OT: Google account versus Gmail confusion

Apologies for straying OT but I'd greatly appreciate some
not-too-technical help in unscrambling my brain please. I'm quite confused
about how to setup and manage Google Mail and (eventually) other Google
'Apps' like Contacts etc. Alternatively, is there a newsgroup or forum
others can recommend for this sort of query please?

Ideally I'd like to start afresh, but so far see no way to do that. As a
good second best I'd like to ensure I have just one 'Google Account'
(which I gather is an entity in its own right, separate from Google email
accounts), plus one GMail account (or GoogleMail - they seem aliases).

I want to be able to use this 'account' and any associated email
address(es) on my PC and on my smartphone.

But when I go to my 'main' Google account on my PC and then try to go to
Gmail, I get messages I don't follow, as shown here:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Goog...lConfusion.jpg

Others (e.g. my son, a Google enthusiast) seem to use all this stuff with
casual ease, But to me, it all seems to be hopelessly complicated!

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Terry Pinnell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Apologies for straying OT but I'd greatly appreciate some
>not-too-technical help in unscrambling my brain please. I'm quite confused
>about how to setup and manage Google Mail and (eventually) other Google
>'Apps' like Contacts etc. Alternatively, is there a newsgroup or forum
>others can recommend for this sort of query please?
>
>Ideally I'd like to start afresh, but so far see no way to do that. As a
>good second best I'd like to ensure I have just one 'Google Account'
>(which I gather is an entity in its own right, separate from Google email
>accounts), plus one GMail account (or GoogleMail - they seem aliases).
>
>I want to be able to use this 'account' and any associated email
>address(es) on my PC and on my smartphone.
>
>But when I go to my 'main' Google account on my PC and then try to go to
>Gmail, I get messages I don't follow, as shown here:
>
>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Goog...lConfusion.jpg
>
>Others (e.g. my son, a Google enthusiast) seem to use all this stuff with
>casual ease, But to me, it all seems to be hopelessly complicated!

I made some progress. I ended up creating new Google account and adding
various 'services' or whatever they're called to it, such as Gmail and
Calendar. But that leaves me with an earlier Google account which has
Gmail and Groups, with 8 groups that would be tedious to re-create.

So I'm hoping someone here with some know how on these Google web accounts
can tell me how I can CONSOLIDATE these into one Google account please.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

"Terry Pinnell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news(E-Mail Removed)...
> Terry Pinnell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>Apologies for straying OT but I'd greatly appreciate some
>>not-too-technical help in unscrambling my brain please. I'm quite confused
>>about how to setup and manage Google Mail and (eventually) other Google
>>'Apps' like Contacts etc. Alternatively, is there a newsgroup or forum
>>others can recommend for this sort of query please?
>>
>>Ideally I'd like to start afresh, but so far see no way to do that. As a
>>good second best I'd like to ensure I have just one 'Google Account'
>>(which I gather is an entity in its own right, separate from Google email
>>accounts), plus one GMail account (or GoogleMail - they seem aliases).
>>
>>I want to be able to use this 'account' and any associated email
>>address(es) on my PC and on my smartphone.
>>
>>But when I go to my 'main' Google account on my PC and then try to go to
>>Gmail, I get messages I don't follow, as shown here:
>>
>>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Goog...lConfusion.jpg
>>
>>Others (e.g. my son, a Google enthusiast) seem to use all this stuff with
>>casual ease, But to me, it all seems to be hopelessly complicated!
>
> I made some progress. I ended up creating new Google account and adding
> various 'services' or whatever they're called to it, such as Gmail and
> Calendar. But that leaves me with an earlier Google account which has
> Gmail and Groups, with 8 groups that would be tedious to re-create.
>
> So I'm hoping someone here with some know how on these Google web accounts
> can tell me how I can CONSOLIDATE these into one Google account please.

