What is GMAIL , and do I need it?

Gmail is a new web based email service provided by google. Google is well known for their web search facility and it seems that this year at least they have decided to expand full force into a number of other areas. Desktop Search is another of their new services, still in Beta in the time of writing (as is GMail) the Desktop Search facility is in my opinion an excellent resource and well worthy of installing, but thats for another day. GMail has been around in Beta form since around April 2005 and has grown in popularity ever since. I have been using it for around 1 year now and find it an excellent alternative to Hotmail , Yahoo etc..

 Recently they have introduced POP and SMTP facilities to their otherwise web based GMail service, and this has prompted me to write this short informational tutorial about it. The words 'Web Based' does put a lot of people off GMail despite its obvious advantages such as portability, off computer storage amongst them. The introduction of the POP facility means that those that are wrapped in the comforts of Outlook Express they too can enjoy some of what GMail has to offer, combined with offline reading and composing of emails.

Why try GMail? Up until recently Hotmail only provided users with 2MB of message space, GMail introduced a 1GB storage limit previously unheard of, (ed: this is now well over 2.7GB and increasing) Hotmail has now increased its free account holders to a 250MB limit I am guessing to counteract the likes of GMail. Another big benefit is the grouping of converations. Messages to and from people are grouped together in a conversation so it is all there in front of you, no having to search through your email in the inbox and sent items to remember what was previously talked about. I have over 3000 messages grouped into just under 730 grouped conversations and I have just reached 3% of my 2700MB limit! There are many more options available and it seems that google are increasing features almost on a monthly basis. I feel that the beta edition has been running long enough now that is stable enough for everyone to give it a go. The account can be deleted at any time if it is not right for your circumstances. Ok, enough waffle lets get down to business.

What you will need for this tutorial :

• An Internet Connection!
• An offline email program, this tutorial assumes Outlook Express although there are links to instructions for other programs such as Nestcape, Thunderbird.

• Due to the main GMail service being web based and the POP facility, this tutorial is suitable for multiple platforms including Windows , MAC and Linux.

As the GMail email service is still in beta edition, it is still concidered a test program so you need to make the choice now as to whether you are prepared to use beta software. miniTutorials can not be held responsible for any loss of business or personal data, loss of revenue or any other damage sustained whilst using GMail, that said I have been using it for months with no problems at all and the other admin staff of miniTutorials also use it with no apparant side effects other than sore fingers from typing too many emails :)

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Step 1 - Get yourself a GMail Beta Account

Usually , Step 1 is the easiest step to follow in most tutorials, alas I can not avoid this one. Again, GMail is beta software, google have taking the route forward that if you want a GMail account, you need to be 'invited' into having an account by someone else who has one already. I expect this will change in the future. Luckily, I have for some such event as this, accumulated many GMail invites to give away, and I have access to more if needed. So, Step1 then broken down :-

• Send an email to minitutorials@gmail.com asking for a GMail account, please mention this tutorial and include the words 'GMail tutorial - Step 1' in the message title.
• I will send you your invite to open a GMail account. Instructions are contained within the email on how to do this. The account will become active immediatly.

At this stage you have your account and can begin to explore and use it, there is no need to continue this tutorial. The main purpose of this tutorial was to show you how easy it is to integrate with your offline email program so if this is what you want, read on....

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Step 2 - Enable POP support for your account.

Hmm, Step 1 wasn't that hard, no but it was the hardest of all steps so I told the truth!
If you are not already signed in to your new GMail account, open up your favourite web browser and sign in at https://gmail.google.com/gmail. Click on the 'Settings' link at the top right hand corner of the page. Take a look around to see what options are available to you on this page such as creating a nickname, a signature and a reply-to address. These are self-explanatory and we wont go into these here. Click on the 'Forwarding and POP' link, take a look around at the options available to you. Select 'Enable POP for all mail' by clicking within the circle next to it. Look at the options for item 2 on the page ' When messages are accessed with POP' --- and choose one to suit you, I left mine to leave a copy of messages on the server - this is to take advantage of the converation grouping that using GMail online has, I may need those messages when I am at another computer. Click on the 'Configuration Instructions' link, this page will open in a new window. Click on a link that best describes your offline email client program. From now on this tutorial assumes Outlook Express and follows the directions contained on the first item in the list.

The instructions contained within the page just opened really are self-explanatory so I wont repeat them here. Even if you are familiar with configuring accounts in Outlook Express, I would recommend just pressing the 'Run the Auto-Configuration Tool' link as it does it all for you. Once clicked press the 'Run' option on the windows dialog box and not 'Download'. Follow the couple of prompts and it's done.

Close the GMail Help Center window and return to the POP settings page, click on the 'Save Changes' button - if this step is not done then Outlook Express will not be able to connect to your GMail account. You should now return to the GMail inbox. Close or minimize this page.

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Step 3 - Customize Outlook Express some more.

Again, this is optional, but it helps to distiguish between your usual emails and the ones coming in from your new GMail account. Open Outlook Express and 'Right Click' the 'Local Folders' from the Folders pane (if not in view select 'View > Layout > Tick the Folders box and hit apply) . Give youe new folder an appropriate name such as mygmailaccount.gmail.com and apply. From the 'Tools' menu select 'Message Rules' and then 'Mail'. Click the 'New' button to create a new rule. Tick the 'Where the message is from the specified account' checkbox, you may need to scroll down the top box to see this. In the second box select the 'Move it to the specified folder' checkbox. In the third box click on the first 'specified' link (usually hightlighted in blue and underscored). From the resulting popup scroll down to your new gmail account and click 'OK'. Click on the second 'specified' link and choose your newly created folder and then click 'OK'. Lastly, give this new rule an apprpriate name such as the name of your GMail account then click 'OK' to close this popup box. Click 'Apply Now' in the Message Rules box and then again click 'Apply Now' in the Apply Now Message Rules box. Click 'OK, 'Close' and finally 'OK' to exit from all windows to bring you back to your messages.

Phew is that it, I think it is. From now on, when you open Outlook Express any new messages will be copied from your GMail account into your new folder in Outlook Express, how convenient.

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Summary

Congatulations, you have a new GMail account that you can access from anywhere, and you can also download messages and write messages offline for sending later. I hope that this alternative and very configurable email service from google proves beneficial and improves your enjoyment of the web, it certainly has for me.

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Want to know more?

Google also has a useful tool called the 'Gmail Notifier' - an Icon sits in your notification area on the taskbar in Windows and lets you know automatically when a new message has arrived! From the 'Settings' menu within your Gmail account, select the 'Get the Gmail Notifier' link or go directly to http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/ and download it from there.