Google Mail
Google Mail or "Gmail" is a free email service hosted by Google. Google also provides "Gmail" for educational institutions which is known as Google Apps for Education (GAFE).
Recently, Gmail has provided 15GBs worth of free storage for Mail, Drive (documents) and Photos for consumer accounts, while GAFE accounts have unlimited storage.
Composing Mail
When using the web interface, there is a large red COMPOSE button on the left hand side.
New Message Window
- Letter A icon - Show message formatting tools
- Paper Clip icon - Attach a file to your document (25MB limit)
- Drive icon - Share a link/attach a Google Drive document
- Camera icon - Attach Photos
- Chain Link icon - Insert a Link
- Smile icon - Insert emoji
- Trash icon - Delete message
- Down Arrow icon - Message tools: Check Spelling, Print, etc
Sharing Drive document
While composing a message you can link to a Google Drive document in composition window.
- Click on the Drive icon
- Choose document
- Choose Insert As: Drive link or Attachment
- Click insert
Attachment size limits
Google has a relativity low attachment size limit of 25MB as they prefer users to save large files in Google Drive and then share the files to your friends/colleagues. The largest size file that you can upload to Google Drive is 5TB.
Labels
Labels help you organize your mail into categories similar to folders. In conjunction with filters, labels can be a powerful tool.
Create
For example, you may want to label your e-mail based on classes. To do this:
- Create labels for each class you have. (Settings, Labels, Create New)
- Open the message from your first class
- Click the down arrow next to the reply arrow
- Choose filter messages like this
- In the To: field, type in your class e-mail address
- Click Create filter with this search
- Click the options you would like to set for this filter
- One option would be to check Apply the label and choose your appropriate class label.
- Check the Also apply filter to... box if you would like to include previous messages to the class e-mail address
- Click Create Filter
- Repeat this process with your other class e-mails
Settings Menu
- Click on the Gear icon
- Click Settings
Signature
- Under the General tab
- Scroll down to Signature
- Modify signature
Vacation Message
- Under the General tab
- Scroll down to Vacation responder
- Modify details
Forwarding Mail
- Under the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab
- Choose Add a forwarding address
Configuring your Device
iOS
- Settings
- Mail, Contacts, Calendars
- Add Account
- Choose Google
- Fill out your information (Name, Email, Password, Description)
- Click Next
- Choose services you would like to enable (Mail, Calendars, Contacts)
Android
Enable IMAP
Configure
- Open the Email application.
- Tap Menu and the Settings
- In the top corner, tap select Next to get started with setup.
- Enter your full Gmail address and password, then select Next.
- On the next screen, you can give the account a nickname and choose the name to display on your outgoing messages.
- Tap Done.
Apple Mail
Enable IMAP
- Sign in to Gmail
- Click the gear in the top right
- Select Settings
- Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP
- Select Enable IMAP
- Click Save Changes
Configure
- Open the Mail app
- Select the Mail menu at the top, and then Preferences
- Click Accounts
- Click the + button in the bottom corner
- Choose Google
- Type your name
- Type your full email address (e.g. username@gmail.com, or username@your_domain.com for Google Apps users)
- Type your password. If you use 2-step verification with your account, you'll have to enter an app password
- Click Set up
- Make sure Mail is selected and click Done