How to Change From IMAP/MAPI Account to POP3 Email Account? – [Problem Solved]

Ritu Roy | Forensics How to's IMAP Outlook Software Technology | 6 minutes read | Last updated on July 17th, 2023,

There are two different methods to access emails: POP3 and IMAP/MAPI. Email clients like Outlook use these Message Accessing Agents (MAA) to access emails and other mail items from the mailbox server. Learn about the two messaging protocols in this article, along with the methods to properly change from IMAP/MAPI account to POP3 email account without losing any mail items.

To Know More : About POP3

POP3, also known as Post Office Protocol 3, is the latest version of the email retrieval Post Office Protocol (POP), which was first established in 1985 to receive emails from the mail server. POP3 enables users to receive emails from the server on a single device and then deletes the emails from the server’s Inbox folder. Users cannot access the same emails on different devices because there is no synchronisation. As a result, the protocol is suitable for users who access their emails on a single device, like a PC or laptop.

One of the most used email retrieval methods for obtaining emails from the mail server is Internet Message Access Protocol, or IMAP. IMAP4 is the most recent version in use. Your recent mail items are kept locally on a machine through IMAP. But because it also keeps all of your emails and mail items on the server, additional storage is needed.

IMAP users, however, can access the same emails from different devices, unlike POP3 users. The emails are not removed from the server after synchronisation. Any modifications you make to your IMAP email account are synchronised between your local computer and the mail server.

Outlook creates a local PST file to store emails and other mail items when you set up a POP3 email account. Outlook creates an offline storage table (.OST) file or local cache for IMAP.

Learn More- What Is an Offline Outlook OST File

There is a step-by-step approach for changing your Outlook email profile from IMAP/MAPI to POP (POP3) to avoid data loss in case you have been using Outlook with IMAP for some time and want to move or migrate to POP3 mail server.

This post will show you how to change your Outlook’s IMAP/MAPI profile to POP3 without losing any of your mail items.

Reasons to Change from IMAP/MAPI Account to POP3

There are several reasons why someone might consider changing from IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) or MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) to POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3). Here are some common reasons:

Offline Access: POP3 is designed for offline access, meaning that emails can be downloaded to a local device and accessed even when there is no internet connection. This can be particularly useful for users who travel frequently or have limited internet access.
Storage management: With POP3, emails are typically downloaded and stored locally, which allows users to have more control over their email storage. This can be advantageous for individuals with limited storage space on their email server or those who prefer to keep their emails archived locally.
Privacy and security: As POP3 downloads emails to a local device, it reduces the exposure of sensitive information stored on remote servers. This can be appealing to users who prioritize privacy and security and prefer to have their emails stored locally rather than on a remote server.
Performance: POP3 is generally considered to be faster than IMAP or MAPI because it only involves downloading emails to the local device. This can result in quicker access to emails, especially when dealing with large attachments or a slow internet connection.
Compatibility: Some older email clients or devices may have limited support for IMAP or MAPI protocols. In such cases, POP3 can be a more compatible option that ensures proper email functionality across different platforms.

How to Change from an IMAP Account to POP (POP3)?

The POP3 email retrieval protocol must be supported by your mail server in order to switch or migrate your Outlook email account and mailbox contents from IMAP/MAPI to POP3. When configuring or adding an email account in Outlook, you can change your account’s default IMAP setting to POP3 by selecting the ‘Manual setup or alternative server types’ option. However, you must backup your IMAP email server message items first.

You can export all mail items to PST as a backup using the Outlook Import/Export wizard if the IMAP email profile is still active. Then, you can restore every piece of mail by importing this PST into your POP3 Outlook email account.

However, using the Import/Export wizard will not allow you to backup or export emails if the profile is inactive or if you no longer have access to your IMAP email account. As a result, the OST is left alone. However, you may still use a CubexSoft OST to PST Converter software to extract all of your emails, attachments, contacts, etc. from your local cache (.OST) file and save them in PST format.

Additionally, the application restores deleted mail items and gives users the choice to export emails and other mail items recovered from inoperable, orphaned, or inconsistent OST files to Office 365 or live Exchange directly.

Need to OST File Linked to your IMAP Account

The OST file connected to your IMAP account is required for this. Find the OST file you want to convert and copy it using these instructions.

Shut off Outlook and access the Control Panel.
Click on “Mail” under “User Accounts.”
Then select “Data Files.”
After selecting your email address that was added as an IMAP account, click “Open File Location.”
Transfer the OST file to a another location. All of your emails and other mail items are included in the file. After switching the email account from IMAP to POP3, you can use this afterwards to recover any lost mail items.

If the previous instructions don’t help you locate the OST file, try pressing Windows + R, typing %localappdata%/Microsoft/Outlook, and then pressing the Enter key or clicking OK.

The orphaned OST file can then be converted into PST format by installing the CubexSoft OST File to PST Converter and using the program. For a step-by-step guide, see this document.

How to Change from IMAP to POP3 Profile

Follow these instructions to set up a POP3 email account in Outlook once you have a backup of all your emails.

Open “Control Panel” after closing Outlook.
Navigate to “User Accounts” and select “Mail.”
Then select “Show Profiles.” Your email profile, which is already set up as IMAP, will be visible.
Click “Remove” after selecting the profile.
To confirm the removal, click ‘Yes’.
Next, select “Add.” After entering the Profile name, press “OK.” The Add Account window will open, allowing you to set up your email account.
Click Next after selecting “Manual setup or additional server types.”
Select “POP or IMAP” and then click “Next.”
Enter your name, email address, account type (POP3) selection, incoming mail server, and outgoing mail server (SMTP) information. Next, enter the password and the “User Name,” which is often your email. Select “New Outlook Data File” next.
Go to the ‘Advanced’ page by clicking ‘More Settings’. The Incoming Server and Outgoing Server port numbers must be entered here. It is ‘995’ and ‘587’ for Gmail. Additionally, set the ‘Server Timeouts’ to 5 minutes. To obtain these details, get in touch with the administrator of your mail server.
Then click “Next” after selecting “OK.”

This will set up POP3 for your email account. Make sure POP is enabled on the mail server for your email profile if you have any errors.

Outlook will download all emails from your server when the email account is set up as POP3 and store them in a local Personal Storage Table (PST) file.

Click File > Open & Export > Import/Export after that. The PST import wizard is then displayed.

To recover all of your mail items, use the procedure to import the backup PST file.

Conclusion

The POP3 email retrieval protocol must be supported by your mail server in order to switch from an IMAP/MAPI account to a POP3 account. POP3 is sometimes supported by the mail server, however in order for users to configure, add, or switch their IMAP account to POP3 in the Microsoft Outlook client, it must be enabled. The procedures to convert an existing IMAP email profile to POP3 in Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2021 are covered in the article. You can change your IMAP account to POP3 and reduce the burden on the servers by doing so.

Please be aware that when you delete the profile, your local cache or any OST files connected to your IMAP account become orphaned. However, using the OST Converter program provided in the article, you can extract the mail items from such orphaned or unavailable OST files and save them to Outlook importable PST format.