How to transfer your Comcast email
To Gmail, to a family address, or just onto your own computer. Once your mailbox has moved to Yahoo, the steps are Yahoo's.
Updated October 2026
Short answer
First, where does your mailbox live now?
Xfinity has been inviting comcast.net customers to move their mail to Yahoo since June 2025, and the invitations roll out through 2026. Xfinity calls it "an upgrade we are offering customers at no cost". If you accepted, you now sign in at mail.yahoo.com, and the steps below are the ones that work.
If you haven't moved yet, your mail is still with Xfinity. Mail apps can reach it at imap.comcast.net, port 993, SSL on, after you allow third-party email programs in your Xfinity Email settings. The rest of the steps are the same.
How do I transfer my Comcast email to Gmail?
Five steps on a computer, done once. They work for any destination, not just Gmail.
- 1
Create a Yahoo app password
Sign in to the Yahoo Account Security page with your comcast.net address. Under "External connections", choose Create app password, give it a name and click Generate password. Do it in a browser you use for Yahoo Mail regularly, not in Incognito mode.
- 2
Add the comcast.net address to a mail app
In Apple Mail or Thunderbird, add it by hand. Incoming server export.imap.mail.yahoo.com, port 993, SSL on. Username is your full comcast.net address, password is the app password.
- 3
Keep the mail on Yahoo
If the app asks whether to "keep mail on the server", say yes, or the messages are removed as they download. Also make sure it downloads whole messages, not just previews.
- 4
Let it finish
A big mailbox can take several days. Yahoo says folders with around 100,000 messages or more may not download completely, so split those into smaller folders in Yahoo Mail first.
- 5
Add the new account and drag the folders
Add Gmail ("Sign in with Google") or your new mailbox to the same app. Drag the folders from the comcast.net account into it, then compare the counts before deleting anything.
The settings come from Yahoo's own pages: Download your email from Yahoo Mail with IMAP and Generate and manage app passwords. Only want a copy on your computer? Stop after step 4, or see every way to download Yahoo mail.
Gmail's own import
Gmail can also pull the mail in by itself. In Gmail on a computer, open Settings, See all settings, Accounts and import, then Import mail and contacts, and follow the steps. Google says it copies the messages but not your folders, and forwards new mail from the old address for 30 days.
It's a one-time copy. Gmail's older option to keep checking another account for new mail is closed to new users after the first quarter of 2026. What changed, and how to move mail between any two accounts.
What to save before the move
If Xfinity hasn't moved your mailbox yet, a few things don't come along:
- Messages with attachments over 25 MB. Xfinity puts them in a separate folder and gives you 30 days to download them, and suggests saving them before the move.
- Filters and forwarding. Write yours down so you can set them up again in Yahoo.
- Contacts beyond 10,000, and folders beyond 4,100, which are merged into one.
More on what changes: Comcast email is moving to Yahoo.
Moving to Gmail, or to an address you keep
Moving to Gmail gets the mail away from your internet bill. You also get a new address, and your name is probably taken there. An address on your family's own domain, like pat@smiths.family, stays the same whichever email company you use, so this is the last time you copy twenty years of mail. Each of our mailboxes holds 5 GB. With a very large archive, bring the recent years and keep the downloaded copy for the rest.
One more move, and then none
Your family's own domain and six mailboxes, for $19 a month. We set everything up.
Find your family's domain