The Official ActiveRain Guide

Gmail is brought to us by Google, with it is a packed-full warehouse of goodies in the form of apps.  In my continuing saga of touting the benefits of working in The Cloud and at the same time minimizing expenses, I've now written this step by step tutorial on how to make the move.

In a previous post Funnel Your Email Address Through Gmail I spoke of how to send all your email accounts to Gmail, thus consolidating them in one handy IN THE CLOUD spot.  I repeat for those who didn't catch the point, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO LOSE (or stop using) YOUR OLD EMAIL ADDRESS when using Gmail.

So, the answer is YES! You can route all your email addresses to Gmail and no one will know the difference (just you!).  Of course if you want to eventually simplify your life you can first migrate your addresses to Gmail and then later on close out other accounts.  Either way, the choose is yours, you decide what to do.

Which comes first the Chicken or the Egg?  Or how to I migrate to Gmail without losing my brand email...Step by Step read on.

For those who are Gmail newbies, or have a Gmail account but it's sitting dormant, this tutorial should help get you started.

First you will need a Gmail account.  Go to Google.com and get one.  Look for the Create an account link.

You will be asked your name and desired Login name.  When picking your login name, this is the part that will appear before the "@" in your new gmail address.

If you are lucky you might get your name, or you can use a "." (dot)  a number (1-9) or location in conjunction with it.

Mine is Kristal.Kraft@gmail.com, I got lucky, first there aren't too many Kristal Krafts and I also joined in the beginning when they first opened the beta.  I also have KraftyKristal@gmail.com an address that I don't use often but is fun.

Once you have chosen a name you like and one you won't mind having to type again and again, finish answering the questions and submit.  Google will create your gmail account.

Visit your account.  You will probably have a few welcome and how-to emails from Gmail.  It's a good idea to take a few moments and read them just incase my instructions differ from theirs!

The first thing you will want to do is import your mail and contacts from your existing accounts.  Look in the top upper right of your screen.  You will see a navigation bar that looks like this:

Click on the SETTINGS and then once again search on the navigation bar for ACCOUNTS and IMPORT, click on it and you will see a screen that resembles this:

 

Most people will have an email account with one of these; Yahoo!, Htomail, AOL, or other webmail or POP3 accounts.  Click on the Import mail and contacts button if you do.  (See above arrow)

You will need to know your other email addresses and the passwords.  Once that is inputted, Google will present a box for you to check the options you would like.  It looks like this:

 

In this instance I see no need to leave messages on the server. You may find it wise to do so until you are fully committed to using Gmail.  I add the LABEL of my other email address as it will show up on all my messages.  Now I can easily determine where the message came from.

The Archive box is a good thing to use if you want to ARCHIVE ALL your messages from this email.  In some cases I do that, but not in this one.  Where I do archive all messages from one email is in the event of using a particular email like my Secretary of Lone Tree Photo Club email. 

When everything looks good, click START IMPORT.  The next box you see might be a little puzzling...here it is:

I've never noticed it taking up to 2 days for my email to be imported but I guess if they say it is so it must be!

Now that you've begun the process to import your email the next steps are to create filters and to import and categorized your contacts.

Before we leave this screen, remember you can add MULTIPLE email accounts by using the SEND MAIL As:  Just click on that button and add information about your other email address.  Each time you do this you configure that email address to reply either from your gmail address or whatever address it is.  (I have 6 email addresses funneled through my gmail account! It's so nice to have them all in one place.)

So now you have created a central location to store and read your email on Gmail.  You still have your other email active so you can check to see if Gmail is pulling all your mail before you cut it off.  Now, by cutting it off I mean changing where you go to SEE your email and SEND it.

Now instead of going to OUTLOOK on your computer you will log on to Google, click on Gmail and there you will find your email.  If you are like me, this habit maybe hard to break.  It will take some patience, persistence and probably practice before you are totally 100% a Gmail person!

Next time I will write a tutorial on using Filters to organize.

