Google IMAP Rocks!
Up until Google’s announcement of their release of IMAP I really had no idea what it was. I have always used my Gmail accounts with POP3/SMTP and through a lengthy process moved my Outlook.pst file into a syncrhonized folder on my server, made sure it was available on all of my computers, etc, etc. It really was a pain in the butt to get Outlook on all PCs working with the same data file and heaven forbid I leave Outlook open on one PC, especially when I was away from my home network and try to VPN and access my Outlook file.
Getting Started With Google IMAP
Really, it was MUCH work just to access my e-mail in Outlook wherever I went! THEN I found out how IMAP works and decided to take the plunge, not only by completely ditching POP3 access, but doing it while on vacation!
The results? My migration to IMAP on vacation was far easier than just accessing my POP3 accounts that were already configured!
I took a few screenshots of where I dragged and dropped my existing folders from my POP3 Outlook.pst account into my IMAP account and how it looks on the web. (I blacked out sensitive information).
Red box: My old outlook.pst file / Green box is my Google IMAP account (live)
I dragged my Cox Communications folder from my Outlook.pst file to my Gmail “root”
You can see the transfer window while my e-mails are transfered over to my Gmail account.
Finally you can see the folder in the Gmail account via the web interface as well as some other folders previously moved over. And guess what? I’m going to bed so I can just pick up tomorrow transferring e-mails!
Leave a Reply