Amazon WorkMail Migration Guide: Step-by-Step Switch to Forward Email Before the 2027 Shutdown

Overview

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that Amazon WorkMail will be discontinued on March 31, 2027. After that date, you will no longer be able to access the Amazon WorkMail console, web client, or any WorkMail resources. This guide provides a complete, step-by-step walkthrough for migrating your email, contacts, and calendars from Amazon WorkMail to Forward Email — a privacy-focused, open-source email service that supports custom domains, IMAP, SMTP, CalDAV, and CardDAV.

Whether you are an individual user, a small business, or an organization with multiple mailboxes, this guide covers everything you need to ensure a smooth transition with zero data loss.

Why Migrate from Amazon WorkMail

AWS officially confirmed the end of support for Amazon WorkMail in their administrator documentation. The key facts are straightforward:

Amazon WorkMail will no longer accept new customers beginning April 30, 2026. Existing customers can continue using the service until March 31, 2027. After that date, all access to WorkMail — including the web client, APIs, IMAP/SMTP endpoints, and the AWS console — will be permanently shut down.

This means every Amazon WorkMail user must migrate to another email provider before the deadline. Waiting until the last minute risks data loss, service interruption, and the inability to receive email on your custom domain.

Amazon WorkMail End of Support Timeline

Date	Event
April 30, 2026	Amazon WorkMail stops accepting new customers
March 31, 2027	Full shutdown — no access to WorkMail console, web client, IMAP, SMTP, or any resources
After March 31, 2027	All WorkMail data becomes permanently inaccessible

Recommendation: Begin your migration as soon as possible. DNS propagation, email client reconfiguration, and data transfer all take time. Starting early ensures you can test everything thoroughly before the shutdown date.

Why Forward Email is the Best Amazon WorkMail Alternative

AWS recommends migrating to third-party solutions. Forward Email stands out as the best alternative for Amazon WorkMail users for several reasons:

Feature	Amazon WorkMail	Forward Email
Custom domain support	Yes	Yes
IMAP/SMTP/POP3	Yes	Yes
CalDAV (calendars)	No (Exchange ActiveSync only)	Yes
CardDAV (contacts)	No (Exchange ActiveSync only)	Yes
End-to-end encryption (OpenPGP)	No	Yes
Open source	No	Yes — 100% open source on GitHub
Privacy-focused (no email scanning)	Partial	Yes — no ads, no tracking, no email scanning
Quantum-safe encrypted storage	No	Yes
Unlimited aliases	No	Yes
Email forwarding	No	Yes
Pricing	$4.00/user/month	Starting at $3.00/month for unlimited domains
Vendor lock-in	AWS ecosystem	None — standard IMAP/SMTP, export anytime

Forward Email is trusted by over 500,000 domains including the U.S. Naval Academy, Canonical (Ubuntu), Netflix Games, The Linux Foundation, and many universities and government organizations. You can read more on our about page.

Before You Begin

Before starting the migration, gather the following information and complete these prerequisites:

From your Amazon WorkMail account, you will need:

1. Your Amazon WorkMail email address (e.g., [email protected])
2. Your Amazon WorkMail password
3. Your WorkMail IMAP server endpoint (based on your AWS region — see table below)
4. Access to your domain's DNS management (Route 53, Cloudflare, or wherever your domain is hosted)
5. A list of all users/mailboxes if migrating an organization

Amazon WorkMail IMAP and SMTP server endpoints by region:

AWS Region	IMAP Server	SMTP Server
US East (N. Virginia)	imap.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com	smtp.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com
US West (Oregon)	imap.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com	smtp.mail.us-west-2.awsapps.com
Europe (Ireland)	imap.mail.eu-west-1.awsapps.com	smtp.mail.eu-west-1.awsapps.com

Tip: You can find your region by logging into the Amazon WorkMail console and checking the URL or the region selector in the top-right corner. Your WorkMail web client URL also contains the region (e.g., https://your-alias.awsapps.com/mail).

