DROID Hints: POP3, GMAIL, forwarding and you.

[640k]

This topic has come up alot, so I was hoping one concise thread will help people who have been having issues with POP3 accounts and the default email program.

Once of the things I immediately noticed with the default email app is how terrible it is. It only loads x days of messages, it doesn't sync with extra folders, the scheduled synching is terrible and breaks often and it's a drain on the DROID's battery.

For a work-around resolution, the BEST method (short of downloading another app) is to use the GMAIL app and allow GMAIL to check your POP3 accounts for you. When new messages arrive, GMAIL pushes the update to your phone.




To setup GMAIL to check your POP3 accounts:

1. Log into gmail.com from a computer. You can perform these steps from the DROID's browser, but they're a little different and can be difficult to manage. So performing these steps from the PC is the easiest solution.
2. Click on the Settings link in the upper-right.
3. Click on the "Accounts and Import" tab.
4. Under the "check mail using POP3" section, click the "add POP3 email account" button.
5. Enter your POP3 account's email address in the "email address" line provided in the popup window and click Next Step.
6. Enter your username and password for this account. Google will attempt to automatically fill in your POP3 settings for this account. If you do not know these settings, you can try proceeding with what has been filled out. Sometimes a quick Google search will help you to identify what they are (search for your account's POP3 settings; ie: aol.com POP3 settings).
7. While still on this window, I recommend selecting "label incoming messages" and then label them the email address for the account that you're adding. By doing so, you will create a folder (label) for each account that you add and when you receive mail on your device, you will know where it originated from. If you select "archive incoming messages (skip the inbox), they'll still go to the label you created, but you won't get notified of the message's arrival on your phone, because it's not hitting your inbox.
8. Click Add Account.

and that's it!




Now, for the cool part about GMAIL; you can also RETURN messages THROUGH those accounts, so it appears as if you're using, say, Outlook (or some fancy email client) instead of just checking your mail with GMAIL.

1. Under the "send mail as" section, click the "send mail from another account" button.
2. In the popup window, type the name you wish to be associated with the POP3 account and the email address and then click "next step".
3. Select the "send mail through (yourdomain.com) SMTP servers. Doing so will prevent messages showing "[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]" when replying to messages.
4. Enter your SMTP server information (use the information from the steps that you took to setup your POP3 account). You must make sure that you have the correct port number. Enter your username and password and select SSL if required (again, you can usualy verify this information with a Google search).
5. Click "Add Account".

This just in! If you refuse to get rid of your current POP3 account or you absolutely HAVE to originate emails from your old email account, but you still want to use my method, you can set that "other" email account as your default (thanks hacku):

1. From GMAIL click the Settings link.
2. Select the Accounts and Import tab.
3. Under the Send Mail as section, select which account you want to be your default and all of your mail will originate from that account

...and that's it!!!

 

[pettinej]

Hi this is a very good tip. I did try this some time ago and it did not quite work out the way I wanted it to. My wife and I share a MSN account. I imported MSN mail into Gmail (I have my own gmail account). The problem that I had was that when my wife read and deleted emails that were for her (throught the MSN web interface) they would not delete from my gmail inbox. Also when I read and deleted email from MSN through my gmail inbox they would not show as read and deleted in the MSN web interface. I am really looking for a way to do that. Do you know of any way to do this.

Thanks

 

[mich9385]

This topic has come up alot, so I was hoping one concise thread will help people who have been having issues with POP3 accounts and the default email program.

Once of the things I immediately noticed with the default email app is how terrible it is. It only loads x days of messages, it doesn't sync with extra folders, the scheduled synching is terrible and breaks often and it's a drain on the DROID's battery.

For a work-around resolution, the BEST method (short of downloading another app) is to use the GMAIL app and allow GMAIL to check your POP3 accounts for you. When new messages arrive, GMAIL pushes the update to your phone.


To setup GMAIL to check your POP3 accounts:

1. Log into gmail.com from a computer. You can perform these steps from the DROID's browser, but they're a little different and can be difficult to manage. So performing these steps from the PC is the easiest solution.
2. Click on the Settings link in the upper-right.
3. Click on the "Accounts and Import" tab.
4. Under the "check mail using POP3" section, click the "add POP3 email account" button.
5. Enter your POP3 account's email address in the "email address" line provided in the popup window and click Next Step.
6. Enter your username and password for this account. Google will attempt to automatically fill in your POP3 settings for this account. If you do not know these settings, you can try proceeding with what has been filled out. Sometimes a quick Google search will help you to identify what they are (search for your account's POP3 settings; ie: aol.com POP3 settings).
7. While still on this window, I recommend selecting "label incoming messages" and then label them the email address for the account that you're adding. By doing so, you will create a folder (label) for each account that you add and when you receive mail on your device, you will know where it originated from. If you select "archive incoming messages (skip the inbox), they'll still go to the label you created, but you won't get notified of the message's arrival on your phone, because it's not hitting your inbox.
8. Click Add Account.

and that's it!