 

Previous posts about Google:

Funnel Your Email Addresses Through Gmail

Gmail Offers a Passport to Many FREE Services

Google Has a Voice and I Love It!

 

Recently I wrote a post about how much I like using Gmail.  Like many people in the real estate business I've had an email address for a long time.  In fact my original email address attached to my domain of Denver Real Estate and Relocation had to be "retired" because I was getting so much spam from it all I did all day long was delete and delete some  more.

I was so sad to lose my original "branded email" but the work involved with keeping it just was worth it anymore.

But now I have a solution.  Gmail.

Gmail has been around for quite awhile now.  At first one only got an account via personal invitation.  Now anyone can have an account (or more) just for the asking!

Gmail has improved  from the beginning.  If you haven't taken a look at it lately perhaps you should! After my last post on this topic, many were concerned about "giving up" their long loved email addresses.  This is nothing further from the truth!

Gmail settings allow for multiple email accounts to be processed through gmail, and one never has to even give out their gmail address.  You can continue using your old address but enjoy the benefits, features and power of gmail!

Here's how you can set up mulitple accounts to go through gmail.  Go to the gmail dashboard>Settings (found in the top navigation bar)>Accounts and Import>Send mail as:>

At this point all you need to do is add your current email accounts.  It is necessary to know your passwords for each account.

Be sure to check the box "Reply from the same address the message was sent to" under the heading "When receiving a message:"

By doing this you never have to worry about which account you are receiving mail, it will automatically respond with your correct email address.

It gets better.

Now you can create a different email signoff for each account.  For instance, I'm currently the secretary of the Lone Tree Photography Club.  Email for the club comes directly to my gmail account.  I can respond to it and have the proper email signature attach to the club emails.  Next year when I am no longer the secretary, this email account can be assumed by the new secretary without having to notify members of an email address change.  It's all very organized and professional.

Grasp a new concept - don't delete!

How many of us delete email all day long?  Not me, at least not anymore.  Now with gmail I ARCHIVE my email.  Why?  Because with gmail I have tons of storage space.  It's not necessary to delete an email that maybe I will want to find in a week or two! 

Ah you say, But the inbox swells to thousands...

No, it won't not if you create filters to organize important emails.  Filters are like "Creating a rule" in Outlook.  Filters will allow you to have files where your emails are filed rather than letting them pile up in your inbox.  For instance I like to create a file for each of my clients.  I create a filter that sends any email directed from them to me into this file.  I know I have an email from them because there will be a number next to the filter on the left column.

To organized like filters together, I begin them with a1-ClientsName  a1-Client2  a1-client3 etc.  Of course I use real names. 

The second tier is my lead management filters.  b1-leadActivity b1-NewLead b1-ReloRequest

The third tier consists of people I communicate with daily, my assistant, broker, daughter who's in the business with me.  Basically tier 3 are the ones whos communications are directing me with items I need to act upon.

Why the tiers?  Well after first creating filters that would list in the sidebar in alpha order, I realized I wanted  more "order" to the sidebar, thus I created the tier concept.  Now when I look at my email I can glance down the sidebar to see who's sent me an email.  Clients, Prospects, Office, are my order of importance.

Yes, I have many more filters, newsletters, social media catagories, receipts, etc.  These all follow the tiers at the bottom of the sidebar.  These are filters I look at when I have the time.

If an email ends up in my box that needs to be associated with a filter, it's easy to "Move to" that filter and file the email in the appropriate place.  Now I have everything nice and neat where it belongs.

For a FREE program Gmail is very robust.  I'm strong on it of late because so much of our work is now in the cloud.  I can access my mail from any computer, not just the one sitting on my desk.

Once you start working with gmail you will see the convenience of not having to delete on multiple devices as I did for so long.  Now I do things once and I'm done with it!

Convenience and freedom are a great combination.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Other posts about the joys of Google.

Gmail Offers a Passport to Many FREE Services

Google has a Voice and I Love It!

Relocate to Gmail - A Step by Step Story