How to change your email address without losing messages

Changing your email address might sound like a small task—but if you don’t do it correctly, you risk losing important contacts, missing crucial messages, or even damaging your professional image.

Whether you’re switching from a free account to a professional email, rebranding your business, or protecting yourself after a hack, this step-by-step guide will help you change your email address safely.

Why should you change your email address?

Several reasons exist why you might want to change an email address. To name a few examples:

1. You want to switch from a free email address to a professional one (e.g., yourname@yourdomain.com). 
2. Your business has changed its name and you want your email to match your new brand.
3. You’re receiving too much spam in your current inbox.
4. Your email address has been hacked and you need to protect your data.

Pro tip: A professional email address instantly improves your credibility and builds trust with clients.

Benefits of changing your email address

Switching to a new email address offers multiple advantages:

1. A professional email address contributes to the image and reliability of your business.
2. By giving your email address the same name as your website, your contacts immediately know who they are contacting.
3. By changing your email address, you will receive less to no spam and overlook essential emails. Tip: prevent spam by fighting spam.
4. A different email address will allow you to receive and send emails to and from your contacts again after a hack.

How to change your email address in 6 simple steps

Here’s a proven step-by-step plan to update your email without missing important messages:

1. Create the new email address

Start by creating a professional email account under your domain. If you don’t have a domain yet, you can register one with one.com and set up your new email in minutes.

2. Forward emails from your old address

To ensure you don’t miss anything during the transition, set up forwarding from your old email to the new one.

1. If you’re a one.com customer, follow this guide.
2. Keep your old email active for at least a few months.

3. Transfer your current emails, calendar and contacts

Of course you’ll want to keep your existing emails, appointments and address book, by transferring them to the mailbox of your new email address. 

Transferring email to one.com

With our email import feature, you can easily transfer emails to your new address created under your domain name at one.com. Importing email from Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, and other accounts at one.com is possible. This guide tells you exactly how to transfer your existing email to your new address.

Transferring calendar to one.com

Do you also want to transfer your email calendar? You can export your calendar as an ICS file and import it into your new account in the calendar settings.

Transferring contacts to one.com

Finally, you can easily move your online address book to your new email account. Go to settings and click on the tab for your contacts. Then import a CSV file from your old account into the new account.

4. Notify your contacts

Once your new email address is set up correctly, you need to notify all contacts of your new address. The easiest way is to send a message with your old or new email address saying you have a new one. Make sure you put all contacts in the bcc of the email. Otherwise, everyone can see each other’s email address. That doesn’t look very professional.

5. Set an automatic response

Your contacts will probably mail to your old email address for the first period. Notify them by setting up an automatic reply. If you are a one.com customer, you can use this guide to set up an automated response. 

Example of an automatic response:

Subject: New email address Dear [name], I want to inform you I have a new email address. This email address is no longer in use. My new email address is [new email address]. Please save this new email address in your contacts and use it for all future communications. You can contact me via my new email address if you have any questions. Sincerely, [Your name]

6. Change your email address on communications

Finally, you must change your email address on all business communications. This includes your website, social media channels, business cards and other printed materials. Also, remember to change your email address for all the tools you use and important agencies so you will always be available.

Quick Checklist: Change your email address without missing a step

• Create new professional email.
• Forward messages from old to new.
• Transfer past emails, calendar, and contacts.
• Notify all contacts.
• Set up auto-reply on old email.
• Update email across platforms and materials.

In brief

Changing your email address doesn’t have to be stressful. By following these 6 steps, you’ll protect your communications, avoid missing important emails, and present a professional image to your clients.

Ready to make the switch?