In this tutorial, we will cover the following:
- Getting Started with Google Apps
- How to transfer email accounts with imapsync
- How to connect personal email to your Gmail
Note:: Horde webmail has been depreciated. See this srticle: Depreciation of Horde Webmail Application and New Hosting Price and Plan Changes
Further reading:
7 Ways to Build Your Email List
Any listserv or mailing list service?
Email Problems: What Should I do?
How Did My Email Get Compromised and What Can I Do to Stop It?
How to Check and Send Emails Using Webmail
How to Solve Email Bounce Back Issues
Getting Started with Google Apps
Google Apps provides all of the Google services like email, contacts, calendar, drive and etc. Did you know that you will have the privilege of using your own domain in your Gmail address? For example you will be able to set username@yourdomain.com instead of username@gmail.com.
However if you have already purchased your own domain name and/or web hosting package with us you still will be able to create username@yourdomain.com. If Google worldwide infrastructure across email, web and mobile platforms are not convincing enough, then you will be glad to understand that Google Apps provide also a 10 GB of email quota.
To start using Google Apps, you will need to:
- Step 1: Prepare a Domain
- Step 2: Register a Google Apps Account
- Step 3: Configure Google Apps
Prepare a Domain
Google Apps provide two pricing plans: Google Apps (free 30 day trial) with a charge of $5/mo afterwards and Google Apps with unlimited storage and Vault for $10/mo. In this tutorial we will learn how to setup a plan with Google Apps.
Domain Name
Please note that you will need already registered domain to proceed further. If you do not have registered domain we would like to inform you that you can register one for free with every purchase of a web hosting package with us.
Also you will need to have access to your DNS records. We provide such access on the registered domains via us even on our shared hosting packages. You can check your DNS records via your cPanel account ? Advanced DNS Zone Editor icon from the Domains section. The records that you will have to edit are the MX records and the CNAME records.
- MX records - this type of records defines which mail server is used via your domain
- CNAME records - this record is alias which will be used to access the Google Apps service
Register a Google Apps Account
In this step we will review the whole process of registering Google Apps account. Access the Google Apps registration form. In step 1 you will need to fill the following fields:
- Name First - you should type your name
- Name Last - enter your last name
- Current email address you use at work - your current work email account
- Business or organization name - the name of your company
- Number of employees - If you would like to test the free trial do NOT select more than 10 employees
- Country/Region - in which country your company is
- Phone - personal/company phone address
After all of the credentials fields are filled press the Next button.
On the second step of registering your Google Apps account you will need to select between two options:
- Use a domain name I have already purchased - choose this option if you have already registered domain
- Buy a new domain - if you do not have domain you are able to purchase such
After an already existing domain is entered in the field or a new one is registered press the Next button.
On the third last step from creating your Google Apps account you should enter the following credentials:
- Choose your username - type the your Google Apps username
- Create password - enter your password for your Google Apps account
- Re-enter password - enter your Google Apps password again
- Prove you're not a robot - enter the text/numbers in the input form
- I would like to receive emails regarding updates, announcements, special offers, and market research – check this box if you would like to receive emails from Google
- I have read and agree to the Google Apps for Work agreement - after you read the work agreement of Google Apps you should check this box
After all of the fields are filled with the required data press the Accept and signup button.
Configure Google Apps
After the registration is successfully completed you will have to verify that you own the domain you have registered with. In order to verify the ownership of your domain you should access the Admin console and you will check a pop up box where you should select your domain registrar. Note that if your registrar is not listed you should check the Other option. Afterwards press the BEGIN VERIFICATION button.
On the following page you should select your registrar again. The first step is to add a TXT record in your DNS zone of the domain. You are able to add such record from your cPanel account ? Advanced DNS Zone Editor icon from the Domains section.
Note
If you are not sure how to add the TXT record, check our tutorial for managing the DNS zone records.
After the TXT record is set properly added return to the verification page and click on the red VERIFY button.
If the verification is successful on the following page you will receive the following message:
"Congratulations, you have successfully verified your ownership of yourdomain.com"
Now press the Continue link in order to proceed with the setup of the email. If you are not automatically redirected to the Admin console page you should navigate to the same where now will be visible a SET UP GMAIL button.
After the button is pressed you will be redirected to another page with pop up window where you should press the blue Set up email button. On the following page you will be asked to log in to your domain host website in a new tab, access the control panel for your domain, delete the existing MX records and set the new MX records.
Domain Configuration
If you would like to check more detailed information on how exactly to set your MX records for Google Apps email check our article on how to do that.
After all of the steps are followed and the MX records are set properly press the blue Verify button.
If all of the steps above are set properly you will check the following message:
"Email just got awesome. Gmail is ready! All emails sent to yourdomain.comwill now be routed here."
Click on the Continue Setup button in order to proceed with the final step of the setup for your Google Apps account which is to set up the billing (note that at the moment we have configured the Google Apps for the 30 days free trial period). If you would like to purchase the Google Apps services then you should set and the billing.
Congratulations! You have just successfully setup your trial Google Apps account and set the email address with your organization's domain name.
Further reading:
How to create an email forwarder in cPanel
How to enable spam assasin in cPanel
How to fix error 500 no such user here
How to grow your mailing list ethically
How to transfer email accounts with imapsync
This tutorial is meant to help the more advanced users with synchronizing two email mailboxed by using the flexible and robust command imapsync. This can be also used to transfer your mail accounts between your new hosting account and your previous provider.
Firstly you will need to have access to the following:
- IMAP access to both the source and destination's (gmail , yahoo, etc.) email servers
- You will need SSH access to execute the command.
