16 comments

• 

  Louise

  1 year ago

  As great as Gmail is, you have to be careful about storing your passwords in your account (especially 10 years worth!) because Gmail isn't by nature a password manager.
  
  I work for PassPack which is an online password manager which is specifically designed to protect your...your guessed it...passwords:
  
  http://tinyurl.com/38jxny
  
  So take advantage of all the great things Gmail has to offer but choose and use a password manager!
  
  Hope it helps!
  
  Louise
  reply
• 

  Steve

  1 year ago

  I just want to say that I really enjoyed this post. I took many of the same steps when I left Microsoft Outlook for Yahoo! Mail. When I was finally able to wrangle an invite to Gmail, I switched and I've never looked back. I no longer use Outlook or any desktop PIM in any capacity--everything I do is now off in cyberspace and accessible to me practically anywhere I go. No more frustrating sessions with MS Activesync (which never did exactly what I wanted it to do no matter how much tinkering I did). No more wishing I had that one file with me that was still back on my computer (I have a label in Gmail called "docs" and I just email myself most every file I create). I couldn't agree more that now is a great time to break free of the desktop for a solution like that described in this post. And, if you own one of the latest smartphones in the marketplace, there is no reason not to have your data in complete mobile harmony.
  
  Thanks,
  Steve
  iphonebysteve.com
  reply
• 

  Vinny Lingham

  1 year ago

  Thanks Steve! Hope it makes life easier!
  
  @ Louise
  
  I don't store passwords per se, but sometimes email confirmations with passwords are left in my account and I need to retrieve them whilst not at my computer - makes it pretty handy.
  reply
• 

  Louise

  1 year ago

  @Vinny
  
  When you request your 'forgotten password' or get a 'password confirmation', it's only natural to feel that it's safe tucked away in a Gmail folder - a lot of people do that (I used to myself).
  
  But in actuality private info (of any sort) in email folders is really vulnerable - since it's not encrypted.
  
  Louise :-)
  reply
• 

  Jared Goralnick

  1 year ago

  Vinny, those tips rock! I never knew of the PST uploader for Outlook and I'm constantly recommending to folks the benefits of Gmail IMAP (but thought you had to drag and drop the messages in IMAP rather than do a single upload).
  
  I'm going to mention this in an upcoming blog post--since I've been writing a lot about email productivity.
  
  Thank you, and so glad to have found your blog.
  reply
• 

  Vinny Lingham

  1 year ago

  @Jared - thanks, glad I could help!!
  reply
• 

  Vinny Lingham

  1 year ago

  And could someone please Digg/Slashdot this post? :-)
  reply
• 

  Abby

  1 year ago

  Love the disclaimer. :-)
  
  Great article, will certianly use it.
  reply
• 

  Peter Figueredo

  1 year ago

  Hey Vinny,
  
  I just converted to gmail and shed outlook and im lovin it! However, I had many folders in outlook and those got converted to labels but there are way too many. I am manually moving messages and removing labels but do you have any tips on this process?
  reply
• 

  Vinny Lingham

  1 year ago

  Hey Peter!
  
  That's the one thing that I haven't figured out to do quickly yet. I had to delete them one by one. Painful, I know. Congrats on the move - here is to a more efficient email system! :-)
  
  V
  reply
• 

  Peter Figueredo

  1 year ago

  Shoot...I was hoping you had the magic answer!
  
  oh well...im also making the switch to a Mac, any tips there? (i know this email move will help with my mac switch tremendously)
  reply
• 

  Steve

  1 year ago

  I haven't figured out how to easily label things either. Maybe you should just leave your current messages in Outlook (yuk!). I took that approach, and now I find I rarely have to refer back. The older your stored messages get, the less likely you'll be to need to look at them.
  
  Steve
  http://www.iphonebysteve.com
  reply
• 

  Movie

  1 year ago

  Thank you for advice:) I use gmail not only as a mail server, but also as a repository for their files.
  reply
• 

  GlobetrotterSA

  1 year ago

  Good article.
  If you're still using Outlook, there's another easy way to import your Outlook .pst folders into your GMail account:
  1. Enable IMAP on Google account
  2. Enable IMAP in your Outlook, your GMail folders will then appear in your Outlook folders list.
  3. Just create a new label in GMail 'old' and it will be re-created in Outlook as a folder.
  4. Simply move all your Outlook folders to this new folder and it will all be uploaded to GMail, correctly labelled and the timestamps kept intact.
  When all is done, disable IMAP in Outlook, close it and then remove the 'old' label from all the messages in GMail.
  
  I did this using Outlook 2003 and had no problems moving a few thousand emails. Just took a long time on my slow internet connection in SA. :)
  
  But now I'm a 100% fulltime GMail user as well.
  reply
• 

  Peter Fuller

  1 year ago

  I have been using gmail for quite awhile and have been using all of the above features. I particularly like to forward all of my emails from various services and websites. You can even setup gmail to use the appropriate reply to based on the source. The end result is so much faster than a desktop solution and I have access to my emails no matter where I am in this world.
  
  It may take some time to get use to, but labels and filters easily keep your emails in order.
  reply
• 

  Brian

  1 year ago

  Great post. IMAP is so much better now that it works with Windows Mobile.
  
  Take a look at my post about Gears. You won't need Outlook for offline access.
  My Coffee Spot: Gmail Without Gears?!
  reply