Don't think you can consolidate two Google/Gmail accounts. However, what
you can do is go to Settings, Forwarding & POP/IMAP for either account and
then set 'forward a copy of incoming mail' to the other account. This way,
all your incoming emails will end up in just one account (whichever you
chose). I find this facility works very effectively.

Hope this helps,

V

"Victor Delta" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>"Terry Pinnell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> Terry Pinnell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>>Apologies for straying OT but I'd greatly appreciate some
>>>not-too-technical help in unscrambling my brain please. I'm quite confused
>>>about how to setup and manage Google Mail and (eventually) other Google
>>>'Apps' like Contacts etc. Alternatively, is there a newsgroup or forum
>>>others can recommend for this sort of query please?
>>>
>>>Ideally I'd like to start afresh, but so far see no way to do that. As a
>>>good second best I'd like to ensure I have just one 'Google Account'
>>>(which I gather is an entity in its own right, separate from Google email
>>>accounts), plus one GMail account (or GoogleMail - they seem aliases).
>>>
>>>I want to be able to use this 'account' and any associated email
>>>address(es) on my PC and on my smartphone.
>>>
>>>But when I go to my 'main' Google account on my PC and then try to go to
>>>Gmail, I get messages I don't follow, as shown here:
>>>
>>>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Goog...lConfusion.jpg
>>>
>>>Others (e.g. my son, a Google enthusiast) seem to use all this stuff with
>>>casual ease, But to me, it all seems to be hopelessly complicated!
>>
>> I made some progress. I ended up creating new Google account and adding
>> various 'services' or whatever they're called to it, such as Gmail and
>> Calendar. But that leaves me with an earlier Google account which has
>> Gmail and Groups, with 8 groups that would be tedious to re-create.
>>
>> So I'm hoping someone here with some know how on these Google web accounts
>> can tell me how I can CONSOLIDATE these into one Google account please.
>
>Don't think you can consolidate two Google/Gmail accounts. However, what
>you can do is go to Settings, Forwarding & POP/IMAP for either account and
>then set 'forward a copy of incoming mail' to the other account. This way,
>all your incoming emails will end up in just one account (whichever you
>chose). I find this facility works very effectively.
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>V

Thanks Victor, I'll give that a try. Further research reinforces your
conclusion. Although you can now have both accounts open at the same time,
following some sort of recent upgrade.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