IMAP connection settings for Amazon WorkMail:

Setting	Value
Protocol	IMAP
Port	993
Encryption	SSL/TLS
Authentication	Normal password
Username	Your full email address

Step 1: Export Your Email from Amazon WorkMail

There are three methods to export your email from Amazon WorkMail. We recommend Option A (Thunderbird) for most users because it is the simplest and does not require any programming knowledge.

Option A: Export via IMAP Using Thunderbird (Recommended)

Thunderbird is a free, open-source email client that makes it easy to connect to Amazon WorkMail via IMAP and export all your messages.

1. Download and install Thunderbird if you do not already have it.

2. Add your Amazon WorkMail account to Thunderbird:

   • Open Thunderbird and go to Account Settings (Edit → Account Settings on Linux, or Tools → Account Settings)
   • Click Account Actions → Add Mail Account
   • Enter your name, your Amazon WorkMail email address, and your WorkMail password
   • Click Configure manually and enter the following settings:

   Setting	Incoming (IMAP)	Outgoing (SMTP)
   Server	imap.mail.{region}.awsapps.com	smtp.mail.{region}.awsapps.com
   Port	993	465
   Encryption	SSL/TLS	SSL/TLS
   Authentication	Normal password	Normal password
   Username	Your full email address	Your full email address

   Replace {region} with your AWS region (e.g., us-east-1, us-west-2, or eu-west-1).

3. Wait for Thunderbird to sync all your folders and messages. This may take several minutes to hours depending on the size of your mailbox. You can monitor progress in the status bar at the bottom of the Thunderbird window.

4. Install the ImportExportTools NG add-on:

   • Go to Tools → Add-ons and Themes (or press Ctrl+Shift+A)
   • Search for "ImportExportTools NG"
   • Click Add to Thunderbird and restart Thunderbird

5. Export your email:

   • Right-click on a folder (e.g., Inbox) in your Amazon WorkMail account
   • Select ImportExportTools NG → Export folder as MBOX file
   • Choose a location to save the exported file
   • Repeat for each folder you want to export (Sent, Drafts, etc.)

   Alternatively, you can right-click on the top-level account and select ImportExportTools NG → Export all folders as MBOX files to export everything at once.

Tip: Keep Thunderbird open with your Amazon WorkMail account connected — you will use it again in Step 6 to import your email into Forward Email. You can also skip the export step entirely and simply drag-and-drop emails between accounts in Thunderbird (see Step 6).

Option B: Export via AWS Mailbox Export API

If you are comfortable with the AWS CLI and prefer an automated approach, you can use the StartMailboxExportJob API to export mailbox content to an Amazon S3 bucket. This method exports all email messages and calendar items in MIME format as a .zip file.

Prerequisites:

• AWS CLI installed and configured
• An S3 bucket (with public access blocked)
• A symmetric AWS KMS key
• An IAM role with the appropriate permissions

Step-by-step:

1. Create an S3 bucket for the export (if you do not already have one):

   aws s3 mb s3://my-workmail-export-bucket --region us-east-1
   

2. Create an IAM policy (mailbox-export-policy.json) that grants write access to the S3 bucket and KMS encryption:

   {
     "Version": "2012-10-17",
     "Statement": [
       {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
           "s3:AbortMultipartUpload",
           "s3:PutObject",
           "s3:GetBucketPolicyStatus"
         ],
         "Resource": [
           "arn:aws:s3:::my-workmail-export-bucket",
           "arn:aws:s3:::my-workmail-export-bucket/*"
         ]
       },
       {
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Action": [
           "kms:Decrypt",
           "kms:GenerateDataKey"
         ],
         "Resource": [
           "arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID:key/YOUR_KEY_ID"
         ],
         "Condition": {
           "StringEquals": {
             "kms:ViaService": "s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com"
           }
         }
       }
     ]
   }
   

