How to export and back up all your Virgin Media emails
Virgin Media webmail can't export a whole mailbox. To keep everything, connect over IMAP with a Virgin Media Mail app password and save each folder: free with Thunderbird, or as a ready-made download of .mbox files you can open in most email apps.
Virgin Media's webmail has no "download everything" button. Its help pages offer contacts as a CSV file and saving emails one at a time (Virgin Media help). Here's how to get a complete copy of every folder onto your computer.
Option 1: Keep My Emails download (£9.99, no software to install)
- On the home page, enter your Virgin address and a Virgin Media Mail app password.
- See your free scan: number of emails, folders and size.
- Choose Download only and pay once.
- Download a .zip with one .mbox file per folder. Mbox is a standard format that Thunderbird and most email apps can open, and it keeps attachments.
The download link lasts 7 days, then the file is deleted from our server.
Option 2: Thunderbird (free, takes longer)
- Install Thunderbird and add your Virgin account with IMAP (
imap.virginmedia.com, port 993, SSL, app password). - For each folder: right-click › Properties › Synchronisation and tick "Select this folder for offline use", then File › Offline › Download/Sync Now.
- Once everything has downloaded, the folders are stored on your computer. Back up your Thunderbird profile folder to keep them safe.
Don't forget
- Contacts: export them from Virgin webmail's address book as a CSV file.
- Keep two copies of the download, for example on your computer and on a USB stick or cloud drive.
- Opening .mbox files later: in Thunderbird, the free ImportExportTools NG add-on imports .mbox files as folders.
Keep every email, in a few minutes
Keep My Emails moves your whole Virgin Media mailbox, every folder with its original dates, to Gmail, Outlook or iCloud, or gives you a download. Check your mailbox for free first. One payment, no subscription.
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