How do I move emails from one Gmail account to another?

Last reviewed: October 15, 2026 · Markdown version

Gmail can pull the mail out of one Gmail account into another with a tool called Import mail and contacts. Switch on POP in the account the mail is leaving, then start the import from the account it is going to. The messages come across; Google says the labels do not. The import is a one-off copy of what is there now. For mail that keeps arriving at the old address, Gmail's forwarding is the separate piece, and Google has announced changes to one part of this machinery, covered near the end.

Step 1: in the old account, switch on POP

Google's steps for "Another Gmail account": sign in to the account you are importing from, open Settings, then See all settings, click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab, and "In the "POP Download" section, select Enable POP for all mail", then Save Changes. Next to that switch is a choice about what happens to the originals, and Google gives a recommendation: "Next to "When messages are accessed with POP," select Keep Gmail's copy in the inbox" (Add another email account on your computer, Gmail Help, read 15 October 2026). This page does not spell out what the other choices in that menu do to the old account's mail, so keeping the copy is the cautious pick.

Step 2: in the new account, start the import

Sign in to the account the mail should end up in. The same page's steps: Settings, See all settings, "the Accounts and import tab", then "Click Import mail and contacts", follow the screens, and "Click Start import" (the Add another email account page above). It is a computer job: every step on the page starts in Gmail in a browser.

If the import refuses to connect, Google's troubleshooting page has a section just for a Gmail-to-Gmail import. It lists the settings the receiving account should hold, among them "POP Server : pop.gmail.com" and "Port : 995", with your full email address as the username, and says to look elsewhere "If you aren’t getting emails after 2 hours" (Fix problems importing mail, Gmail Help, read 15 October 2026). For a "Server denied POP3 access" error, the first fix Google lists is for accounts with 2-Step Verification: "Create an app password" (the Add another email account page above).

What arrives, and what does not

Labels. "You can import messages from another email account, but not any folders or labels" (the Add another email account page). Your filing system has to be rebuilt in the new account; how labels work is a quick refresher.
Very large messages. "Gmail can't import emails that are 150 MB or bigger, including any attachments" (the Fix problems importing mail page). To see which messages that rules out before you start, search the old account with larger:; finding large emails shows how.
Very full mailboxes. The same page lists "Too many messages on the other server" as a known error, explained as "Your other account has more emails than Gmail is able to import." It does not give the number. Its suggested way round is to delete some mail in the old account or move some of it into folders.

If messages seem to be missing afterwards, Google's first check is the threading: "Gmail puts all replies to an email in one conversation thread", so a reply may be sitting inside an older conversation rather than on its own. Its next suggestion is a search that starts with in:anywhere followed by your search terms (the Fix problems importing mail page).

Mail that arrives after the move

The import covers a period of grace on its own: "After you import, Gmail forwards messages sent to your other account for 30 days" (the Add another email account page). For anything longer, set up forwarding in the old account. Google's description of what that does: "We forward all new messages to the account, except for spam." You add the new address under Forwarding and POP/IMAP, confirm it from a verification link sent to that address, then choose Forward a copy of incoming mail to; Google recommends Keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox for the old account's copy (Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account, Gmail Help, read 15 October 2026). Forwarding only ever sends new mail, which is why it pairs with the import rather than replacing it.

The change Google has announced

The import page now carries a banner about "changes to Gmailify and POP support". The linked page says that "Check mail from other accounts", the ongoing POP fetch, is going: "Fetching emails from third-party accounts into your Gmail account, with POP, will no longer be supported." Its timeline: "After the first quarter of 2026, this feature no longer supports new users. Existing users can still use the feature until January 2027." The one-off import stays: "You can still import mail and contacts from third-party accounts on Gmail on the web. However, this is a one-time import, and messages do not sync continuously" (Learn about upcoming changes to Gmailify & POP in Gmail, Gmail Help, read 15 October 2026). The page speaks of "third-party accounts" throughout and does not say whether a second Gmail account counts as one. If a screen in the steps above has changed by the time you read this, check that page first.

What about Google Takeout?

Takeout makes a downloadable copy of an account, and Google's page frames it as a way "To keep your records or transfer your data to another service" (How to download your Google data, Google Account Help, read 15 October 2026). Neither that page nor Gmail's import pages describe loading a Takeout archive into a different Gmail account (the Takeout page and the two import pages above), so treat it as a backup, not a transfer. Downloading all of your Gmail covers how to make one.

Before you close the old account

Check the copy first: open a few old conversations in the new account, including ones with attachments, before you delete anything at the old one. Deleting comes with its own choices, Gmail alone or the whole Google Account, set out on deleting a Gmail account. And if you only wanted both inboxes in one place, keeping both accounts signed in may be simpler than moving anything; having more than one Gmail account explains the switch.