3. Create an IAM trust policy (mailbox-export-trust-policy.json):

   {
     "Version": "2012-10-17",
     "Statement": [
       {
         "Sid": "",
         "Effect": "Allow",
         "Principal": {
           "Service": "export.workmail.amazonaws.com"
         },
         "Action": "sts:AssumeRole"
       }
     ]
   }
   

4. Create the IAM role and attach the policy:

   aws iam create-role \
     --role-name WorkMailExportRole \
     --assume-role-policy-document file://mailbox-export-trust-policy.json
   
   aws iam put-role-policy \
     --role-name WorkMailExportRole \
     --policy-name WorkMailExportPolicy \
     --policy-document file://mailbox-export-policy.json
   

5. Start the mailbox export job:

   aws workmail start-mailbox-export-job \
     --organization-id YOUR_ORG_ID \
     --entity-id YOUR_USER_ENTITY_ID \
     --role-arn arn:aws:iam::YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID:role/WorkMailExportRole \
     --kms-key-arn arn:aws:kms:us-east-1:YOUR_ACCOUNT_ID:key/YOUR_KEY_ID \
     --s3-bucket-name my-workmail-export-bucket \
     --s3-prefix exports/ \
     --region us-east-1
   

6. Monitor the export job:

   aws workmail describe-mailbox-export-job \
     --organization-id YOUR_ORG_ID \
     --job-id YOUR_JOB_ID \
     --region us-east-1
   

7. Download the exported .zip file from your S3 bucket once the job completes.

Note: The AWS mailbox export only includes email messages and calendar items. Contacts and tasks are not exported. The export time depends on the size of your mailbox.

Option C: Export via imapsync Command-Line Tool

imapsync is an open-source IMAP transfer and migration tool that can copy emails directly from one IMAP server to another. This is particularly useful for large mailboxes or automated migrations of multiple users.

1. Install imapsync on a Linux machine (Debian/Ubuntu):

   sudo apt-get update
   sudo apt-get install -y imapsync
   

   On macOS (via Homebrew):

   brew install imapsync
   

2. Run imapsync to transfer directly from WorkMail to Forward Email:

   imapsync \
     --host1 imap.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com \
     --port1 993 --ssl1 \
     --user1 [email protected] \
     --password1 'YOUR_WORKMAIL_PASSWORD' \
     --host2 imap.forwardemail.net \
     --port2 993 --ssl2 \
     --user2 [email protected] \
     --password2 'YOUR_FORWARD_EMAIL_PASSWORD'
   

   Replace the server, user, and password values with your actual credentials. Adjust --host1 to match your WorkMail region.

Tip: Using imapsync with the --dry flag first runs a simulation without transferring any data, which is useful for testing: imapsync --dry --host1 ... --host2 ...

Note: If you use Option C, you can skip Step 6 (Import) entirely since imapsync transfers email directly between the two servers.

Step 2: Create Your Forward Email Account

1. Go to forwardemail.net/register and create a new account.

2. Choose a plan that fits your needs. For full IMAP/SMTP mailbox access (which you will need to replace Amazon WorkMail), a paid plan is required. Plans start at $3.00/month and include unlimited custom domains and aliases.

3. Verify your email address by clicking the confirmation link sent to your registration email.

Step 3: Add and Verify Your Domain

1. Log in to your Forward Email dashboard at forwardemail.net/my-account/domains.

2. Click Add Domain and enter your custom domain name (e.g., yourdomain.com).

3. Follow the on-screen setup guide. Forward Email's onboarding will walk you through every DNS record you need to add, with exact values tailored to your domain.

4. Wait for DNS propagation (typically a few minutes, but can take up to 48 hours) and click Verify in your Forward Email dashboard.

Step 4: Configure DNS Records

Once your domain is verified and you are ready to switch, update your DNS records. Forward Email's domain setup guide in your dashboard at My Account Domains will show you the exact records to add, with copy-to-clipboard buttons for each value.

