Cherryfield.net
Gmail Setup

I've just started using Gmail to host my REAL mailbox and so far have been very happy with the way it handles all the spam I get. The only thing I've missed so far is any way to find the size of messages before I download them.

Start at www.google.com and choose More ...

Next choose Gmail ...

Next choose Sign up for Gmail (you need a cell phone that accepts text messages) ...

Fill in your cell phone number and the distorted characters that are hard to read, press Send code ...

After you get the 6 digit code on your cell phone fill it in here, press Next ...
(Beware, you can only get a few codes at each cell phone number, use them wisely.)

Fill in your name and desired Gmail address, press Check availability! ...
Once you find a Google login that is available, fill in the rest of the form.

Click on I'm ready .... ...

Press Go to my Inbox ...

Here you see any mail that is NOT considered spam.
Before exploring this mail interface through your browser,
I recommend clicking on settings and making some changes ...

This is the General tab, you can customize later, choose Accounts ...

This is where you can add your permanent address, choose Add another ...

Here I filled in my permanent address and pressed Next Step ...

Press Send verification and then go read the eMail it sends you.
In that message click on the confirm link (in your eMail program).

That will jump you back to your browser and a page like this, click on mail.google.com ...

Work your way back to the Accounts tab and choose both Make default
(so that any mail you send from Gmail looks like it came from your permanent address)
and, if you want to use multiple addresses, Reply from the same address

The updated accounts page will look like this, next go to the Forwarding and POP tab ...

First you want to enable POP for all mail ...

Next choose archive Gmail's copy (this will leave the NON-spam you download to your eMail
program in the google archive allowing you to still access it while travelling using any web browser.)
You need to press Save Changes before reading the configuration instructions.

Get back to the page above and click on configuration instructions and you'll get ...

Click on your eMail client and you'll get something like this ...
Follow the directions for setting up your eMail client (program).

What I then do before, downloading mail to my eMail client is:

1. Go to my Gmail inbox and check (in square box) any spam. (See Inbox 1 below)
2. If I've highlighted any spam, I press Report Spam
3. At that point in another window I start downloading mail to my eMail client.
4. Meanwhile, back in Gmail I look at my spam folder. (See Inbox 2, below)
5. I click on Select All (See Spam 1, below)
6. I scan down the list and make sure none of the eMails are ones I realy want.
7. If one is valid, I uncheck the square box.
8. Finally I click on delete permanently
9. If there are some valid eMails which remain, select them a press Report NOT spam
10. They go back to your inbox and you need to download to your eMail client again.

What's really great about this is that on a dial-up line I'm not wasting time downloading spam, and if I am travelling I can look at my mail from any browser, and yet still download it to my eMail client later as long as I leave it in the inbox.

Inbox 1, Spam checked and deleted by pressing Report Spam ...

Inbox 2, After starting eMail client download, go to the spam folder ...

Spam 1, Select all, uncheck any that are NOT spam, then press Delete forever.

Spam 2, You may have multiple pages of spam. Repeat the process of selecting all,
unchecking those messages that are not spam, and Delete forever.

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