Transferring Mail from AOL?

Bazooka Joel asks: "My father has been a long time user of AOL. He subscribed to AOL's dialup service about 5 years ago and created his first email account with their services. We now have cable internet from a local company, but he still pays $15 a month just to access his email. I have tried to get him to switch to Gmail, but he is stubborn. He finally relented and said that if I could forward all of his old mail (thousands of messages) and import his contact list into Gmail, he would cancel his AOL subscription. After searching the 'net, I found a way to import his contacts. However, I cannot find a program that will forward all of his old mail. Can anybody lend me a hand?"

Comments

Leave him with a POP client

[Vaevictis666]

Leave him with his windows client as is, and just get it to check the gmail account from now on. All his existing email will be stored locally, and in a few years when he decides that he really doesn't need them any more, the new stuff will all be synched between his desktop and gmail on the web, if he decides he wants to switch to a webapp for his email.

Semi-tangential comment

[secolactico]

I know I'm not answering your question, but before commiting your dad's thousands of messages, remember that Gmail is still in beta. I still get messages like "can't access your mailbox. cross your fingers and try again later" or something to that effect.

Gmail is very convenient, but I'd keep a local copy or backup copy of the messages somewhere just to be safe.

Re:Read Slashdot

[ChadN]

I agree. After years of helping out my family members and friends with their computers, I've learned that "no good deed goes unpunished".

If there is a way to change to a cheaper AOL service, tell your Dad about it. But think *3* times before taking on the responsibility of changing his email patterns (and protecting his data); unless your Dad is pleading with you for the change, it is almost never worth it to get involved. The effort will not be appreciated nearly as much as you hope, and there will be bad feelings if things don't go absolutely 100% correctly.

Good luck.