Archive for gmail
Free Google Mail, Calendar & Docs Training
Posted by: | CommentsLast week, we talked about the extensive, free training resources available for learning Microsoft Office. We highlighted the new Ribbon Hero interactive, game-style training.
This week, we’ll focus on Google mail, calendar and docs and where to go to find training for these popular programs.
I signed up for gmail about three years ago and have my mail coming into my Outlook where I prefer to manage it. I’ve also used Google’s flexibility to have it pull email in from some of my POP accounts. It’s great to have the ability to see my mail accounts either while traveling or from the familiarity of Outlook.
Google mail, calendar and contacts are all accessible from your gmail screen. The Google calendar is especially popular and powerful – mainly with people who own smart phones because it’s easy to load to their phones and it can be synced with Outlook, Windows Live, Plaxo and I think with the Mac platform as well (not a Mac person).
After Gmail came Google Docs. A free and very stripped down version of Microsoft Office (in my opinion). Google’s also made it easy to collaborate and share documents rather than email them around. Microsoft similarly has a way to both upload and share documents. You can read my article about it here.
Back to our focus on finding some free training for Google mail and docs. The University of Minnesota evidently uses Gmail campus-wide because they’ve published extensive help resources accessible to anyone.
Their Google learning site contains on-line lessons, instructional videos, downloadable study/instructional guides and a searchable repository that seem very complete.
If you’ve ever been puzzled or curious about all the things you can do with Google Mail, Calendar or Apps, the basics as well as some advanced material is covered. Additionally, Google has an extensive support site as well.
Google Mail and Docs have become quite popular with small businesses, students and people who don’t want to pay for mail and office applications. There is the issue of backup and accessibility of our email, calendar events and documents. There are ways to access mail off-line (not sure about documents). The privacy/security issue seems to pop up as well. If you’re a person who stores credit card numbers, insurance policy numbers, etc. on your local machine, how will you feel about it being in the cloud? Maybe not so secure? Something to think about. Google is free, useful and accessible, but for me, I enjoy the Microsoft familiarity. They are also coming out with cloud apps and the ability to work and compute virtually. We’ll talk more about that with another column.
Microsoft Small Business Live & Outlook Connector
Posted by: | CommentsLast week, we explored enhancements Microsoft made to their Small Business Live Suite of products and offerings. Now, we’ll look at the relatively new Outlook Connector and the benefits of using this tool either with our business or personal lives and accounts.
If you are a *current live-mail or hotmail account holder and use either Outlook 2003 or 2007, you can bring your web-based email, calendar and contacts into your desktop Outlook client with Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta 2. From what I’ve read, this functionality (with the email accounts), is not new. The highly-touted feature is the new ability to bring multiple hotmail calendars into Outlook and either look at them side by side, or overlay them. So, if you have a work, personal, kid’s activity and other group calendar, you can overlay them to find open slots or conflicts.
I must confess here that so far I’ve not set up a Microsoft web-mail account. Never liked or wanted ‘hotmail’ in any of my email addresses. However, I will probably set up an account with Microsoft ‘live’. I have signed up for the Microsoft Small Business Account and have a Sky Drive and Shared Documents space already set up.
Here is a snapshot of how your E-Mail Live account would look in your Outlook:
Below is an excerpt from Microsoft you should read:
“Essentially, Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta 2 will synchronize email, contacts and calendars from accounts with the *latest versions of Windows Live Hotmail and Office Live Mail with Office Outlook 2003 and the 2007 Office System. One aspect has indeed evolved since version 12.0 of the Outlook Connector to 12.1 Beta 2, namely using the free Windows Live Calendar service instead of the MSN Calendaring service previously available only to MSN Premium accounts.
“In order to make sure that all of your calendar items on the MSN Calendar service are correctly migrated to the Windows Live Calendar, you should follow these steps: with Outlook Connector 12.0 installed, synchronize your calendar with the MSN Calendar service one last time. After synchronization is complete, do not create new items on the MSN Calendar site. If you do, you will have to synchronize again using Outlook Connector 12.0 before migrating to 12.1 Beta. Install Outlook Connector 12.1 Beta,” Roic added.
Microsoft Office Outlook Connector version 12.1 Beta 2 is available for download here. “
I’ve written previously on how I moved my Gmail account into my Outlook, so if I eventually added a live account, I wonder if this would crash my Outlook 2007? There would be a lot of activity in Outlook!
Contact Syncing With Office Life Small Business
If you use the Small Business Live features on-line, here’s a way to have your business contacts right in your Outlook client. They won’t inter-mingle with your other Outlook contacts, they will show up as business contacts in ‘Other Contacts’.