If your domain uses the 1-click Domain Connect setup, this step is handled automatically. Otherwise, follow the instructions below.

Remove your old Amazon WorkMail DNS records (MX, autodiscover CNAME, and any WorkMail-specific SPF/DKIM records) and replace them with the Forward Email records shown in your dashboard.

MX Records

Remove the existing Amazon WorkMail MX record (e.g., inbound-smtp.us-east-1.amazonaws.com) and add:

Type	Name/Host	Priority	Value
MX	@ (or yourdomain.com)	10	mx1.forwardemail.net
MX	@ (or yourdomain.com)	20	mx2.forwardemail.net

SPF Record

Remove the old SPF record that referenced amazonses.com and add (or update) the following TXT record:

Type	Name/Host	Value
TXT	@ (or yourdomain.com)	v=spf1 a mx include:spf.forwardemail.net -all

Important: You should only have one SPF record per domain. If you have an existing SPF record, merge the include:spf.forwardemail.net into it rather than creating a duplicate.

DKIM and DMARC Records

To set up DKIM and DMARC for your domain, go to My Account Domains Settings Outbound SMTP Configuration and follow the setup instructions displayed there. The dashboard will provide you with the exact DKIM CNAME records and DMARC TXT record values specific to your domain.

You should also remove any old Amazon WorkMail DKIM CNAME records (they typically look like xxxxxxxx._domainkey.yourdomain.com pointing to xxxxxxxx.dkim.amazonses.com).

For more details, see our DKIM setup guide and DMARC setup guide.

Verify DNS Configuration

After adding all DNS records, return to your Forward Email dashboard and click Verify next to your domain. The dashboard will confirm when all records are properly configured with green checkmarks.

Tip: You can also use the MX Toolbox or dig command to verify your DNS records have propagated:

dig MX yourdomain.com +short
dig TXT yourdomain.com +short

Step 5: Create Email Aliases and Mailboxes

1. In your Forward Email dashboard, navigate to My Account → Domains → yourdomain.com → Aliases.

2. For each Amazon WorkMail user, create a corresponding alias. For example:

   • [email protected] → Create as a mailbox alias (for IMAP/SMTP access)
   • [email protected] → Create as a forwarding alias (if you just want forwarding)

3. For each alias that needs IMAP/SMTP access (i.e., a full mailbox), click on the alias and generate a password. Save this password — you will need it to configure your email clients and to import your email.

Important: Each user who had an Amazon WorkMail mailbox should have a corresponding alias with a generated password in Forward Email. This password is used for IMAP, SMTP, POP3, CalDAV, and CardDAV authentication.

Step 6: Import Your Email to Forward Email

Now that your Forward Email account is set up with aliases and passwords, import the email you exported in Step 1. For detailed instructions on importing from various providers and formats, see our FAQ on importing and migrating your mailbox.

Import Using Thunderbird (Recommended)

This is the simplest method, especially if you already have Thunderbird open with your Amazon WorkMail account connected from Step 1.

1. Add your Forward Email account to Thunderbird:

   • Go to Account Settings → Account Actions → Add Mail Account
   • Enter your name, your Forward Email address (e.g., [email protected]), and the password you generated in Step 5
   • Click Configure manually and enter:

   Setting	Incoming (IMAP)	Outgoing (SMTP)
   Server	imap.forwardemail.net	smtp.forwardemail.net
   Port	993	465
   Encryption	SSL/TLS	SSL/TLS
   Authentication	Normal password	Normal password
   Username	Your full email address	Your full email address

   • Click Done

2. Transfer your email by drag-and-drop:

   • In Thunderbird, you should now see both your Amazon WorkMail account and your Forward Email account in the left sidebar
   • Select all messages in a WorkMail folder (e.g., Inbox) by pressing Ctrl+A (or Cmd+A on macOS)
   • Drag the selected messages to the corresponding folder in your Forward Email account
   • Repeat for each folder (Sent, Drafts, Archive, etc.)

