Migrate Your Email Support

Converge Team

• Updated March 12, 2026

How to migrate your email support workflows, templates, and history from Respond.io without losing data.

Migrating Email Support from Respond.io

Respond.io handles email through IMAP/SMTP integration. You connect your existing email account (Gmail, Yahoo, or any IMAP-compatible provider) by entering credentials and setting up email forwarding. Migration involves disconnecting your email from Respond.io, removing the forwarding rules, and reconnecting to your new platform.

How Respond.io Handles Email

Respond.io's email setup uses IMAP for receiving and SMTP for sending. For Gmail, you connect using an app password (not your regular login password) — generate it at Google Account > Security > App passwords. For Yahoo, a paid Yahoo Mail Plus subscription is required for email forwarding. After IMAP/SMTP connection, Respond.io generates a forwarding email address that you configure in your email provider's forwarding rules to route incoming emails into the platform. Note: Microsoft Outlook is no longer supported due to Microsoft's deprecation of basic authentication.

Step 1: Document Your Email Configuration

Go to Settings > Channels in Respond.io and click Manage on your email channel. Record the channel name, sender name format, workflow sender name, email signature content, default copied email addresses (CC), and whether HTML background is enabled. If you've customized the sender name to include agent names using Respond.io's variables, note the format so you can recreate it.

Step 2: Remove Email Forwarding Rules

In your email provider (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.), remove the forwarding rule that routes emails to Respond.io's forwarding address. For Gmail: go to Settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP > disable forwarding. For other providers, check their forwarding settings documentation. Once forwarding stops, emails will stay in your original inbox instead of routing to Respond.io.

Step 3: Disconnect from Respond.io

Go to Settings > Channels, locate your email channel, and remove it. This stops Respond.io from polling your inbox via IMAP and sending replies via SMTP. If you used an app-specific password for the connection, revoke it from your email provider's security settings.

Step 4: Connect to Your New Platform

Set up email in your new platform according to its method. Some platforms use IMAP/SMTP (similar to Respond.io), others use email forwarding with MX record changes, and some use OAuth for Gmail. Recreate your email signature and sender name format in the new platform. Set up any CC rules you had configured in Respond.io's "Default copied email address" setting.

Note: Unlike messaging channels, email doesn't have a "registration" that locks it to one platform. You can run email on both platforms simultaneously during transition — just configure forwarding to the new platform while keeping the Respond.io connection active until you're ready to cut over.