cPanel consistently raises prices every year. Where businesses have the difficulty of maintaining their sites and accounts. That’s why many shift to Zimbra Mail, which provides an open-source and low-cost option. In this blog, you will learn how you can transfer from cPanel to Zimbra with simple methods and preventive tips.

Table of Contents
  1. Reasons to Transfer cPanel to Zimbra Mail Account
  2. How to Transfer cPanel Email to Zimbra Mail Manually?
  3. Migrate cPanel Email to Zimbra Account with Built-in Tool
  4. Run Zimbra Native Tool to Pull cPanel Emails
  5. Forward New cPanel Email to Zimbra
  6. Transfer cPanel Email to Zimbra with Professional Software
  7. Working Guide of Software for cPanel to Zimbra Migration
  8. Final words

cPanel does not have a native option to manually transfer emails to Zimbra. However, using native Zimbra migration tool helps you to pull email from cPanel using IMAP protocols. But why do you need to migrate from cPanel to Zimbra?

Reasons to Transfer cPanel to Zimbra Mail Account

  • Zimbra contains basic email like cPanel, as well as an integrated calendar, shared contacts, tasks, file sharing, etc.
  • In a single Zimbra dashboard, you will get all the collaborations or features than in cPanel has.
  • For real-time and two-way synchronization, there are advanced Zimbra protocols for email, calendars, and contacts.
  • cPanel webmail shares the server resources with your websites. If your site faces a traffic surge or a security issue. The email service will slow down; however, Zimbra runs on dedicated infrastructure.
  • cPanel imposes file count and disk limits so that corporate email does not fill up your storage quickly. There is no such limit in Zimbra.

There are many other reasons users migrate their mailbox, but you understand how Zimbra is much better than cPanel for certain businesses. Now, to find out the methods, in the next section I have explained them properly below.

Also Read: How to Switch from cPanel Email to Zoho Mail The Right Way?

How to Transfer cPanel Email to Zimbra Mail Manually?

In the latest version of cPanel, the Roundcube webmail client is used. So, with the help of this, you can export and import the emails using the EML or Zimbra format. Here is how it is done.

  1. Sign in to cPanel and open the Roundcube interface.
  2. Find the folder that contains the emails you want to transfer. Click it.
  3. Open an email, click the More (three-dot button) icon at the top of the message screen.
  4. Click Download (.eml) or the Export option.
    You can select multiple emails by clicking Ctrl+A (Windows) or Cmd+A (Mac). Roundcube then exports these multiple emails in a ZIP file.
  5. Now, upload the exported file to Zimbra. Log in to the Zimbra web client.
  6. Go to Preferences and then the Import/Export option.
  7. In the Import section, click the Browse option and choose the ZIP file or the individual EML file.
  8. Select the destination Zimbra folder and click Import. The ZIP file will automatically expand in Zimbra.

Migrate cPanel Email to Zimbra Account with Built-in Tool

Use the Zimbra Admin Console built-in tool to transfer server to server. Using IMAP, it accesses cPanel and directly pulls the email, all folders, read/unread flags, and messages to new Zimbra mailboxes. For this, you have to first do some preparation.

  1. First, note down the cPanel IMAP server settings and create a mapping file.
  2. To create the file, open Notepad and add the details: [email protected],source_password1,[email protected]
    [email protected],source_password2,[email protected].
  3. Save the file in CSV format.
  4. Also, make sure you created and provisioned the destination Zimbra mailbox the same way as cPanel.
  5. Also, it is important to create cPanel backup before you start transition to prevent any email loss.

Run Zimbra Native Tool to Pull cPanel Emails

  1. Go to the Zimbra Administration Console and log in to your account.
  2. Click the Tools option and then Migration.
  3. Select Account Migration. Choose IMAP as the migration type. Press Next.
  4. Provide the cPanel IMAP server settings.
  5. Browse to the saved mapping file that you have created and upload it. Hit Next.
  6. The tool reviews your mapping file, then click Start Migration.

Forward New cPanel Email to Zimbra

If you also want to forward your upcoming cPanel email to Zimbra, then set up auto-forwarding. This is not a manual method, but with this, you can move your emails.

  1. In your cPanel account, find the Email section. Click the Forwarders icon.
  2. Select “Forward a specific email account”. Then, add a forwarder.
  3. Type the prefix of the Zimbra email address.
  4. Choose your current domain. Select Forward to Email Address.
  5. Enter the complete Zimbra email address and click the Add Forwarder button.

If the cPanel email forwarding not working or you have issues in manually transferring your emails, you can use professional software recommended by many professionals.

Transfer cPanel Email to Zimbra with Professional Software

In the manual methods, transferring your bulk and important emails becomes challenging, as one wrong move and you may lose your message. However, SysTools IMAP Migration and other professional software is a much safer and more direct option. You don’t need to log in to your webmail client, export, or import the email. Just provide your source and destination email IDs, and the software successfully transfers your files.

The tool that I have mentioned is free to download, which means you can easily install in your Windows and macOS. It works for both bulk and selective migration. To know how this works, follow the steps below.

Working Guide of Software for cPanel to Zimbra Migration

  1. First of all, properly install the tool on your desktop. Then, run the program.
    run the program
  2. Once it opens, you will see that IMAP is selected by default in both the source and destination tabs.
    source and destination selected as imap
  3. If you want to transfer selective emails, apply a date filter. Click Next.
    date filter
  4. In the source screen, choose the Other option in the list of IMAP servers. Then, provide the cPanel server URL and port number. Validate the account.
    set cpanel server
  5. Choose Zimbra mail in the destination dashboard and then validate the account.
    zimbra as destination
  6. After that, download the template file. Add your source and destination email IDs.
  7. Save the file and manually upload it to the software. Click the Start Migration button.
    start migration

Final words

Whatever your reasons for moving your cPanel emails to Zimbra, you can easily do this in this blog. I have explained four methods; one of them is forwarding, which is not a migration method, but you can pull your emails from cPanel into Zimbra. Among them, the professional one is the best choice, as you can directly migrate your emails with less work while also maintaining the original mailbox.

Also Read: How to Migrate Zimbra to Carbonio Account?