It is a new yr, and it is time to do one thing about your overflowing Gmail inbox. Earlier than you groan on the considered sorting by way of years of unread messages, don’t be concerned: There is a fairly simple approach to get your account again to inbox zero.
Once I created my Gmail account over a decade in the past, I did not assume I might ever refill my inbox. However as of late, I am receiving extra electronic mail than ever. File sizes have elevated over time and I have not been clearing these dozens of undesirable messages I get each week.
Earlier than I knew it, my inbox was full. I did not wish to undergo my emails one after the other and I undoubtedly did not wish to pay for extra storage. Fortunately, I did not should: I discovered a approach to filter out large quantities of storage in minutes, and I did not lose a single necessary electronic mail within the course of.
All I needed to do was create a second Gmail account to retailer all of my present messages. There isn’t any restriction on the variety of free Google accounts you’ll be able to personal, which implies I might set one up as a devoted archive account after which switch all of my previous emails to it.
Transferring your Gmail messages can also be a fantastic technique in case you have a faculty or enterprise Gmail account that you simply will not have the ability to entry completely. Most universities and companies will deactivate your account when you’re not a pupil or worker so if you wish to view your previous messages and recordsdata, you will should port them to a private account earlier than you lose entry.
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Finishing the entire means of transferring your Gmail messages to a brand new account would not take too lengthy however it can rely upon simply what number of messages you will have. I will stroll you thru the easy means of transferring your emails out of your previous account to a brand new one (together with the necessary step of backing every thing up first).
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How a lot knowledge are you able to retailer on Gmail?
Fifteen gigabytes of free storage might sound like loads while you make a Gmail account nevertheless it will get crammed up rapidly. For starters, the 15GB is not simply used for electronic mail: It additionally consists of the recordsdata you have saved in your Google Drive and Google Photographs.
If you happen to regularly ship or obtain messages that comprise massive recordsdata, comparable to movies, or if you end up importing quite a lot of footage and movies to your Google Photographs, then it will not be lengthy earlier than you will see the “Account storage is full” notification. Which means that you’ll not have the ability to ship or obtain emails on this account so you will wish to do one thing ASAP.
The quickest resolution is to improve to a Google One account. Even in the event you select the least costly plan — 100GB for $20 a yr — you will nonetheless find yourself paying cash to retailer previous emails that you simply won’t even want anymore.
If you happen to do not wish to purchase extra storage, you’ll be able to all the time delete your previous emails. You will get again a stunning quantity of cupboard space by placing massive recordsdata within the trash. Gmail makes it simple so that you can establish and delete recordsdata by measurement. Even so, that choice may appear tedious; possibly you do not wish to spend hours sifting by way of correspondence from a decade or extra in the past, deciding which recollections to maintain and which to do away with ceaselessly.
There’s all the time the choice to obtain massive recordsdata to your desktop earlier than you delete them out of your Google account however sooner or later you will most likely run into the identical challenge along with your native recordsdata and should handle the cupboard space in your gadget.
This brings us to our “nuclear choice:” Transferring all of your emails to a brand new Gmail account.
How one can switch your Gmail messages to a brand new electronic mail account
Earlier than you begin the Gmail switch course of, I like to recommend that you simply again up your emails. You are able to do this by downloading your emails both to your laptop or an exterior exhausting drive. You possibly can delete the backup after you end transferring the emails to your new account in the event you like, nevertheless it’s all the time a good suggestion to have an additional copy saved domestically.
To again up your Gmail messages, go to Google Takeout. Utilizing my check Gmail account that held about 75,000 messages, I acquired a obtain from Google Takeout in about 2 hours.
As soon as you have saved a replica of your emails, you are prepared to start transferring them. Listed below are the steps it’s essential take:
1. Begin by logging into your authentic Gmail account, clicking the “gear” icon within the prime proper and clicking See all settings.
2. Choose the Forwarding POP/IMAP tab after which choose the choice Allow POP for all mail (POP stands for Publish Workplace Protocol).
3. You will have a number of choices below When messages are accessed with POP. To robotically delete the emails out of your authentic account after the switch, choose delete Gmail’s copy.
