This question is about keeping email during a server move, where the clients are Linux (me) and Mac (my wife) using IMAP.

I receive email at [email protected] using a webmail service that my hosting company (1and1) provides. I read it via IMAP in evolution, so I should have copies of all the emails on my local machine.

I have just moved mydomain.com from one type of account to another, and the hosting company don't move my existing email on the server when I do this - I assume they move my account to a different mailserver, and don't choose to provide a migration path for the email to move too (yes, this is annoying).

Before migrating, I backed up Evolution (File -> Backup settings) and did a spot-check in the evolution-backup.tar.gz file to be sure that my mail was in there. After migrating, I restored (File -> Restore settings) and had hoped that I would see all my mail again. Unfortunately, Evolution just shows me new mail sent to the account, not the old mail.

Is there a way to get the old mail back in the mailserver, or at least displaying in Evolution, as it was before the move? If not, can I read it in some convenient way, e.g. in Evolution offline or in a text file (then I can pick the mails I really want to keep and resend them to myself)?

Also, I am about to do a similar move for my wife's domain, [email protected]. She reads her mail on a Mac using IMAP to Apple Mail. Is there anything I can do to make the move smooth for her? (I have backed up [her user]/Library/Mail already, but not sure what to do once the move is done.)