Knowledge base

Import from AOL Mail

Copy an AOL mailbox with an app password.

Before you start

The old mailbox is only ever read. Nothing in it is moved, marked as read or deleted, so it keeps working exactly as before while the import runs and afterwards.

Open login.aol.com/account/security and sign in.
Choose Generate app password, or Generate and manage app passwords.
Type a name such as OpenEmail, choose Generate password and copy it.
In OpenEmail, open Migrations, then From a mailbox. Enter the old address, paste the app password and choose Check mailbox. It signs in once and lists the folders with how many messages each holds.
Choose the address the mail lands on, decide whether spam and trash come too, and choose Start import. You can close the page: History shows the progress.

Every folder becomes a label, with Inbox, Sent, Spam and Trash filed as the folders of the same name here. Read and starred state are kept.
A message the address already holds is skipped, so running an import twice, or after uploading an export file, adds only what is missing.
Contacts and calendars do not come over this sign-in. Export them as a .vcf and an .ics file at the provider, then upload the .vcf with Import contacts on the Contacts page and the .ics under Import in the Calendars dialog.

The app password is kept sealed until the import finishes, for 30 days at most, then wiped. It is never shown again and never written to a log.
When the import is done, delete the app password at the provider. Run again, which copies only the mail that arrived since, asks for a new one.

The import stops with Paused in History: the provider no longer accepts the app password. Make a new one and choose Enter a new password on the import. It carries on where it stopped.