ELEMENTS HOSTING my experience of changing!

Elements Hosting
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ELEMENTS HOSTING

If you are thinking of changing over to ELEMENTS HOSTING I can reassure you that it’s so easy with the help of @incredibledifferentdan who’s knowledge and help is immense. I am nearly 70 and embrace change where it is required, in this instance it was (see below). So stop procrastinating and do the deed, its so easy and stress free because of @differentdan. Below I will walk you through the steps I undertook yesterday and within a couple of hours the deed was done.

I have been with ChilliDog for over 10 years and never had a problem - Greg was superb with help and support. Then Exact happened and what a… (fill what you like - if it was me I would have post removed!)

I looked around - I had over 20 Domains and various email addresses attached and using to these domains. I had a mixture of .com, .co.uk and .solutions addresses and two of these make my income, so mission critical - one of these is licensed to me from Australia.

I had to find a new home because of lack of support and eventual cost increase.

I looked at various other email providers then I found on this wonderful community thanks Robin @handshaper here that I could host domains with Apple Mail at no extra cost - never even entered my head!

So first thing I did was split all my current domains into three:

  • Mission Critical

  • Easy swap

  • Delete

I then sorted all the emails for these domains - iCloud allows 5 domains and 3 emails per domain - 15 in total, so i put all domain names and emails into a spreadsheet in preparation.

So yesterday I spent a productive few hours with the wonderful @differentdan and this is what I achieved (not in order):

ELEMENTS Hosting: (@differentdan)

  • Set up 14 domains

  • Set up new settings in ELEMENTS web sites for new home

  • Uploaded all my ELEMENTS websites to new home - super fast and with extra added “Back up every time uploaded” - BONUS

  • Checked web sites post NS setting change and all worked instantly

  • Moved every domain over by transfer with EPP codes for .com and.solutions, non needed for .co.uk

CPanel - ChilliDog (me with @differentdan help)

  • Changed Domain NS settings under instruction

  • Requested EPP Transfer Codes for required .com and .solutions sites only - arrived in about 30 minutes

  • Checked all emails had transferred by IMAP to Apple Mail

  • Deleted email accounts transferred AFTER checking set up on Apple Mail

Apple iCloud Mail (me with @differentdan help)

  • Added new domains - chose my main 5 mission critical ones

  • Set up the TXT/SPF/MX/MX/DKIM info for each mail - this was sent by Apple and @ added it all at his end

  • Viewed and checked and then finalised - bingo email set up. Tested and worked!

  • Deleted the IMAP accounts after checking everything was transferred

So what’s left?

  • The domains are being transferred - 24-48 hours

  • I have asked my licensed Aussie site to be transferred NS Server change being done, so just finish off everything but website is already loaded on ELEMENTS Hosting and ready to go.

Thats it folks, all my hosting and emails sorted in a blink of an eye, stress free and all working!

None of this would have been possible for me without the support of the incredible @differentdan so I am now one happy supported customer!

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I’ve been sufficiently tagged it seems.. :rofl:

All joking aside, thanks for sharing your experience @PMUK, happy to help you get everything set up and moved over. :slightly_smiling_face:

Yeah Apple’s iCloud+ Mail is a great option for those managing a lot of different email accounts themselves. Since most people are already paying for an iCloud+ or Apple One subscription, it does make sense to use that email option if it’s available, and it’s not too difficult to set up. :slightly_smiling_face: :red_apple:

Happy to help anybody get their email sorted when migrating over to us, I think that’s probably one of the biggest hassles people don’t want to deal with when migrating, so I like to take that on for them. No hassle, no fuss. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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Regarding the iCloud email option, Apple has introduced a new service called Apple Business, option that allows you to set up a free business account for your company that gives you a much larger number of email accounts. It even lets you create email accounts for other members of your business.

I’m investigating this option and will report back once I find out how it works.

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Wow that sounds pretty cool actually. Let us know what you find out.

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Robin

Had a n email about this yesterday I’m watching this space too!

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I ran into a bit of a roadblock with the Apple Business approach. At a certain point in the signup process, you have to provide a business email address, but it cannot be an address that you have already associated with your Apple ID.

So in order for it to work for me, I would have to remove one of my domains from my iCloud account (and lose any associated email accounts) and then use the domain to register with Apple Business. You also have to verify you are in fact a business by providing information about your registered business. I went through all of that but came unstuck with the email part.

I’m going to schedule a call with Apple support to see if there is some way to resolve the conflicts without having to remove domains, but I suspect it is not going to work. Pity, as it sounds really cool.

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I just went in and logged in with my normal Apple ID, went through everything and then it set up everything, at end it gave me an option of using Apple ID account or new business one. I said business originally and added an email thats on a completely different server and nothing to do with apple it said this is already an Apple ID when I definitely know it isn’t! So went to learn tab and said error. So went back one and set up with current AppleID and it gave me a new email for business use. I then let me in but not a lot there at moment!

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Yes, this is the exact process that I went through. The problem with having it associated with your existing Apple ID is that you don’t get all of the options that allow you to create business email accounts for other people. Plus, you miss out on the branding options that are provided for full business accounts, such as custom domain names and personalized email addresses that enhance professional identity.

I also tried using an account unrelated to my Apple ID, but it displayed the same message as yours. I gave up at that point.

The weird thing was when I first did all of this it worked and it gave me an account, but they never got back to me on the verification of the account, so I cannot log into it. Very confusing.

I’m going to call support and have them walk me through the whole process.

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Keep me updated please and THANKS!

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And what it costs?

:rofl:

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It is free for businesses.