Note:
In case you are about to transfer your emails from another hosting provider you will need to create your email accounts on your new host prior initiating the transfer. If your new hosting account is currently hosted with Todhost, we offer free email migration on all hosting plans.
The simplest form of the command is like this:
imapsync --host1 <host_sync_from> --ssl1 --user1 < user@domain.com > --host2 <host_sync_to> --ssl2 --user2 < user@domain2.com >
Now for a dissection of what each field of the code above means.
--host1 <host_sync_from> - specifies the host name from where you want to synchronize mailbox(e.g. imap.mail.yahoo.com).
--ssl1- informs that the connection that is established with --host1 must be over SSL
--user1 <user@domain.com>- the email username of --host1 from which you want to sync
--host2 <host_sync_to>- same as for --host1, but this time it specifies the destination to where you want to sync (e.g. imap.gmail.com; this is --host2)
--ssl2- informs that the connection that is established with --host2 must be over SSL
--user2 <user@domain2.com>- same case as with --user1, only here the destination email user is required
After executing you will be prompted to enter the passwords of the two users, first the user from which you want to sync then the user to which you want to sync.
An example of the command with actual parameters:
imapsync --host1 s2.domain.com --ssl1 --user1 user@domain.com --host2 imap.gmail.com --ssl2 --user2 user@gmail.com
Note:
A big advantage of the imapsync command is that you can run it multiple times and each run will start from where the last run finished. This may come in handy if there is a large amount of messages that you want to synchronize. However, if you happen to use this method don't sort, delete or modify the messages in the destination mailbox, as this might cause the messages to be synchronized again.
There are also some more advanced options if you would like to further configure the imapsync command to your liking. Here are a few of the more notable mentions that you might want to include in the command:
--tls1 and --tls2 flags- these flags specify that the connection to --host1 and --host2 respectively should be over TLS encryption protocol. You might also have to use this flag if one of the servers supports only TLS connection.
--authmech1 <string> and --authmech2 <string>- this command option specifies the authentication mechanism that should be used when connecting to --host1 and --host2 respectively. In the <string> you enter the authentication method; e.g. PLAIN which the simplest authentication method. With this authentication method the username and password are send without any kind of encryption to the server(you might also have to use this flag if one of the servers supports only PLAIN authentication).
--dry- if you use the --dry flag, when you execute the command it will instead present you with data on what will actually happen if you execute the command. This may come in handy if you are uncertain what you actually want to be synchronized.
Note:
If you wish to skip the input of the passwords you can surely use the --password1 and --password2 flags but it is more advisable to store the passwords in files and use the --passfile1 and --passfile2 flags
--exclude <regex> - this flag excludes the specified <regex> folder(s) , where <regex> is a regular expression (e.g. --exclude ‘^Trash\ E-Mail' ). This is useful if there is a particular folder which you don't want to transfer.
How to connect personal email to your Gmail
In this tutorial we will review how to connect your personal email to your Gmail account. This way all of the personal email messages will be visible in your Gmail account. First and foremost you should have a Gmail account, after you assure that there is such and you have access to the same, click on the cogwheel icon located at the top right corner of the page and choose the Settings option.
Once the page is loaded press the Accounts and Import tab once the same is loaded notice the Check email from other accounts :section, after you locate the mentioned section click on the Add a mail account link.
On the pop-up window you should type the full email address of the account you want to access via Gmail, for example username@domain.com instead of just the username. Also notice that instead of username@domain.com you should type the actual email credential. After the email field is filled, press the Next Step button.
On the next step you will have to fill the following fields:
- Username - here you should enter the required username for the email
- Password - here should be typed the password for the email address you would like to setup and NOT for the Gmail account password
- POP server - your POP3 server hostname
- Port - the default ports are 995 for connectionvia SSL and 110 for non-SSL connection
The following four check boxes are self-explanatory.
After you assure all of the fields are properly filled and the check boxes are set to your requirements, press the Add Account button. At this point if you get an error message which state "Server denied POP3... ", uncheck the Always use a secure connection box and try again, if the error message persist, please double check the credential you have entered in the forms above. Note that if you receive an error message you may have to re-enter your password.
After all of the options are set correctly you will receive "Your mail account has been added" message and you will be asked if you want to be able to send email with your domain name email address, select that option and click on the Next Step button.
After the page in the pop-up window load, confirm the name of the email account that will appear in the "From" details and press the Next Step button. The "Treat as an alias" option can be set in order to manage "Send mail as" account behavior.
On the next step the following fields should be filled:
- SMTP Server - your SMTP server hostname
- Port - the default ports are 587 for TLS connection, 465 for connection via SSL and 25 for non-SSL connection
- Username - here you should enter the required username for the email
- Password - here should be typed the password for the email address you would like to setup and NOT for the Gmail account password
When all of the fields are properly press the Add Account button.
You have almost completed the setup! Now Gmail will send a verification email to the email account you would like to connect via the Gmail service, this is required because otherwise anyone who knew your email password could access your emails and send them "on your behalf" without your knowledge. If the connection to your POP3 email account is properly set, the verification email should arrive in your Gmail account. Click on the confirmation link in order to verify the domain or if you have not closed the pop-up window set the confirmation code from the email.
The final step after the verification is to access the cogwheel icon and select the Accounts and Import tab again. In the mentioned tab notice the "Send Mail As" section, click on the make default link next to the email address you have just set. Please notice that if you miss this step you will still be sending email from your Gmail address.
After all of the listed steps are properly applied once you access the Gmail account you will be able to check the emails labelled as your domain name email. Now the Gmail service will be checking your POP3 account every 2-3 minutes and moving the emails into Gmail for you.
Please note that if you have a lot of emails stored under WebMail and they were sorted into folders, Gmail will not import the emails that are in folders until they are moved into the main body of the inbox.