bod43 <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>On 27 Aug, 17:53, Terry Pinnell <terrypinDEL...@THESEdial.pipex.com>
>wrote:
>> "Victor Delta" <n...@nospam.com> wrote:
>> >"Terry Pinnell" <terrypinDEL...@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
>> >news(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> >> Terry Pinnell <terrypinDEL...@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:
>>
>> >>>Apologies for straying OT but I'd greatly appreciate some
>> >>>not-too-technical help in unscrambling my brain please. I'm quite confused
>> >>>about how to setup and manage Google Mail and (eventually) other Google
>> >>>'Apps' like Contacts etc. Alternatively, is there a newsgroup or forum
>> >>>others can recommend for this sort of query please?
>>
>> >>>Ideally I'd like to start afresh, but so far see no way to do that. As a
>> >>>good second best I'd like to ensure I have just one 'Google Account'
>> >>>(which I gather is an entity in its own right, separate from Google email
>> >>>accounts), plus one GMail account (or GoogleMail - they seem aliases).
>>
>> >>>I want to be able to use this 'account' and any associated email
>> >>>address(es) on my PC and on my smartphone.
>>
>> >>>But when I go to my 'main' Google account on my PC and then try to go to
>> >>>Gmail, I get messages I don't follow, as shown here:
>>
>> >>>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Goog...lConfusion.jpg
>>
>> >>>Others (e.g. my son, a Google enthusiast) seem to use all this stuff with
>> >>>casual ease, But to me, it all seems to be hopelessly complicated!
>>
>> >> I made some progress. I ended up creating new Google account and adding
>> >> various 'services' or whatever they're called to it, such as Gmail and
>> >> Calendar. But that leaves me with an earlier Google account which has
>> >> Gmail and Groups, with 8 groups that would be tedious to re-create.
>>
>> >> So I'm hoping someone here with some know how on these Google web accounts
>> >> can tell me how I can CONSOLIDATE these into one Google account please.
>>
>> >Don't think you can consolidate two Google/Gmail accounts. However, what
>> >you can do is go to Settings, Forwarding & POP/IMAP for either account and
>> >then set 'forward a copy of incoming mail' to the other account. This way,
>> >all your incoming emails will end up in just one account (whichever you
>> >chose). I find this facility works very effectively.
>>
>> >Hope this helps,
>>
>> >V
>>
>> Thanks Victor, I'll give that a try. Further research reinforces your
>> conclusion. Although you can now have both accounts open at the same time,
>> following some sort of recent upgrade.
>
>I think that:-
>
>Google's idea it that you have one google account and do
>everything through it. They then track everything that you
>do and offer you suitably targeted advertising.
>
>This does not suit me. I use for this posting a fairly
>anonymous account and I have an account for gmail
>that reflects my real name. I also don't really like the idea
>of google tracking every search I make and keeping the
>information for ever.
>
>I needed to fix this before the recent upgrade and I see
>no reason to stop using it now.
>So I have settled on:-
>
>Running 3 instances of firefox.
>One for gmail only - logged in with my real-name-ish
>account.
>One for g-groups only using my long-used usenet handle.
>One for general browsing and searching, i.e. everything else.
>
>I don't use any of the other fancy bells or whistles yet.
>
>I won't go into all the details of getting firefox to run three
>instances but you create the profiles and then start firefox.
>
>Oh I found some instructions that I wrote:-
>
>You can run different profiles in firefox to keep google
>identities seperate without resorting to a different browser.
>
>
>Initially start firefox with
>
> start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -
>ProfileManager
>
>This runs the profile manager and you can create your
>profiles. (Note this is untested by me since I am not
>going to delete my profiles to try it out
>
>Then you can create shortcuts that start the profile you want
>e.g.
> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "Mail" -no-remote
> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "google-groups" -
>no-remote
> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "default" -no-
>remote
>
>
>Or just
>"C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote
>Will start the profile manager and allow you to choose
>your profile from a list.
>
>I guess that using something like the Titlebar Tweaks
>add-on may allow you to have different title bars for the
>different profiles but I only use the non-default profiles
>for a single dedicated page which is that profile's
>home page and I have not had to worry about it.
>
>You can do the same thing with environment variables
>in batch files as follows
>
> @echo off
> set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
> start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
> set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0
>
>but I see no advantage to this for my purposes.

