Mac Mail

In Mail, is there a way to change a POP Account to a IMAP Account without deleting the account and re-creating it? I tried deleting an account and recreating it but I lost all of the old and many important messages. Can't afford to do that with the remaining 3 accounts I want to change.

Which ISP are you using? Google (GMail) allows a change from PoP to IMAP without effecting the current account. Why did you have to delete the account?

I'm using a local provider, Consolidated. When setting up the accounts you have to select either POP or IMAP. I was told by the Consolidated tech to use POP but now I have reason to change that to IMAP. But once the accounts are set up that designation is no longer available to select and change. Unless there is a way around it.