Rex |

I’m happily moving out of a job but one of the things that bothers me is the impending deactivation of my office mail and the deletion of all my emails. I think it is a good idea to keep a copy of all the thousands of office emails I’ve received along with all their attachments. Aside from being a an e-souvenir, those office mails will be priceless reference later on.

Forwarding all email

But how do you forward all your office emails to your Gmail account? Surely forwarding them one by one will be ridiculous. At first I though it was not possible, but I tried a new method which worked perfectly. Good thing my employer uses Google Apps for email!

No, filters don’t work

Gmail’s filters will work only to forward email that are received after creating the filter. Old mail will not be forwarded.

POP Download

So how do you do it?  Use POP download! I already forgot what POP meant during my high school computer class, but nevertheless, the step-by-step procedure below worked just the way I needed it. First, let me clarify that this procedure works for moving mail from Google Apps to Gmail. I don’t know if this will work for other email clients.

1. Set for all the incoming mail to be forwarded to your Gmail. After logging into your Google Apps email, go to Settings>Forwarding and POP/IMAP. Under Forwarding, enable Forward a copy of incoming mail to [fill in your gmail address] and [select whether to  keep, archive, or delete your copy in the inbox]. This step is optional.
2. Enable POP download. Under Pop Download, select Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded). You may then choose whether to keep, archive, or delete your copy of received mails in the inbox.
3. Note your Google App mail’s configuration settings. Still in the sam panel, click the link Configuration instructions. A list of supported POP clients will appear. Click Other under Mail Clients. Note the Incoming Mail (POP3) Server settings especially the POP server address, the port, and whether or not  to use SSL.
4. Add a POP3 email account in your Gmail. Log in to your Gmail and go to Settings>Accounts and Import.  Click the Add POP3 email account button under Check mail using POP3. Fill in the required instructions in the Pop-up window using the configuration settings you noted from step #3. Don’t check Leave a copy of the retrieved message on the server. You might also want to apply a label to all the imported mail so they don’t get mixed up with the rest of your other email. Also remember to provide your full email address. Save changes.
5. Wait. Congratulations! Gmail will now check your Google Apps mail and automatically download all the contents of your inbox. It will take a while especially if you have thousands of mail so please be patient. Meanwhile, you may also enable sending mail from your Gmail using your Google Apps address.

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