What is Google powered email?

While Google Apps Email is very similar to Gmail in most ways, there are a few key differences between the two services:

• Your company logo at the Webmail Homepage, not Gmail logo
• Your business emails address i.e. cindy@cindycakehouse.com. But not cindy@gmail.com
• Up to 50 mail accounts 7 Gigabytes per mailbox
• The Gmail password reset flow doesn't apply to Google Apps accounts. If you forget your Google Apps password, please contact your IT admin for assistance.
• When setting up POP or IMAP access to your Google Apps mail account, make sure to enter your full email address whenever you're asked for your username or address. However, make sure to use the recommended servers, which include the domain 'gmail.com.'

Why you should use or switch to Google powered email?

• Familiar interface, star, labels, archive etc. (if you have or using Gmail)
• Uptime and reliability guarantee
• Information security and compliance - When you trust your company's information to Google, you can be confident that your critical information is safe and secure.
• Full administrative and data control - Administrators can deeply customize Google Apps to meet their technical, branding and business requirements.

Moving to Google powered email

Preparing for the Move

Before you actually start moving your e-mail services to the Google server, I would recommend back up all of your old e-mail messages to a safe place. Once the migration is completed, it will be difficult to launch your old e-mail server using an e-mail client like Outlook.

In my case, I have created a new folder inside of my "On This Computer folder" in Evolution (in Outlook, I believe this is called "Local Folders") for my Inbox and a new folder for my Sent messages. I then selected all of the messages in my Inbox on my current e-mail server and moved them into the new local folder I created. I repeated the same steps for my sent messages.

Creating Your Account

It's actually very simple, but it will take a long time. To begin with, sign up for an account from Google [Screenshot]. For most of us, the Standard Edition offered by Google is more than enough.

Although the comparison between the Standard Edition and the Premier Edition says that only the Premier Edition offers Microsoft Outlook interoperability that does not mean you can't use Microsoft Outlook (or the iPhone or any other e-mail client) with the Standard Edition. You can enable IMAP services on the Standard Edition and connect to it through Outlook. I am assuming that the "interoperability" to which they're referring in that comparison is the automatic sync of e-mail, contacts and calendar all together, the way an Exchange server works.

1. Indicate whether you own a domain name. If so, indicate whether you are an administrative user of the domain (do you have the ability to upload files via FTP or to modify the DNS entries). In my case, I am an administrator of the domain, so I have indicated that. Then, enter the domain name you will be using.
2. Fill in all of your contact information, information about your organization (if applicable) and make sure you agree to the fact that you have permission to edit your DNS entries. As with most Web forms, there are some required fields. In this particular instance, they are currently indicated with an asterisk (*) to the right of the label. If you don't provide the required information, you will receive an error when you submit the form. Note: Signing up for the Google Apps account is useless if you're not going to be able to modify your server appropriately to have the e-mail go where it's intended. Make sure that you are able to edit your server's DNS zone files before filling in this form. If you cannot edit your DNS zone files, ASK your service provider (who register the domain name on behalf) or STOP right here.
3. Create your first e-mail account [Screenshot]. This e-mail account will be used as the administrative account for the Google Apps services. You will be confronted with the Terms and Conditions. These terms and conditions are fairly standard for Google's services, but they are worth a quick read. Keep in mind that these terms also include, by reference, the Google Privacy Policy and the Program Policy, so you might need to read those, as well.

The next step in the process is to prove to Google that you own and have administrative rights to the domain you chose. You have two options to prove you own the domain. The first option is to simply create and upload an HTML file to your Web server. The other option is to modify your DNS entries to add a unique CNAME record. Screenshot for first option of verification your Domain Ownership. Screenshot for second option of verification your Domain Ownership.

I chose the first option. I simply created a new HTML file with the unique string Google provided, and uploaded it to my Web server. This was very simple and very quick.

Google has prepared a guide to walk you through the remaining steps. The guide provides pretty good information, but it's somewhat long-winded (rightfully so, since it's providing you with all of the information you need to set up the whole thing).

Setting Up Your E-mail Server

The next step is to set up the URI you want to use to access Webmail. In most cases, this is either webmail.example.com or simply mail.example.com. To make this change, click on the "Service Settings" tab in the top menu of the dashboard. Then, click "Email." From there, specify that you want to use a custom URL, and enter the appropriate subdomain for your domain. Submit that form, and Google will then provide you with information about adding a CNAME entry for your new subdomain.

Once you have done that, return to your dashboard. You should check your current list of e-mail accounts and create a corresponding Google Apps account (under the "Users and groups" tab in the Dashboard) for each. Screenshot for when creating Users.

MX Record Changes

Once you have finished creating all of the users, you can return to the dashboard and click "Activate email." Follow the MX change instructions provided by Google. If you're fortunate enough to use one of the hosts included in the dropdown menu there, you should be able to get clear, specific instructions explaining how to make the changes in your host's control panel. My host is included in the list, so I skipped using the generic instructions. Screenshot for when changing Mail Exchange MX records.

Google will have you add seven new MX records to your DNS zone file. Those entries will probably look like:

MX Server address Priority

ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM. 10

ALT1.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM. 20

ALT2.ASPMX.L.GOOGLE.COM. 20

ASPMX2.GOOGLEMAIL.COM. 30

ASPMX3.GOOGLEMAIL.COM.  30

ASPMX4.GOOGLEMAIL.COM. 30

ASPMX5.GOOGLEMAIL.COM. 30

It's important that you copy and paste those addresses exactly as they appear in the Google instructions. They all include dots at the end of the addresses, and that dot needs to be included. Screenshot example of my DNS zone's setting.

Mail Client Setup and Resources

At this point, you're pretty much done. You have to wait. It can take from one hour to 48 hours before the changes are complete.

Once the changes have completed, though, you can set up your e-mail client (Outlook, Thunderbird, Evolution, etc.) to check your e-mail. The Gmail IMAP settings are fairly simple. They are as follows:

IMAP (incoming) mail:

• Server: imap.gmail.com
• Port: 993
• Encryption: SSL

SMTP (outgoing) mail:

• Server: smtp.gmail.com
• Port: 465 or 587
• Encryption: TLS

Google provides instructions for this set up, including specific instructions for certain e-mail clients.

I used the Mx Toolbox to occasionally check the status of my DNS zone changes. The tool was extremely helpful.

Old or Backup Email Migration Options

Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Outlook®

A desktop utility that uploads email and contacts from desktop email programs (like Microsoft Outlook®) into your Google Apps account. Simply click here to read more or download from Google. If you are Apple Mac user, click here.

Mail Fetcher

Mail Fetcher is configured with each user's email account (rather than in the Google Apps control panel) and allows your users to fetch mail from both Gmail and non-Gmail accounts. Fetched mail is inserted into your users' Google Apps Email accounts. With this method, migration is performed on a user-by-user basis. Use this method if transferring existing data isn't required but each user has the option of transferring mail. Note: When fetching mail from a Gmail or Google Apps account, use the Gmail POP server settings described here.