Below is a great excerpt from Microsoft on how to do this complete with snapshots:
If Outlook 2007 is installed on the computer that you use to access Office Live Small Business, you can find the option to connect Contact Manager to Outlook on the Actions menu on the actions bar in Contact Manager. When you connect Contact Manager to Outlook 2007, your customer, vendor, partner, and other key business contact information is always on hand.
After you click Connect to Outlook, you see an Outlook message box prompting you to connect this SharePoint contacts list to Outlook. Your Contact Manager database (in addition to other Office Live Small Business lists and libraries discussed in this article) is designed to sync effortlessly with Outlook 2007.
After you connect Contact Manager to Outlook, you can access the Contact Manager list in Outlook by clicking Contacts on the Navigation Pane. Contact Manager appears in the Navigation Pane under the heading Other Contacts, and is separate from your personal contacts, as shown here.
Notes
- If you do not see the Navigation Pane in Outlook, on the View menu, point to Navigation Pane, and then click Normal.
- By default, changes that you make to Contact Manager information in Outlook are updated in your Office Live Small Business account the next time Outlook performs an automatic Send/Receive.
- If you do not already use the Contact Manager tools in your Office Live Small Business account, see Focus your sales and marketing efforts using Contact Manager to learn more about what you can do with Contact Manager.
- To determine whether the version of Outlook that you use is Outlook 2007, do the following: In Outlook, on the Help menu, click About Microsoft Office Outlook. The dialog box that opens indicates which version of Outlook you are using.
Calendar Syncing with Outlook Connector:
The ability to bring your single or multiple live or hotmail calendars into your Outlook client was discussed above. Here’s a screenshot of how calendars can be displayed. If you have multiple calendars, just click the check-box next to the one(s) you want to display and you’ll have it! You can also share these calendars with others.
So-What Will Having This Do for Me?
- Ability to work off-line with your live or hotmail e-mail accounts. Write and read emails. The next time you’re on-line, everything should sync up and be up to date – on the web and on your desktop
- Same thing with calendars and contacts. Make updates and changes – they should all sync up upon re-connecting
- You can be more productive having your regular Outlook account and your web e-mail accounts in one place. No switching back and forth
- You can use the familiar and comforting Outlook interface
- If you installed the Business Connector application discussed in last week’s blog article, then you can also have off-line access to your business documents
Always Log In Securely To Gmail
Posted by: | CommentsAfter hearing and reading all the hoopla regarding Gov. Palin’s email being hacked by a college student, I’m sure many of us have thought about the security of our own web email accounts and the ’security’ questions we’ve answered to keep our passwords secure.
There are some pretty logical and sensible tips for doing this. Of course, if you have a public presence, you’ll not want to use your true birthdate and other easy-to-find-out-facts on-line.Even if you’re not a ‘celebrity’, it might be wise to pick a fake birthdate and birthplace for many things web-related.
Gmail is the only web-based email provider (I believe), that will allow secure (or https) sign-ins. This is a great benefit for those of us who want to check email while traveling, in a coffee shop, etc. Probably not many of us stop to think that when we’re on our wireless laptops in a coffee shop, and decide to login to our Yahoo, or other web-based email, that there is a chance that our password could be hijacked by someone lurking on the wireless network. Since there is no security on an open network, everything is wide open and those with the know-how can intercept our data.
In addition to offering the https login, Gmail gives us the added security of choosing our own security questions. Take advantage of this feature.
Enabling https in Gmail is a simple click. Login to Gmail and click ‘Settings’. Scroll down to the bottom and click the “Always Use Https” radio button. Save your changes and from now on, wherever you login, your password will be encrypted.
After you do this, you’ll notice the Google mail notifier has stopped working. (The notifier is the mail icon that appears in your system tray when new email comes in.) You can fix this two ways. You can do a manual registry hack, or you can download the Google registry hack that will automatically do this for you. Google conveniently provides an uninstall to the hack, should you later change your mind.
Microsoft Outlook Mail Tools- Back-up & Repair PST/OST Files
Posted by: | CommentsSince I’m using Outlook all day, everyday, it seems inevitable that things will go wrong from time to time. Here are two tools I use to help keep things running smoothly and to back up my mail files:
Microsoft Back-up Tool
Microsoft In-Box Repair Tool
First, we’ll talk about the Back-up tool. I don’t know why Microsoft doesn’t include this tool when Outlook is installed (works with 2002, 2003 & 2007), but it doesn’t. So go here read through the brief instruction set and download and install the program.
Before getting the backup file download, you may have to install the anti-piracy plug-in (office genuine advantage tool), so Microsoft can assure themselves you aren’t a pirate.
After the download is complete, close Outlook and install the software. Then, after opening Outlook, go to the File menu and you’ll see a new menu item called “backup”.
