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Is it possible to upgrade/convert a private account into a business account?

2652825 shared this question 10 months ago
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The easiest way that I know of to do this is:

1. Open a Mailbox.org Business account

2. Using your Business account above, import your Mailbox.org Private account data. Using the steps on this page starting under the sub-title "3. Import your data to mailbox.org" at https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/account-article/move-away-from-gmail-to-mailbox-org-step-by-step

My favorite free and open source software to do the above steps is https://www.thunderbird.net Which allows you to connect both your Private and Business accounts into Thunderbird. Then simply drag and drop your email folders from Private to Business account. Then wait.

While the data is migrating, I suggest not using your accounts and not using the internet bandwidth for anything else. Because this migration heavily use the connection, both data storage local and remote, and CPU. And go slow, I mean, migrate one parent folder at a time. Related documentation at https://kb.mailbox.org/en/private/e-mail-article/setup-with-mozilla-thunderbird

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Ok great. Thanks for that information. I guess in that case the only caveat is that I wont be able to keep the mail address name as it is. And I will have to create a similar one since that would imply two different accounts.

In any case thanks! Very useful answer. Cheers

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>I wont be able to keep the mail address name as it is

I do not know. Before proceeding with any option to your liking, I suggest creating a ticket with the Mailbox.org team at https://help.mailbox.org/servicedesk/customer/portal/15/user/login?destination=portal%2F15

Asking Mailbox.org your question. Maybe they can keep your same Mailbox.org email address with your Business plan.

Mailbox.org speed of reply to ticket depends on your plan. The speed are listed in the Price table at https://mailbox.org/en/

If Mailbox.org reply that it is not possible to upgrade a Private account to a Business account, I suggest considering 3 options down below. My favorite option is the third. Because after the initial setup, you have the freedom to change email supplier and change plan at any time for a lifetime. While always keeping the same email address. The initial setup is much more work. But it's a one time thing per supplier. After that, you benefit from freedom to be able to move to any email supplier to your liking.

Three options:

Option 1: The Mailbox.org Business plan support using external email addresses as Inbox. So you could keep your present Private email address. And connect it with your Business plan. But you would pay for both. Their documentation reads "It is possible to use an address from an external domain as your mailbox.org main account." at https://kb.mailbox.org/en/business/e-mail-article/using-e-mail-addresses-of-your-domain

Option 2: Keep your Private email address. To reduce your expense, downgrade it to a lower plan. Open a Business account. Using any email software to your liking. Such as Thunderbird. Configure your Private email address with an autoreply message. Which automatically reply to all incoming email messages. Communicating to everybody, your new email address. When appropriate, close your Private account. Continue using only your Business account.

Option 3: In the future, to avoid this upgrade challenge, always use your own custom domain name for all your email addresses. Then choose only email suppliers who support custom domain. Mailbox Business support custom domains. If you're not familiar with custom domains, think of it as a mobile phone number which is not locked to one supplier. So you can move it to another appropriate supplier to your liking. Documentation about custom domain with Mailbox.org business:

For option 3 above, Mailbox.org strength is email services. Not domain names. So you would need to buy a domain name. I suggest considering those suppliers. Which includes good support services and uses a lot of Libre Software (Open Source). This means stronger security and stronger privacy. Their price range from USD 0.50 to 5.00 monthly:

For stronger privacy and security, I suggest considering a domain name which support DNSSEC. Otherwise, without DNSSEC there is a risk of communication challenges. Domain names such as .CA or .ORG support DNSSEC.

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Franwoa: Thank you so much for sharing this information.

Indeed, you cannot use your mailbox.org address in a business account anymore. You need to use e-mail addresses of your own domain.

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Yes thanks for the elaborated answer Franwoa!

Also thanks mailbox support.

Ok then it should be ok. I am still not a business but I will eventually. I have my own domain already so that good to know then. I will continue with my private account until I officially become a business and then transfer whatever is needed from one to the other.
Thanks for the clarifications!
I can see a very helpful community already here :)

Cheers,
A. Frías

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