Setting the POP and Forwarding Features | Google Power Tools Bible

Click the Settings link at the top of the page to launch the Gmail Settings page. Click the Forwarding and Pop tab. To set up e-mail forwarding, find the Forwarding section of the Forwarding and Pop form. By default, the Disable Forwarding selection is enabled. To turn on forwarding, select Forward a copy of incoming mail to, and type a destination e-mail address in the text box provided. From the next drop-down list, select the action you want Gmail to take when forwarding your mail. Here are the choices:

keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox
archive Gmail’s copy
delete Gmail’s copy

It’s recommended that you either keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox or archive Gmail’s copy. Remember that the goal of Gmail is to never require that e-mail be erased, only archived so that it can be searched and accessed at a later time.

Forwarded e-mail is simply sent on to the next e-mail address specified as the destination. It is forwarded as soon as Gmail puts it in your Inbox. You do not have to configure your other e-mail program to receive this e-mail.

When you want to forward only some of your e-mail, you can create a filter.

Creating a forwarding filter

You can filter messages based on several different types of information. For example, you can filter your messages so that only e-mail from a specific person is forwarded to you. This gives you complete control over what messages are viewed through Gmail and which are retrievable through a different e-mail client program such as Thunderbird or Outlook.

While viewing the Pop and Forwarding settings you see the Create a Filter link. Clicking this link launches the Create a Filter page. In this page, you can determine which e-mail messages are selected by Gmail for forwarding.

Set the criteria

There are six criteria that you can set for filtering messages. You can fill in one or several of the filter criteria, which include:

From: Forward messages sent from a specific person or e-mail address.
To: Filter on the intended recipient of the message.
Subject: Forward messages that contain certain words or phrases in the e-mail subject line.
Has the words: Filter on specific words or phrases in the body of the message.
Doesn’t have: Only forward messages that do not contain certain words.
Has attachments: Only forward messages that have attachments. Checkbox only.

After typing keywords or phrases in one or more of these criteria or checking the attachments criteria, click Next Step >>. The next step is choosing an action.

Choose an action

There are five actions you can take when filtering messages. This section focuses on one of those: forwarding the message. You can also choose to filter the message where other actions take place. These actions include

Skip the inbox (archive it)
Star it
Apply the label (choose label from a drop-down list)
Forward it to e-mail address.
Delete it

To continue setting up e-mail forwarding, type an e-mail address in the Forward it to: text box and select the checkbox next to this criteria. You can then either click Create Filter or first select the Also apply filter to option. This causes Gmail to evaluate e-mail currently in the Inbox. Leaving this unchecked only applies your filter to e-mail received after creating the filter.

Your new filter now appears in your filter list and can later be edited or deleted by clicking the associated links next to the filter. There is also a Create new filter link at the bottom of the filter list that takes you to the beginning of the filter creation process.

Setting up POP e-mail retrieval

Gmail can be accessed using an e-mail (client) program like Thunderbird or Microsoft Outlook. You can configure both Gmail to allow POP retrieval and configure your e-mail client program to retrieve messages from Gmail. Follow these steps:

Click the Settings link at the top of the Gmail page.
In the Settings form, click the Forwarding and POP tab.
In the POP Download section, select either the Enable POP for all email option or the Enable POP only for email that arrives from now on option.
Choose what you want to have happen to Gmail’s copy of the message once it is retrieved by your e-mail client. The choices are
- archive Gmail’s copy
- keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox
- delete Gmail’s copy

Configure your e-mail client. You can find the account configuration instructions for your e-mail client program by clicking the Configuration instructions link in the last line of the POP download configuration form.
Click Save Changes.

Caution

It’s easy to get involved in setting up your e-mail client program and forget to save your changes.

Once your e-mail client is set up by adding a new POP e-mail account, you can begin receiving your Gmail right in your own e-mail client.

Note

When using your own e-mail program to send and receive e-mail you lose many of the extra features Gmail offers when managing e-mail. You cannot use Gtalk, view pictures saved with contacts, or use your Gmail Contact information when sending and receiving e-mail. Of course, Gmail filters do not function in your other e-mail program.