Site Review: Gmail / Google Mail

I’ve been using email of one kind or another since the late 1980s on BBS systems, and email has evolved a *lot* since those days. Email is kind of unique in that there are free services and paid services, and in most cases, the free options are actually the *best* choices. Yes, there are email services out there that you can pay for, but the free systems are far busier, and therefore more reliable and more carefully tested, as well as being updated more frequently. Sometimes going *free* means going *second-* or *third-class*, but not so much with email.

As of early 2015, there are hundreds of email systems out there, but the three big ones haven’t changed in nearly a decade: Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook (formerly Hotmail). I am generally speaking, an Apple fanboy, but I’ll be the first to admit their email system (and Mac App) is second-class at best. We’ll probably compare desktop email another time, but not today.

I have accounts at all three big web-based email providers, and all three are excellent at updating and keeping things looking fresh. While Yahoo and Outlook have very nice visual interfaces, my email of choice is Gmail, mostly due to the included non-visual and behind-the-scenes features.

I think the most useful feature is the email forwarding. I have nearly a dozen accounts. DailyBuddhism@gmail.com, Brian.Schell.Mail@gmail.com, KD8OTD@gmail.com are just a few. How do I manage to keep on top of twelve or more email addressed? I don’t. I have each of them set to “Forward and Archive.” If you send an email to KD8OTD@gmail.com (I use it for my Ham Radio stuff), it saves a copy of that mail in the KD8OTD gmail account. THEN it forwards on a copy to my main account, brian@brianschell.com. I check one email account, and can read all my email from there.

Also, did you notice that I said my main email was brian@brianschell.com, not something@gmail.com? Google Apps allows you to set up a gmail account using *ANY* email address, not just a gmail.com. Email that I send out is from brian@brianschell.com— there is no mention of Google or Gmail. It’s almost like having my own email server.

I generally access my Gmail through the web client, and that works well. If you prefer an offline client, such as Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or Microsoft Outlook, that’s fine. Gmail not only allows you to do so, but will walk you through the setup process for each of those mail systems.

This is all from the standard, non-expanded Gmail system. Google also gives you access to dozens of “experimental” options, like canned responses, Google Voice player in email, Preview panes, Google Calendar integration, multiple inboxes, even an “undo send” feature. You don’t have to use any of these, and they’re turned off by default, but they are there if you want to try them.

Link to Gmail: http://Gmail.com