Gmail’s Email Reader = No More Spam! (and that’s just for starters)

I’ve been using Gmail’s web interface as my primary email reading and sending tool for well over a year.  If you’ve received email from me, though, you most likely can’t tell (unless I’m sending it on purpose from my Gmail.)

That’s because you can set Gmail up to receive and send email using your business email address.  When you do this, Gmail functions as an email reader deluxe for all of your email addresses.

I could write a long list of the reasons you should absolutely do this right now, but here’s my top 5 reasons:

TOP 5 REASONS FOR USING GMAIL AS YOUR EMAIL READER (starting with my personal most important reason)

1) Zero spam.  None.  I’m not kidding.  In well over a year, I haven’t received a single proposition from foreign babes or a link from someone desperately needing my financial help to keep their small country afloat.  Not once have I been encouraged to purchase some pharmaceutical enhancer, nor been forced to delete some weight loss must-have miracle.

2) Your email is available.  All of it.  Anywhere.  On any device.  No more 200 email limit, unless you continue to use your email reader on your mobile device instead of Gmails.  And no more “Oops, I left that email at work”.  There’s plenty of storage for free, and more available for purchase.

3) It integrates with Google Calendar (which I also now exclusively use for a long list of reasons, too.)  And it integrates with Google’s Task List, which I’ve just started using.

4) The filters are absolutely fantabulous!!  There’s the obvious use of filters - sorting things into labeled buckets when emails come to your inbox.  But how about this for a use?  I use it to “friendly filter” emails.  If I meet someone and they, without my permission, put me on their email list, I might not want to offend them by unsubscribing.  But really, if I get 200+ emails a day?  I can’t read all that!  So…I put a filter on the email that either archives it immediately (in case I might want to read it later), or deletes it without ever  bothering me.  And no one knows a thing so there’s no hurt feelings.

And those filters (which are basically email rules) are enforced on your phone, too, as long as you use the Gmail reader on your phone.  If you use your regular email reader, you still get the filtering, you just don’t see those filtered emails - you only typically see your Inbox if you’re not using Gmail on your phone.

Bottom line?  If you use Gmail’s email AND their email reader, no more setting up all those smart folders and rules on your Mac Mail and your Outlook and then having them all blown off on your phone!

(You’re sold, right?)

5) For email lists I DO want to be on, I use Otherinbox.com.   Otherinbox now integrates with Gmail (YAY!), so I never even have to login to Otherinbox to read that email.  Instead I have a set of folders with labels IN GMAIL, where Otherinbox has nicely sorted all of my Otherinbox email for me.

READING and SENDING YOUR EMAIL AFTER THE SETUP

AFTER you have it set up, you can interact with your Gmail (which will now have your regular email in it) in one of two primary ways:

1) Do everything in and out of Gmail’s email reader.  This is what I do because I like all my email sorted and labeled the way I’ve set it up in Gmail now.

2) Stick with your normal email reading packages (like MacMail or Outlook) but have those email applications pop just your Gmail address instead of all your other email addresses.  Because you’ve set Gmail up to read your other email addresses, what goes to your MacMail or your Outlook are all of those emails…only WITHOUT the spam!  You miss out on a few of the benefits of the Gmail reader, but hey, sometimes old habits die hard.

HOW TO SET THIS UP:

I’m assuming you have a Gmail account.  If you don’t, it’s time to get one.

Then..

1) Add your regular email accounts to Gmail.  Here’s a link to a tutorial we wrote about how to do this:

Instructions for Setting up Gmail to read your ‘real email’

This will start Gmail READING your email.

If you want to be able to SEND email using your Gmail account, but have it come from your ‘real email’ address, answer YES to that questions when Gmail setup asks it of you.  Then they’ll send a verification link to that email address, which you’ll need to click on to show it’s yours.  Once you do that, then you can also SEND email from Gmail with that business email address.  Make sure you set your business email as your default email in the Accounts area of Gmail and now everything you send out will come from that business email address, only using Gmail’s software.

2) Mobile Device?  Download the Google App for your mobile device.  I bet there’s one available.  Connect it to your Gmail account, and you’re in business there, too.

3) You’re done if you want to use Gmail’s email reader to send and receive email.

BUT WHAT IF YOU JUST DON’T WANT TO GIVE UP MACMAIL, OUTLOOK, ETC?

USING ANOTHER EMAIL READER TO READ YOUR GMAIL.

Here’s a link that Google’s put together with instructions for every conceivable email reader.

Once you’ve set your accounts up on Gmail, change your email reader (like Outlook or Mac Mail) to read ONLY your Gmail account.

The excellent spam filter on Gmail will do all the dirty work and send nice clean email to your reader.  DON’T forget to DELETE those other accounts off your email reader!  When you’re done with this, you should only have the Gmail account set up in Outlook or Mac Mail.  And all your other accounts should be set up in the Gmail Accounts area.

Want to use your normal mobile email reader?  Do the same thing there - only set up the Gmail account on that reader; delete the others now that you’re running them through Gmail.

ENJOY YOUR SPAM FREE EMAIL EXPERIENCE!

I hope these instructions are clear, and I hope you enjoy SPAM FREE EMAIL soon because of them!  Let us know your experience setting this up or ask any questions you may have.