   Thunderbird will upload the messages to Forward Email via IMAP. This may take some time depending on the number and size of messages.

3. Alternatively, import from MBOX files (if you exported in Step 1, Option A):

   • Right-click on a folder in your Forward Email account
   • Select ImportExportTools NG → Import MBOX file
   • Choose the MBOX file you exported earlier
   • Repeat for each folder

Tip: For large mailboxes, the drag-and-drop method is often more reliable than MBOX import because it handles one message at a time and is less likely to encounter memory issues.

Import Using imapsync

If you used imapsync in Step 1 (Option C), your email has already been transferred directly from Amazon WorkMail to Forward Email. No additional import step is needed.

If you did not use imapsync earlier but want to use it now, run:

imapsync \
  --host1 imap.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com \
  --port1 993 --ssl1 \
  --user1 [email protected] \
  --password1 'YOUR_WORKMAIL_PASSWORD' \
  --host2 imap.forwardemail.net \
  --port2 993 --ssl2 \
  --user2 [email protected] \
  --password2 'YOUR_FORWARD_EMAIL_PASSWORD'

Step 7: Configure Your Email Clients

After importing your email, configure your email clients to connect to Forward Email instead of Amazon WorkMail.

Thunderbird

If you already added your Forward Email account in Step 6, you are done. Simply remove the Amazon WorkMail account from Thunderbird:

1. Go to Account Settings
2. Select your Amazon WorkMail account
3. Click Account Actions → Remove Account

Microsoft Outlook

1. Go to File → Add Account
2. Enter your Forward Email address and click Connect
3. Choose Advanced options → Let me set up my account manually
4. Select IMAP and enter:

Setting	Incoming	Outgoing
Server	imap.forwardemail.net	smtp.forwardemail.net
Port	993	465
Encryption	SSL/TLS	SSL/TLS
Username	Your full email address	Your full email address
Password	Your generated password	Your generated password

5. Click Connect
6. Remove your old Amazon WorkMail account from Outlook

Apple Mail

1. Go to Mail → Settings → Accounts → +
2. Select Other Mail Account
3. Enter your name, Forward Email address, and generated password
4. For server settings:
   • Incoming: imap.forwardemail.net
   • Outgoing: smtp.forwardemail.net
5. Click Sign In
6. Remove your old Amazon WorkMail account

Mobile Devices (iOS and Android)

iOS:

1. Go to Settings → Mail → Accounts → Add Account → Other
2. Tap Add Mail Account
3. Enter your name, Forward Email address, and generated password
4. Enter server settings:
   • Incoming: imap.forwardemail.net, port 993, SSL
   • Outgoing: smtp.forwardemail.net, port 465, SSL
5. Tap Save

Android:

1. Go to Settings → Accounts → Add Account → Personal (IMAP)
2. Enter your Forward Email address and generated password
3. Enter server settings:
   • Incoming: imap.forwardemail.net, port 993, SSL/TLS
   • Outgoing: smtp.forwardemail.net, port 465, SSL/TLS
4. Tap Done

Step 8: Verify and Test Your Setup

Before decommissioning Amazon WorkMail, verify that everything is working correctly:

1. Send a test email from an external account (e.g., Gmail, Outlook.com) to your custom domain address. Confirm it arrives in your Forward Email mailbox.

2. Send a test email from your Forward Email account to an external address. Confirm it is delivered and check that SPF, DKIM, and DMARC pass. You can use mail-tester.com to verify your email authentication.

3. Check your imported email — browse through your Inbox, Sent, and other folders to confirm all messages were transferred successfully.

