Migrate business email to Domains.co.za allows you to consolidate your website and email services with a trusted South African hosting provider. Whether you are moving from another hosting company, a different email provider, or another Domains.co.za service, careful planning can help ensure a smooth transition with minimal disruption to your business communications.
Domains.co.za offers both Business Email and cPanel Email solutions, and the migration process differs slightly depending on which platform you are moving to. This guide explains the preparation required before migrating, outlines the migration process for each platform, and provides best practices to help ensure your existing emails, contacts, and folders remain intact wherever possible.
Before migrating your email, it is important to identify your current email provider, determine which Domains.co.za email platform you are migrating to, and ensure you have access to your existing mailbox credentials.
A successful email migration typically involves:
- Backing up your existing mailbox.
- Creating the new mailbox(es) on Domains.co.za.
- Migrating existing email messages, folders, and contacts where applicable.
- Updating your domain’s DNS records to direct email to the new platform.
- Testing email sending and receiving after the migration is complete.
NOTE:
The exact migration process depends on whether you are migrating to Business Email or cPanel Email.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Before You Begin
Before starting the migration:
- Ensure you have the usernames and passwords for your current email accounts.
- Make a backup of any important email messages if your current provider offers this option.
- Reduce your domain’s DNS TTL value before changing your MX records if possible. This may help minimise propagation delays.
- Avoid deleting your old email account until you have confirmed that all email has been successfully migrated.
Migrating Business Email
If you are migrating your email to a cPanel Email account, Domains.co.za recommends contacting the Support team for assistance. Email migrations can vary depending on your current email provider, mailbox size, and configuration, and the correct migration method will help minimise downtime and reduce the risk of data loss.
Before contacting Support, ensure you have the following information available:
- The domain name you are migrating.
- The email addresses you wish to migrate.
- Your current email provider.
- Your existing email account usernames and passwords, if available.
Verify Your Migration
After migrating your mailbox:
- Send a test email to an external address.
- Reply to the test email to confirm outgoing mail is working.
- Verify that all folders and messages have been migrated successfully.
- Confirm that contacts and calendars have been migrated if your previous email platform supported them.
- Check that your email client is connecting to the new mailbox without errors.
Additional Information
- DNS changes may take between 24 to 48 hours to fully propagate across the internet, although they often complete much sooner.
- Do not cancel your previous email service until you have confirmed that all email is arriving at your new mailbox.
- Large mailboxes may take significantly longer to migrate than smaller ones.
- Business Email and cPanel Email use different server settings, so be sure to configure your email client using the correct incoming and outgoing mail server details.
- Updating your MX records alone does not migrate your existing email messages. Mailboxes and their contents must be migrated separately.
- If you experience issues sending email after migration, verify your SPF, DKIM, and MX records are configured correctly.
- Keeping a recent mailbox backup before making any major email changes is considered best practice.
Login to Domains.co.za Account
1. Go to the Domains.co.za website Account Login page.
2. Enter your Email and Password and click the Sign In button.
3. You will see the Domains.co.za Dashboard, displaying the Manage Account menu on the left and your Account Information, Account Overview and Open Support Tickets on the right.
