[Evolution-users] convert from POP to IMAP - update

[Pete Biggs]

[[Please don't top post on this list]]

On Sat, 2026-04-25 at 18:43 -0400, Reid Vail via evolution-users wrote:
> I think I understand part of the confusion now.  The IMAP account shows 
> only what's on the server. Got it.  IMAP doesn't seem to allow the 
> transfer of messages from the POP inbox, and (I think) moves them back 
> to POP inbox, creating the duplicates. I wonder if a work-around might 
> be to simply create a folder on the IMAP side for all of these legacy
> POP-inbox messages.
> 

It sounds like you still have your POP account active.  You should have
either the POP account *or* the IMAP account active. Not both otherwise
they will indeed fight with each other for the messages.

I'm sure one of us has explained this before: The POP protocol moves
the mail messages from the server to your local INBOX - there is no
"POP inbox", the messages are moved to your local storage.  IMAP shows
you the messages on the server; the messages remain stored on the
server always.  There are variations on this like you can tell POP to
copy the messages rather than move them; IMAP clients often cache a
local copy of messages to make access faster - but the bottom line is
this: with POP the definitive store is local to your machine; with IMAP
the definitive version is on the server.

It is highly unlikely that the IMAP server cares if your messages were
originally downloaded to your local machine by POP and then copied
back. The only thing that could be doing it is if you had specific
filters setup on Evolution to move messages around - if you do,
disable/delete them and recreate what you need later. 

P.