Error on migrating outlook emails to gmail

Question

I'm attempting to migrate my emails to a new gmail account using the migration tool. I've already setup my the "send as" functionality on gmail so I can send as my old address and I've added the pop3 details (it is currently receiving new emails perfectly)

I follow the on screen instructions and I authorise the app in my gmail account online. It correctly finds my contacts, calendars and emails (contacts and calendars transferred without a problem)

However, I get this message.

I've followed the first step at https://support.google.com/a/answer/176213#api but cannot access the admin account (I have a personal gmail account) so what am I meant to do? I get "You need to use a Google Apps account to log into Google Admin Console."

So, not finding any helpful solutions online I try to limit the number of emails being migrated by setting a date limit in the migration tool (down from 15,000 to 5). It still doesn't work!

Can anyone help or give another way to import emails?

Thanks

Answer 1

The tool you are using is built for Google Apps, which is a business solution similar to Microsoft Exchange and others. It is not meant for working with personal gmail accounts. Unfortunately Google does not provide a solution to automatically move your emails from a local account to the cloud.

The solution I found out to work really (surprisingly) well for personal accounts is to set up a Gmail IMAP account in Outlook or any other desktop email client and then just drag and drop emails from your local account to your Gmail IMAP account, all inside your desktop client. At least in Outlook it preserved the dates, conversation chains and encoding - the things most important to me.

That being said, back up your emails before you do anything, also try and copy your emails in smaller chunks (i did 100 emails at a time) and after each attempt at least glance over what you have in the cloud just to make sure everything copied properly.

Off topic: I would actually consider using Google Apps for personal use as well. For 50 USD a year you can set up an email account with your own domain name, provided you have one and get other benefits as well (like using above mentioned tool).