Now, for the cool part about GMAIL; you can also RETURN messages THROUGH those accounts, so it appears as if you're using, say, Outlook (or some fancy email client) instead of just checking your mail with GMAIL.

1. Under the "send mail as" section, click the "send mail from another account" button.
2. In the popup window, type the name you wish to be associated with the POP3 account and the email address and then click "next step".
3. Select the "send mail through (yourdomain.com) SMTP servers. Doing so will prevent messages showing "[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]" when replying to messages.
4. Enter your SMTP server information (use the information from the steps that you took to setup your POP3 account). You must make sure that you have the correct port number. Enter your username and password and select SSL if required (again, you can usualy verify this information with a Google search).
5. Click "Add Account".

...and that's it!!!

Thank you SO much for this!!!

 

[640k]

Hi this is a very good tip. I did try this some time ago and it did not quite work out the way I wanted it to. My wife and I share a MSN account. I imported MSN mail into Gmail (I have my own gmail account). The problem that I had was that when my wife read and deleted emails that were for her (throught the MSN web interface) they would not delete from my gmail inbox. Also when I read and deleted email from MSN through my gmail inbox they would not show as read and deleted in the MSN web interface. I am really looking for a way to do that. Do you know of any way to do this.

Thanks

if you are using the POP3 method as described above, you will have interference with accounts when sharing them through services. because POP3 is a RETREIVE process, if it exists on the server, POP3 will grab what it hasn't already grabbed. THIS IS TRUE FOR ANY SERVICE THAT USES POP3; NOT LIMITED TO GMAIL.

if you have POP3 setup to remove messages from the server as it retreives them, no other email accont will have access to those messages, once they have been retreived (since they are essentially deleted).

IMAP resolves these POP3 short-comings, but the default email app is terrible and I would highly recommend downloading an alternative, such as K-9.

my suggestion to you is to have you and your wife have your own email accounts. they're free, what's the harm? it's less confusing for friends when they want to ask specific questions to one person or the other and will cause less headaches like what you described with missing emails, etc., etc.

 

[pettinej]

Thanks so much for your quick reply. Unfortunately the email has been shared for some time and that can not change.

I have and use k-9 email. Is it safe to say that MSN mail does not support IMAP? I could never get it to work. I also have a question on a totally different topic. Is it ok to PM you?

Thanks

 

[640k]

You may certainly PM me.

MSN/Live! started using MAPI, which is MS's proprietary IMAP protocol. They recently required WinMo devices to use the Live! services to check mail (kind of a PITA).

If you have alot of family and/or business clients, it's not hard to keep them in the loop if you've decided to change your email address. When people leave their job and their email address changes, they have to change that with their colleages, business partners, etc., so it's not like it's an uncommon practice.

I've used Hotmail for 15+ years now and I am just starting to switch to GMAIL as my primary means of communication. If you start originating your emails from your new account, the transition becomes easier.

Hotmail/MSN and GMAIL also have forwarding services that allow you to alert senders of the change.

 

[mslal]

@640K - thanks for the great detailed directions. Being a RoadRunner user I havent been able to send email when I am away from my router. This will resolve that long-standing annoyance.

 

[rkca]

I use my gmail account. How does one download an attachment that came in on an email and save it to the SD card? Please help.

 

[640k]

You will first need the ability to handle the attachment and second, you will need to download the attachment (manually), once it has been recognized.

So if you have a PDF attached to an email, you will need something that can view PDFs (which I think is standard). If you have an attachment that the system does not recognize, it will not allow you to download it.

 

[rkca]

Thanks 640K. I downloaded an application BeamReader and now I can download the attachment & save it.

 

[bgro]

Great tip. I actually found out about this yesterday and did the exact steps you described. Now I can send emails from my school address using the method you described above. That was one of the only caveats I had with the Droid.

 

[cereal killer]

Great thread 640k thanks for posting this for the members.

 

[640k]

Glad to help.

 

[JhankG]

So how can I start a new email on my Droid with the pop3 account that I added to my gmail? When I hit compose message, it automatically sends it from the gmail account and doesn't give me an option to send from my work email that I added. I would love to do away with the Droid's "email" app and just use the "gmail" app!

 

[JhankG]

So how can I start a new email on my Droid with the pop3 account that I added to my gmail? When I hit compose message, it automatically sends it from the gmail account and doesn't give me an option to send from my work email that I added. I would love to do away with the Droid's "email" app and just use the "gmail" app!

Can anyone answer this for me?