IMAP Transfer Tool is the best in the business. All it needs is the right IMAP server details, and you are good to go.

 

Moreover, unlike other methods that restrict you to single account migration (sometimes even single email migration, as was the case in email forwarding), this tool allows for simultaneous multi-account migration.

You can add your own date filter, get post migration options, and check detailed reporting too.

Given below are the steps with which you can learn to use the tool.

Step 1. Install a copy on your machine, open it, and press Next (The setup screen IMAP endpoints and the Email workload are preset. You can add the date filter if need be.)

Step 2. The source screen is where you need to toggle the drop-down menu and select Yahoo from the list. IMAP Server URL and port number fill in on their own. Validate and hit Next.

Step 3. Likewise, repeat the same step for the destination as well. This time, select Others as the option and fill in the IMAP Server URL and port number on your own.

Step 4. Use the Download plus upload combo to add the user account details.

Step 5. Select, Validate, and Start Migration from Yahoo to Proton Mail.

Conclusion

Now you know what to do to transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail. You can forward your emails, but only one at a time. Using an email client is viable, but you need to complete the confusing setup for it to work. The built-in method is also there, but it is a one-off process with no delta migration capability. All of this means that the tool is the best method to make the switch, so try it out today.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. What is the best way to transfer Yahoo Mail to ProtonMail?

Out of all the methods, I recommend that you choose the automated tool as it offers the best of both worlds, i.e, speed along with security.

Q. How long does it take to forward Yahoo Mail to a Proton account?

Forwarding a single email hardly takes a few seconds, but when you multiply this by thousands of messages that are in a typical account, you are looking at a total migration duration that can span from hours to even days.

Q. Can I add a @proton.me account to an email client without Proton Bridge?

No, as it would render ProtonMail’s E2E encryption useless, so ProtonMail does not allow direct connection.