Export emails from AOL to Gmail

Decades old AOL account finally retiring and everything should move into my Gmail before it goes.

Server to server option or does this need a desktop client in the middle?

Server to server exists and it is the right first move: Gmail's own importer speaks to AOL directly.

1

Prepare AOL first: in AOL account security, generate an app password for the import, since AOL accounts with modern security reject the normal password from third party fetchers. Note it somewhere temporary.

2

In Gmail open Settings, Accounts and Import, then Import mail and contacts. Enter the AOL address and the app password when prompted.

3

Let it run. Large old mailboxes take days, the import continues in the background and also keeps fetching new AOL arrivals for 30 days, covering your transition period.

4

Verify afterwards by comparing folder counts in AOL webmail against the imported labels in Gmail, since AOL folders arrive as Gmail labels of the same names.

The desktop client route stays available as the surgical fallback: add both accounts over IMAP in Thunderbird, let AOL sync down fully and drag folders into Gmail at your own pace. Slower but verifiable per folder, plus the local AOL copy on disk becomes a backup layer of its own. Most people never need it once the importer finishes clean.

App password made and the importer has been chewing through since yesterday, already into 2009. The 30 day tail is perfect timing for telling my remaining AOL correspondents. Both decades soon in one place.