When archiving your FirstClass mail, you have two choices:
1. Create a backup of your messages on your hard drive or a network drive. This creates a folder full of text files that you can put on your H drive or your Google Drive. This will not preserve attachments. Alternately, if you have just a small number of messages you want to preserve, you can "print" them as PDF files and save those on your drive.
Or 2. Move all of your messages into Google Mail from FirstClass. This option is more difficult and can be messy, but it preserves the messages as actual emails, which is helpful if you want to reply to them down the road. This option is no longer available. Through June 2017, you will be able to log in to FirstClass and view, print, or export messages. After June they will exist in the archive and you can contact IT if there is something you need to locate.
* Please keep in mind that our FirstClass server will also be archived on-site for seven years from our transition date, to comply with federal requirements.
Option 1 - To save your mailbox as a folder of text files:
1. Create a folder on your computer to receive the downloaded content. (We recommend doing this ahead of time, as our folders weren't always created where they were supposed to be when we did so from the FirstClass Save As window.)
2. In FirstClass, click on Mail to open your mailbox.
3. Right-click on your mailbox and choose "Export". Browse to the folder you created and click OK. It will create a folder and several files for each email message you are exporting. The name of the folder is: [sender's email address] [subject line] [date]. Inside the folder is the body of the message, and a folder for attachments, if there are any. This process looks very messy, but will preserve attachments.
a. You may choose Download if you do not want to preserve attachments. This option will create a single text file for each message. It will look neater on your computer, but removes all formatting and attachments. Use with caution!
Option 2 - To move old mail from your FirstClass mailbox into Google:
This option is no longer available, however we are leaving the documentation here for historical reference.
Before attempting this option, please read the directions in their entirety. If you are unsure, you can set an appointment with IT to walk through this process with you.
0. Go through your FirstClass mailbox and scrub it clean so that only the items you want to keep are in the mailbox. If you don't want to move items, but aren't ready to delete them, you can create a folder in your FirstClass mailbox and place those messages there.
1. If you are currently forwarding all of your FirstClass mail into Google, temporarily turn this feature off.
a. In FirstClass, go to Edit > Preferences (on a Mac, use the FirstClass menu > Preferences)
b. Click on the Messaging tab
c. In the "Forwarding" section, set all drop-down boxes to "No"
d. Click Save
2. In Google, turn on POP3 to pull messages out of FirstClass and into Google.
a. Click the Gear/Settings icon and choose Settings from the drop-down menu.
b. On the Settings screen, click the Accounts tab.
c. Click "Add a mail account that you own". (The wording on this option has changed, and used to say "Add a POP3 account you own")
d. Type in your FirstClass email address and click Next.
e. Fill out the boxes on the next screen with your FirstClass log-in information. Leave the POP Server as-is.
Regarding the 4 check-boxes:
- Leave the first un-checked if you want to pull the messages out of FirstClass so that they no longer appear there. If you do check this off, then the messages will also stay on FirstClass, which will get require an extra step of housekeeping if you're moving lots of folders.
- Leave the second checkbox blank (SSL).
- The third box is asking what Google folder (label) you want to move these messages into. Use the drop-down to select this. It will default to a new folder named for your FirstClass email address, but you can change it or create a new label.
- The fourth checkbox ensures the messages go only into your folder selected in #3 -- if you leave this un-checked then the messages will appear in BOTH your inbox AND the folder.
f. Click "Add Account". You will be taken back to the Settings window and Google will import all of the messages in your mailbox, with the exception of:
- Messages you sent (the To: messages). You can forward these to your Google account one-by-one if they are needed.
- Messages in folders in your mailbox
3. When all of the messages in your mailbox have been imported (appx. 5-20 minutes depending on how many messages you have), you can now import any individual folders in your mailbox one-by-one:
a. Google: Gear > Settings > Accounts > "Edit" next to your FirstClass email address
b. Change the Label drop-down to the name of the folder that you want to import next (you can create the new label/folder on this menu). Verify that the fourth checkbox ("Skip the inbox") is set the way you want it to be for the next folder. You will need to re-enter your FirstClass password. Click Save.
c. FirstClass: if you previously chose to leave a copy of your messages in FirstClass, then you will need to take all of those leftover messages in your mailbox and place them into a FirstClass folder, so that your main mailbox is empty again.
d. Now take the messages from the next folder you want to move to Google, and place them in the root of your FirstClass mailbox. Within 5-20 minutes they will be imported into Google.
e. Repeat Step 3 until all of your folders have been migrated.
4. When you have imported all of your old messages, you have two choices:
a. [Recommended] You can keep using the POP connection to forward your mail from FirstClass to Google (instead of FC Settings). Just go back to the Gear > Settings > Accounts and make sure that the Label checkbox is configured to just move messages into your regular inbox (leave the last checkbox empty).
b. Or you can go into Settings > Accounts and Delete the POP connection, and turn regular forwarding back on for FirstClass in FC Preferences. This is less recommended, because we've had issues with some Yahoo and AOL messages not correctly transferring from FirstClass to Google.