Click on it and you’ll see the below box.
Here you can choose to backup your main pst file, your archive files and whatever other mail files you may have. You can choose how often to backup and where the backup will be stored. I would strongly suggest you backup these important files in a couple of places (using Carbonite, Mozy, or an external hard drive). If your hard drive goes down and that’s where your backup is, it won’t do you much good! Another thing to remember – the backup tool won’t
run unless you exit Outlook. So, if like me, you hardly ever close your Outlook, set a reminder to do so regularly so a backup can be made.
Microsoft In-Box Repair Tool
This second tool will scan and repair your mail file. Ever go to open Outlook and it just won’t open! It’s happened to me and it created quite a bit of anxiety! Whenever I get these lovely cryptic messages from Microsoft, I google them to see if anyone else out there has had the same problem and I can usually find the answer from a fellow blogger.
This tool does come installed with Outlook (2002, 2003, 2007), but is buried deep within your folder structure (see below for location). To use this tool, you will again have Outlook closed and then navigate to the correct folder and double click on either the application .ost or .pst to scan the file type you wish. Then, you’ll need to navigate to where your mail files resides and select that and then click ’start’. The tool will begin running and go through the check. When it’s through it will let you know how many errors (if any), were found and then you have the option to back up your file before it does its repair. After the repair process is complete, start Outlook and see if your file will open.
I hope you’ll give these tools a workout. I’ve found them to come in pretty handy. It’s worth noting that if you don’t have a pst file that represents your outlook file, you won’t be able to restore your mail files. So it’s important to have regular mail backups in place. In addition to using the back-up tool, I use the free and popular Gmail IMAP feature so I can access my Outlook from either the web interface or my desktop client. I blogged about it here. Redundancy is good.
Below are detailed instructions on how to use the In-Box Repair tool (from Microsoft).
Quit Microsoft Outlook if it’s running.
Run the Inbox Repair Tool
1. Click Start and point to Find, or Search, depending upon your operating system.
2. In the Search for files or folders named box, type scanpst.exe.
3. Double click the Scanpst.exe file to open the program.
4. Type the path and file name of the pst file, or click Browse to locate the file using the windows file system.
5. Click Start.
Sometimes many errors will be found and you’ll have the option to back-up your file before repairing. After the repair process (usually very fast), start Outlook again and hopefully, your file will open for you.
At the Microsoft link given above, continue reading for instructions and information on more detailed information if you need to do additional repair work on your mail file.
How I Moved A Client from Outlook email to Gmail–and did it remotely
Posted by: | CommentsLast week, I blogged about moving my email to Gmail with the intent to do this follow-up on how I did the same for a client of mine. This client lives in her Outlook email and travels frequently. Earlier this year she went from a Blackberry to iPhone. She loves her iPhone. She expressed her need for me to have access to her email and schedule. In addition to viewing her mail and calendar, she wanted me to be able to file, send and respond to emails from her mailbox. With a friend’s very expert assistance, we set up an exchange/imap account with her ISP that allowed me to do this from within my Outlook client.
Now if she had a reliable ISP, we’d still be using it, but problems developed and I removed the exchange/imap feature from her Outlook. When exchange/imap went away, so did all the nicely organized email folders that were on her iPhone. This decreased her productivity since she couldn’t file her many incoming messages. Who likes to lose features as we travel down the tech highway!
Enter Gmail and it’s highly touted IMAP features. I discussed with my client this option and how I’d be able to once again have complete access to her email and calendar and that she would again have all the folders available to her on her iPhone. She wanted me to go for it. So I first wanted to try it out on one of the family’s email accounts. Then I did it with my Outlook account (detailed in last week’s blog). Success!
I use the free and very useful Logmein to access my client’s computer remotely. I posted about this program a year ago. It’s been one of the most useful tools in my arsenal. I chose a convenient time to first back up her email and then did the set up by following the instructions from the great How-To-Geek. After adding the Gmail account from within Outlook, most of the tweaking could be done from within the web interface. I moved all of her Outlook folders (one at a time), down to her Gmail and got them organized as they were before (for the most part). There were a few odd error messages here and there. For example, one said I couldn’t move a particular folder, but then it would be there all the same. Gmail provided very easy instructions for getting Gmail onto the iPhone.
Everything has been working for the last couple of weeks. We are still working out a few kinks here and there. One irritant has been that Outlook 2007 is slow to sync all the folders and mail that are in the Google folders. It’s really been slowing her system down. I’ve been looking around for some tweaks for this and think this from Digital Inspiration may work.