4. Test calendar and contacts (if applicable) — see the section below on migrating contacts and calendars.

5. Verify DNS records by running:

   dig MX yourdomain.com +short
   # Should show: 10 mx1.forwardemail.net. and 20 mx2.forwardemail.net.
   
   dig TXT yourdomain.com +short
   # Should include your SPF record with spf.forwardemail.net
   

Important: Run your domain through the Forward Email dashboard verification to ensure all records show green checkmarks. If any records show warnings, fix them before proceeding.

Step 9: Decommission Amazon WorkMail

Once you have confirmed that Forward Email is working correctly and all your email has been migrated:

1. Keep Amazon WorkMail active for a transition period (at least 1-2 weeks) to catch any stragglers or services that may still be sending to old endpoints.

2. Remove the Amazon WorkMail organization from the AWS console:

   • Go to the Amazon WorkMail console
   • Select your organization
   • Follow the steps to delete the organization

3. Clean up AWS resources:

   • Remove any WorkMail-related IAM roles and policies
   • Delete the S3 bucket used for mailbox exports (if applicable)
   • Remove any Route 53 records that were specific to WorkMail (e.g., autodiscover CNAME records)

4. Update any applications or services that were configured to send email through Amazon WorkMail SMTP. Point them to Forward Email's SMTP server (smtp.forwardemail.net, port 465, SSL/TLS) instead.

Migrating Contacts and Calendars

Amazon WorkMail uses Exchange ActiveSync for contacts and calendars, which makes direct migration more involved. Here is how to handle each:

Contacts:

1. Log in to the Amazon WorkMail web client (https://your-alias.awsapps.com/mail)
2. Go to Contacts and export them as a .csv or vCard (.vcf) file
3. In Forward Email, contacts are managed via CardDAV. You can import your contacts using any CardDAV-compatible client (such as Thunderbird with the CardBook add-on, Apple Contacts, or GNOME Contacts)
4. Forward Email CardDAV server: https://caldav.forwardemail.net (see our CardDAV setup guide for details)

Calendars:

1. Log in to the Amazon WorkMail web client
2. Go to Calendar and export your calendar as an .ics file
3. Import the .ics file into Forward Email's CalDAV-compatible calendar using any CalDAV client (such as Thunderbird, Apple Calendar, or GNOME Calendar)
4. Forward Email CalDAV server: https://caldav.forwardemail.net (see our CalDAV setup guide for details)

Note: The AWS mailbox export API (Option B in Step 1) exports calendar items in MIME format, but it does not export contacts or tasks.

Migrating Multiple Users or an Organization

If you are migrating an entire organization with multiple WorkMail users, follow this process:

1. Create a spreadsheet listing all users with their email addresses and current WorkMail passwords.

2. Add all users as aliases in Forward Email under your domain. Generate a password for each alias.

3. Use imapsync in a batch script to migrate all mailboxes automatically:

   #!/bin/bash
   # migrate-all-users.sh
   # Format: workmail_user:workmail_pass:fe_user:fe_pass
   
   while IFS=: read -r wm_user wm_pass fe_user fe_pass; do
     echo "Migrating $wm_user..."
     imapsync \
       --host1 imap.mail.us-east-1.awsapps.com \
       --port1 993 --ssl1 \
       --user1 "$wm_user" \
       --password1 "$wm_pass" \
       --host2 imap.forwardemail.net \
       --port2 993 --ssl2 \
       --user2 "$fe_user" \
       --password2 "$fe_pass" \
       --log --logdir ./migration-logs/
     echo "Done: $wm_user"
   done < users.txt
   

   Create a users.txt file with one user per line:

   alice@yourdomain.com:wmpass1:alice@yourdomain.com:fepass1
   bob@yourdomain.com:wmpass2:bob@yourdomain.com:fepass2
   

4. Update DNS records once (as described in Step 4) — this applies to the entire domain.

5. Distribute new passwords to each user and provide them with the email client configuration settings from Step 7.

Troubleshooting Common Migration Issues

"Authentication failed" when connecting to Amazon WorkMail via IMAP:

• Double-check your password. Amazon WorkMail does not use app passwords like Gmail — use your regular WorkMail password.
• Ensure you are using the correct IMAP server endpoint for your AWS region.
• Verify that IMAP access has not been disabled for your WorkMail organization.

