In addition to large email storage space, the popularity of Gmail is also governed by the fact that it can be configured in several popular email programs, plus have your Gmail messages delivered right to your desktop.
Here is how to configure your Gmail account in Windows Mail, which is the default email program in Windows Vista. It’s not too complicated, and you can then start reading emails straight from Windows.
Step 1: Enable POP on Gmail – Click the “Settings” link given on the top-right corner of your Gmail account page. On the “Settings” page, open the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
Here, in the “POP Download” section, select the “Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on” option.
Note: If you want to download all emails you have received until now, select the “Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded)” option.
Step 2: Decide what to do with Gmail’s Copy of emails.
You can choose to keep the Gmail’s copy of email in Inbox, archive it, or delete it. Make your choice and click the “Save Changes” button. Gmail accounts all have large storage space. So it is best that you choose to maintain a copy of your mails in Gmail. This way you will be able to access your emails from anywhere.
Step 3: Configure the Gmail account in Windows Mail.
In your Windows Mail, open the “Tools” menu, and then select the “Accounts” command.
In the “Internet Accounts” dialog that is displayed, click the “Add” button to launch the wizard to create a new account. Select “E-mail Account” and then click “Next”.
Enter your Display Name when asked, and then click “Next”. Now, enter your Gmail address in the “E-mail address” box on the “Internet E-mail Address” screen and then click “Next”.
Next, on the “Set-up e-mail servers” screen, do the following:
- Ensure that “Incoming e-mail server type” is “POP3”.
- Enter “pop.gmail.com” in the “Incoming mail (POP3 or IMAP) server” box.
- Enter “smtp.gmail.com” in the “Outgoing e-mail server” box.
- Select the “Outgoing server requires authentication” checkbox.
Finally, click “Next”.
On the “Internet Mail Logon” screen, provide your complete Gmail ID as the E-mail username and your Gmail login password as the password. If you are configuring the mail on a private computer, select the “Remember password” checkbox. Click “Next”.
On the “Congratulations” screen, select the “Do not download my email at this time” check box, and then click the “Finish” button. Now go back to the “Internet Accounts” dialog box, select the email account you just added, and then click the “Properties” button.
On the Advanced tab of the Properties dialog box do the following:
- Change the value for Outgoing mail (SMTP) to “465”.
- Change the value for Incoming mail (POP3) to “995”.
- Select the “This server requires an encrypted connection (SSL)” checkboxes for both incoming and outgoing mail.
- Finally, click “Apply” to save your changes and then “OK” to exit the dialog box.
Now, close the “Internet Accounts” dialog box. Finally, click “Send/Receive” in Windows Mail to download your Gmail messages.