4. Choose Save Modifications.
Now it is time to create your new account and switch all of your messages there:
If you have not already completed so, create your model new, inbox-zero Gmail account — we’ll name this your archive account.
1. Login to your new archive account, click on the gear icon on the prime and choose See all settings.
2. Choose the Accounts and Import tab on the prime, then choose Add a mail account subsequent to Examine mail from different accounts.
3. Within the pop-up window, enter the identify of your authentic Gmail account. Choose Subsequent.
4. Choose Import emails from my different account (POP3) and choose Subsequent once more.
5. Enter the password of your authentic Gmail account. You may additionally be required to create a Google app password (see observe beneath).
6. Choose 995 below Port.
7. Examine these 3 packing containers: At all times use a safe connection (SSL) when retrieving mail, Label incoming messages, Archive incoming messages (Skip the Inbox)
8. Choose Add Account.
You will most likely must create a Google app password to switch Gmail messages
I examined this Gmail message switch course of twice and each instances the usual password for the Gmail accounts didn’t work. After a little bit of analysis, I made up my mind that I might must create a brief “app password” to sync the accounts.
Google app passwords are 16-digit passcodes created for “much less safe” apps or gadgets to entry your Google account. They work precisely like your Google password.
In case your common Google password would not work for syncing Gmail accounts, go to https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords to create an app password. Merely create a reputation for the password — I used “Switch Bulk E-mail” — after which hit the Create button. You will get a pop-up window along with your new 16-digit passcode.
As soon as you have created the app password, return to step 6 of the directions above and use that new app password as an alternative of your typical password.
Essential: Google will solely show your app password as soon as. After you have created it, you’ll be able to’t ask to see it once more so make sure you write it down or in any other case document it after it has been created.
Google’s personal Assist Heart mentions that “app passwords aren’t beneficial and are pointless usually.” So as soon as you have accomplished transferring your Gmail messages, I like to recommend deleting your app password.
What occurs after my Gmail accounts are synced?
As soon as you have efficiently linked your new Gmail archive account to your authentic account, your emails ought to start to switch robotically. The method might take a number of hours or days, relying on what number of emails you will have.
In my check account with about 75,000 messages, I discovered that it took Gmail about 2 full days to switch all of them from the unique account to the brand new archived mail account.
Essential: After transferring your Gmail messages to your archived mail account, your authentic Gmail account will place all these messages within the Trash folder, which you will must empty manually. Clearing out these 75,000 messages from the Trash took about an hour.
Earlier than transferring Gmail messages, my check account was utilizing a bit of greater than 12GB, or 80%, of Google’s free 15GB. After transferring, the account was solely utilizing 0.66GB, of which 0.06GB was from Gmail.
What Gmail messages will not be transferred?
I discovered that Gmail transferred all of my messages besides for 2 classes — Drafts and Spam.
You will must resolve what to do along with your Drafts manually. Spam messages are robotically deleted each 30 days so you’ll be able to let Gmail deal with that or go into the Spam folder your self after transferring your mail and delete or ahead these messages.
As soon as your whole emails have been imported to your new account, benefit from the expertise of inbox zero. You’ve got given your authentic account a brand new lease on life.
At this level, there are two final steps: You will wish to cease the automated switch course of to be able to proceed utilizing your authentic account and you will wish to delete that app password in the event you needed to make one.
1. Login to your new account, go into your Settings and choose See all settings.
2. Choose the Accounts and Import tab, after which choose delete in your authentic account (below Examine mail from different accounts.)
3. When prompted to Affirm delete mail account, choose OK.
If you happen to needed to create a Google app password and wish to delete it now, return to https://myaccount.google.com/apppasswords and click on the garbage can icon subsequent to the password you created.
Congrats, you are completed.
One necessary remaining observe: Google will delete accounts which have been inactive for greater than two years. So ensure you do not utterly ignore all of your previous emails after transferring them. If you happen to do not plan to frequently use your archive account to ship electronic mail, you’ll be able to nonetheless maintain the account energetic by signing in not less than as soon as each two years.