Email used to be so much simpler ... ;-(


--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

On 28/08/2010 20:51, Terry Pinnell wrote:
> bod43<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>> On 27 Aug, 17:53, Terry Pinnell<terrypinDEL...@THESEdial.pipex.com>
>> wrote:
>>> "Victor Delta"<n...@nospam.com> wrote:
>>>> "Terry Pinnell"<terrypinDEL...@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote in message
>>>> news(E-Mail Removed)...
>>>>> Terry Pinnell<terrypinDEL...@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>>>> Apologies for straying OT but I'd greatly appreciate some
>>>>>> not-too-technical help in unscrambling my brain please. I'm quite confused
>>>>>> about how to setup and manage Google Mail and (eventually) other Google
>>>>>> 'Apps' like Contacts etc. Alternatively, is there a newsgroup or forum
>>>>>> others can recommend for this sort of query please?
>>>
>>>>>> Ideally I'd like to start afresh, but so far see no way to do that. As a
>>>>>> good second best I'd like to ensure I have just one 'Google Account'
>>>>>> (which I gather is an entity in its own right, separate from Google email
>>>>>> accounts), plus one GMail account (or GoogleMail - they seem aliases).
>>>
>>>>>> I want to be able to use this 'account' and any associated email
>>>>>> address(es) on my PC and on my smartphone.
>>>
>>>>>> But when I go to my 'main' Google account on my PC and then try to go to
>>>>>> Gmail, I get messages I don't follow, as shown here:
>>>
>>>>>> http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/Goog...lConfusion.jpg
>>>
>>>>>> Others (e.g. my son, a Google enthusiast) seem to use all this stuff with
>>>>>> casual ease, But to me, it all seems to be hopelessly complicated!
>>>
>>>>> I made some progress. I ended up creating new Google account and adding
>>>>> various 'services' or whatever they're called to it, such as Gmail and
>>>>> Calendar. But that leaves me with an earlier Google account which has
>>>>> Gmail and Groups, with 8 groups that would be tedious to re-create.
>>>
>>>>> So I'm hoping someone here with some know how on these Google web accounts
>>>>> can tell me how I can CONSOLIDATE these into one Google account please.
>>>
>>>> Don't think you can consolidate two Google/Gmail accounts. However, what
>>>> you can do is go to Settings, Forwarding& POP/IMAP for either account and
>>>> then set 'forward a copy of incoming mail' to the other account. This way,
>>>> all your incoming emails will end up in just one account (whichever you
>>>> chose). I find this facility works very effectively.
>>>
>>>> Hope this helps,
>>>
>>>> V
>>>
>>> Thanks Victor, I'll give that a try. Further research reinforces your
>>> conclusion. Although you can now have both accounts open at the same time,
>>> following some sort of recent upgrade.
>>
>> I think that:-
>>
>> Google's idea it that you have one google account and do
>> everything through it. They then track everything that you
>> do and offer you suitably targeted advertising.
>>
>> This does not suit me. I use for this posting a fairly
>> anonymous account and I have an account for gmail
>> that reflects my real name. I also don't really like the idea
>> of google tracking every search I make and keeping the
>> information for ever.
>>
>> I needed to fix this before the recent upgrade and I see
>> no reason to stop using it now.
>> So I have settled on:-
>>
>> Running 3 instances of firefox.
>> One for gmail only - logged in with my real-name-ish
>> account.
>> One for g-groups only using my long-used usenet handle.
>> One for general browsing and searching, i.e. everything else.
>>
>> I don't use any of the other fancy bells or whistles yet.
>>
>> I won't go into all the details of getting firefox to run three
>> instances but you create the profiles and then start firefox.
>>
>> Oh I found some instructions that I wrote:-
>>
>> You can run different profiles in firefox to keep google
>> identities seperate without resorting to a different browser.
>>
>>
>> Initially start firefox with
>>
>> start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -
>> ProfileManager
>>
>> This runs the profile manager and you can create your
>> profiles. (Note this is untested by me since I am not
>> going to delete my profiles to try it out
>>
>> Then you can create shortcuts that start the profile you want
>> e.g.
>> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "Mail" -no-remote
>> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "google-groups" -
>> no-remote
>> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -P "default" -no-
>> remote
>>
>>
>> Or just
>> "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote
>> Will start the profile manager and allow you to choose
>> your profile from a list.
>>
>> I guess that using something like the Titlebar Tweaks
>> add-on may allow you to have different title bars for the
>> different profiles but I only use the non-default profiles
>> for a single dedicated page which is that profile's
>> home page and I have not had to worry about it.
>>
>> You can do the same thing with environment variables
>> in batch files as follows
>>
>> @echo off
>> set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=1
>> start "" "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -p
>> set MOZ_NO_REMOTE=0
>>
>> but I see no advantage to this for my purposes.
>
> Email used to be so much simpler ... ;-(

It still is, really.
Either be happy with your ISP-related email address or set up a domain
and/or various Hotmail/Gmail addresses as "throw-aways", as required.
Both of the above systems have excellent anti-spam features, by the way.
If you have an existing Gmail account in the name of, say
(E-Mail Removed) which you don't want to use, just set up another one
in the name of, say. (E-Mail Removed) and tell your contacts to use
the new one from now on.

No probs, really...