So, would I do again for another client- you betcha! Of course, you have to have a client who has trust in you, a good sense of humor and a bit adventurous. The unexpected can happen, but with the proper preparation, having a back-up and restore plan of what you’re about to change and choosing a time that doesn’t impact business critical tasks, you too, can do it.
How I Moved My Outlook email to Gmail and Retained the Best of Both Worlds
Posted by: | CommentsI’d been an Outlook user for many years – both corporately (using Exchange), and currently in my VA Practice. When you’re in the corporate world, Outlook is the client to use. But, during the past two years, a whole new world of education and exploration opened up while I went through my VA Training and the launch of my VA practice.
Class training emphasized collaboration with our clients was essential and we were urged to explore how to accomplish that–keeping in mind the technological comfort level of our clients.
I like to be sure something is going to function the way it says it will before implementing with a client, so I tried it out on myself! Last fall, Gmail came out with its highly anticipated IMAP feature. IMAP allows syncing of mail among multiple devices because the mail stays on the server. I read and heard a lot about it and I did a lot of studying and researching and then took the plunge.
Steps I Took
1. Before starting, I did a backup of my Outlook (you can’t be too careful). Then, I wanted some detailed instructions. I found them here with the How-To-Geek. He’s great. I followed these instructions and now I had my Gmail IMAP account in Outlook.
2. Then I started moving my outlook folders into Gmail. I used drag and drop to do this, although I’ve read since then that they should be copied, not dragged. I noticed that Gmail put annoying prefixes on each of my folders…the first three in the picture are before I edited the labels and the last two are after I edited the labels. It was more readable for me after I removed the prefix.
3. Then I went into my Outlook account settings (Tools>send/receive groups) and told Outlook not to check for mail in my Outook account, but to only check my Gmail IMAP account. I did this so I wouldn’t get duplicate messages – one set in my Outlook and one set in my Gmail.
4. Then I went into the Gmail Settings and under the ‘General’ tab, I added my email signature. Under the ‘Accounts’ tab, I told Gmail I wanted to send mail from my outlook address, not my gmail address (more about this later). I also tweaked the settings so I could ‘Get mail from Different Accounts’ and I added my Outlook account here. The ‘Labels’ tab contains the former Outlook folders, now renamed labels by Gmail. Here’s where you click on ‘edit’ and change the name of the label to whatever you wish. The next tab is the ‘Filters’ tab. Filters are like Rules in Outlook. They are insanely easy to set up and they work so much better than Outlook rules — ever have problems with Outlook rules??
What I Really Liked and What Really Works Well
I like, no love having email access from anywhere. Of course, everyone says that, but it is oh so true. Even when I’m at home and too lazy to walk upstairs to my office to see if some mail arrived, it’s wonderful because I can use a downstairs computer. When I’m at my sister’s house, I can check my mail – it feels great!
The filtering and spam catching abilities of Gmail are legendary — and true. The filters just work and Google is pretty good at catching only the spam.
Pretty much unlimited storage. Currently, I’m using only 1% of my storage – no worries there! I’ve read that many people move to Gmail because of the almost unlimited storage. Outlook warns not to go over 2-3GB in their mail accounts as it takes forever to load and can/does become unstable.
I can keep on using my Outlook 2007client. I’m familiar and comfortable with Outlook, how it works, what it does and what buttons to push. Gmail, with its threaded conversations is great, but it takes some getting used to (for me, anyway). The web Gmail interface doesn’t appeal to me that much — because I don’t have years of experience with it. I’m getting more comfortable with it after a week or so now. But I like knowing I can work in either.
What Isn’t Working and a Glitch with Google
Sometimes I get annoying pop-ups in Outlook regarding not being able to file a message, use default folder and a couple other annoying things. I don’t know why and haven’t researched it to see what it is.
With Gmail, there is an ‘All-Mail’ folder, and an ‘In-box’ folder. I also set up a separate folder for one account’s emails to go into. As a result, I get 3 copies of each incoming email in each folder. If I flag one of them, then all three will show up in my ‘tasks’ list. This is irritating and I haven’t decided what to do about this.
This could be the most irritating and I did research this one and as far as I know, no one has come up with a fix for this: I told the Gmail settings that I wanted all my replies to come from my default Outlook address–however, when I’m using my Outlook client to respond to mail sent to my Outlook email address and I hit reply, Gmail will make the return from my gmail account instead of my Outlook account. I have to remember to click the down arrow and switch accounts. This is quite exasperating. Now, this does NOT happen when I’m using the web Gmail – only when I’m using Outlook. Anybody know how to fix this?
Overall, I’m very pleased with the migration to using Gmail’s IMAP service. I’d like to hear anyone else’s story or get some comments from others who have done this.
Next time, I’ll talk about how I moved one of my client’s mail from Outlook to Gmail!