Emails are not arriving at Forward Email after changing MX records:

• DNS changes can take up to 48 hours to propagate. Use dig MX yourdomain.com to check if the new records are live.
• Ensure you removed the old Amazon WorkMail MX records. Having both old and new MX records can cause unpredictable routing.
• Check the Forward Email dashboard for any domain verification warnings.

Some folders or messages are missing after import:

• IMAP folder names may differ between providers. Check for folders with different names (e.g., "Sent Items" in WorkMail vs. "Sent" in Forward Email).
• Run imapsync with the --subscribed flag to include subscribed folders only, or without it to include all folders.
• For very large mailboxes, the transfer may have timed out. Re-run imapsync — it will only transfer messages that were not already copied.

Email client shows "certificate error" or "connection refused":

• Ensure you are using the correct port and encryption settings: port 993 with SSL/TLS for IMAP, port 465 with SSL/TLS for SMTP.
• Forward Email also supports port 587 with STARTTLS for SMTP if your client requires it.

Sent emails are not appearing in the Sent folder:

• Some email clients need to be configured to save sent messages to the IMAP Sent folder. In Thunderbird, go to Account Settings → Copies & Folders and ensure "Place a copy in" is set to the Sent folder on your Forward Email IMAP account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Can I migrate from Amazon WorkMail to Forward Email without any downtime?

Yes. The recommended approach is to set up Forward Email and import your email while keeping Amazon WorkMail active. Only switch the MX records once everything is verified. During DNS propagation, some emails may still arrive at WorkMail — keep both accounts monitored for a few days.

Q: Will my email addresses stay the same?

Yes. Forward Email supports custom domains, so your email addresses (e.g., [email protected]) will remain exactly the same. Only the underlying email service changes.

Q: How long does the migration take?

For a single user with a moderate mailbox (a few thousand messages), the migration typically takes 1-2 hours. For large mailboxes (100,000+ messages), it may take several hours. The DNS propagation for MX records usually completes within a few hours but can take up to 48 hours.

Q: What happens to my email if I do not migrate before March 31, 2027?

After March 31, 2027, you will lose access to all Amazon WorkMail data. Emails stored in WorkMail will become permanently inaccessible. Your domain will stop receiving email if the MX records still point to WorkMail servers that no longer exist.

Q: Does Forward Email support Exchange ActiveSync?

Forward Email uses standard open protocols: IMAP, SMTP, POP3, CalDAV, and CardDAV. Exchange ActiveSync is not supported. Most modern email clients support IMAP/SMTP, and most calendar/contact apps support CalDAV/CardDAV.

Q: Can I use Forward Email with AWS Route 53 for DNS?

Yes. You can manage your DNS records in Route 53 exactly as described in Step 4. Forward Email works with any DNS provider.

Q: Is Forward Email open source?

Yes. Forward Email is 100% open source on GitHub. You can audit the code, self-host it, or contribute to the project. See our GitHub repository for the full source code.

Conclusion

Migrating from Amazon WorkMail to Forward Email is a straightforward process that can be completed in an afternoon for individual users, or over a few days for organizations with multiple mailboxes. By following this guide, you ensure that your email, contacts, and calendars are safely transferred, your DNS records are properly configured, and your email clients are set up to work with Forward Email.

Forward Email provides a privacy-focused, open-source, and cost-effective alternative to Amazon WorkMail — with additional features like end-to-end encryption, unlimited aliases, email forwarding, and quantum-safe encrypted storage. Start your migration today at forwardemail.net/register.

For additional help, visit our FAQ page or contact our support team. You can also compare Forward Email with other providers on our email comparison page.