George

Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings, George
Weston chose the tried and tested strategy of:

> If you have an existing Gmail account in the name of, say
> (E-Mail Removed) which you don't want to use, just set up another one
> in the name of, say. (E-Mail Removed) and tell your contacts to use
> the new one from now on.

There are other tricks you can do with . and + before the @ and use these to
filter incoming mail:

<http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/0...get-more-from-
your.html>

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) ((E-Mail Removed))
10:36:59 up 14 days, 13:25, 6 users, load average: 0.10, 0.22, 0.18
Qua illic est accuso, illic est a vindicatum

alexd <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings, George
>Weston chose the tried and tested strategy of:
>
>> If you have an existing Gmail account in the name of, say
>> (E-Mail Removed) which you don't want to use, just set up another one
>> in the name of, say. (E-Mail Removed) and tell your contacts to use
>> the new one from now on.
>
>There are other tricks you can do with . and + before the @ and use these to
>filter incoming mail:
>
><http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/0...get-more-from-
>your.html>

Thanks both. Well, maybe it will all indeed seem perfectly simple once I
get stable operation!

However, I've made progress by eliminating two Google accounts. (Although
a downside is that one, set up a couple of years ago, gave me access to
about a dozen Google Groups, so I'll have to re-enter those in my one
remaining account).

But I'm now getting DUPLICATES of emails sent to my main (Pipex) address.
The extra copy is being served via Gmail, but so far I haven't figured out
exactly why.

I THOUGHT it was probably down to this setting

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/GMailSettings-1.jpg

but apparently not, because after deleting it I'm still getting the
unwanted copy. And I don't think it can be because POP is enabled?

I'm beginning to think it may be that I had some setting within one of the
Google accounts I deleted that is still lingering on. The small print
about account deletion says that usernames used are NOT freed up after
deletion (and I confirmed that by trying to switch from terrypingm to
(E-Mail Removed)), so perhaps this is another 'deleted but not quite
dead' issue?

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

Phil W Lee <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Terry Pinnell <(E-Mail Removed)> considered Mon, 30
>Aug 2010 15:31:18 +0100 the perfect time to write:
>
>>alexd <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>>Meanwhile, at the uk.telecom.broadband Job Justification Hearings, George
>>>Weston chose the tried and tested strategy of:
>>>
>>>> If you have an existing Gmail account in the name of, say
>>>> (E-Mail Removed) which you don't want to use, just set up another one
>>>> in the name of, say. (E-Mail Removed) and tell your contacts to use
>>>> the new one from now on.
>>>
>>>There are other tricks you can do with . and + before the @ and use these to
>>>filter incoming mail:
>>>
>>><http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2008/0...get-more-from-
>>>your.html>
>>
>>Thanks both. Well, maybe it will all indeed seem perfectly simple once I
>>get stable operation!
>>
>>However, I've made progress by eliminating two Google accounts. (Although
>>a downside is that one, set up a couple of years ago, gave me access to
>>about a dozen Google Groups, so I'll have to re-enter those in my one
>>remaining account).
>>
>>But I'm now getting DUPLICATES of emails sent to my main (Pipex) address.
>>The extra copy is being served via Gmail, but so far I haven't figured out
>>exactly why.
>>
>>I THOUGHT it was probably down to this setting
>>
>>http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/GMailSettings-1.jpg
>>
>>but apparently not, because after deleting it I'm still getting the
>>unwanted copy. And I don't think it can be because POP is enabled?
>>
>>I'm beginning to think it may be that I had some setting within one of the
>>Google accounts I deleted that is still lingering on. The small print
>>about account deletion says that usernames used are NOT freed up after
>>deletion (and I confirmed that by trying to switch from terrypingm to
>>(E-Mail Removed)), so perhaps this is another 'deleted but not quite
>>dead' issue?
>
>Gmail or your local client must not be deleting the mail it is
>retrieving with POP3, so it is being left for you to retrieve via the
>other route as well.

Thanks Phil, I'll investigate that tomorrow.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK