Migrating email across to BC when going live

Question

Hi everyone,
I have come across this challenge often - when launching a new website for a client who already had a website and a branded email address (e.g. [email protected]). When I update the name servers to point to BC name servers, my clients lose their old email history.
Does anyone have a process or any recommendations about how my (often less than computer saavy) clients can save their email history before we update their name servers?
One of my clients, for example, is using the gmail system for their branded email address and is asking me if she will lose her email history? And if so, how she can retain her email history.
I've searched the web, but can't find anything concrete to advise her with and my experience is lacking in this area as well. Any help from the community would be outstanding!

Answer 1

I'll let you know a mistake I made so maybe you and/or other people can avoid the same mistake. Luckily I lost my email and not my client's email.
I needed to delete the mailboxes on my hosting account. I knew that all the email would be lost so before I deleted the email, I used Mac Mail to make a connection to my email account (typically, I connected through an iPhone or online) to download important email.
I "downloaded" all my messages to Mac Mail, then I deleted the email accounts. However, when I went back to Mac Mail, ALL the email was gone. Obviously, the email was being read from the server and NOT actually downloaded to my computer.  A lesson learned.
As for your customer using Gmail, BC has an option to use a different email system. You can read about doing that and your customer could continue to use her branded Gmail account.
Take care,
Tricia