I've been using a Yahoo email acct since last year as I selected Yahoo as my web hosting provider. No complaints really, and I always get my emails. But the features are somewhat limited. About 4 months ago, I signed up for a Google Calendar because I liked how it looked more than my Yahoo calendar.

About a week ago I read an article about why people should set up a Gmail account and I was convinced. I created my Gmail account, and have all my other emails forwarded to this one.

A few reasons why I like it so much:
* Instead of file folders, you create "labels". It's kind of like tagging. You can assign multiple tags to a message to make it easier to find later. Then you can Archive it. So that gets it out of your Inbox but is still available to you if you ever need it.
* When you reply to an email you can choose WHICH email address you are replying from.
* There are tons and tons of "gadgets" that you can add which help your productivity.
* You can convert an email to a Task and your task pane hangs out in full view or is easily minimized.
* You can change the background of gmail, which is kinda fun
* There are ads, but it's relatively subtle
* You can set up filters, and mark messages with stars if there are certain key words.
* Canned Responses - you can created a "canned response" for emails that you send frequently.

I know some of these features are not that exciting, but just from where I've been in having such a BASIC email service it doesn't take much to excite me!

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Kari Thevenot, Virtual Assistant
www.yourlefthand.net

Kari, I know how you feel! I started using gmail about 3 years ago, and I don't think I'm ever going back! I have all of my personal and biz emails accounts go into my gmail inbox, and I love that I can send email from any of my accounts through gmail - just remember to check before sending or it will come from your default!

My only complaint is that it can take awhile for gmail to check for mail in your other accounts, but so far it just been annoying not a real problem.
Have fun!!

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Gladys Strickland
GS Business Resources

I haven't tried gmail. I think I'll check it out. Thanks for the information Kari. It sounds like it'll be a great asset.

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Shannon

I'm also a Google mail fan. One of my favorite features is the way it automatically connects conversation threads so you don't have to open every single email and try to remember what else has been said in past emails. I have wished for label tiers but work around the single layer by using a "Label"/"sub-label" identification system.

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Karen Cole, MBA
www.aveonservices.com

Yes, more fans of Google Mail!

I love it and am totally a fan! I didn't know you could do a canned response though, I'll have to look into that!

Thanks,
Holly

I have Google Mail through my school but don't use it very much. I will have to take a closer look at all the advantages.

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Myrlene Hoyte
www.vpadmins.com

Gmail's generous storage limits also make it useful for a quick & dirty backup system.

(But don't use it as your one and only backup system, as Google can be prone to arbitarily deleting accounts)

I use Outlook for my business but many of my clients use Google. The labeling system is great and now that they added the feature where you can move them from the home page it is even better. I use the star tag a lot too when there is information that I need quick reference too. It definitely has other added bonuses as well.

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Lee Drozak
My Office Assistant

I've used gmail for some time to handle my 'lower priority' emails such as newsletter sign-ups and linkedin discussion messages. This way my priority email box doesn't get full and I don't get distracted.

Two other features I like are:

1) In the settings tab you can change the look of your email to some cute backgrounds.

2) When I went on vacation, my Outlook doesn't have an out of office feature (unless it is connected to Exchange). Anyway, gmail does have an out of office feature. So I set up a rule in Outlook to forward my incoming mail to my gmail. Then set that up to send out an out of office message. It all worked quite nicely.

And the last item I like about gmail is that it is free.

Janine

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WRITE FAB RFP PROPOSALS & land THE VA job. WinningRFP unveils soon! SignUp www.WinningRFP.com

I use Gmail for everything. My business email for my website is through Gmail as well. I just love it! I have a Mac and I use MS Office 2008 (only available for Mac) and the email program, Entourage, is what I use to access ALL of my Gmail accounts.

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Winston Stewart
PennWin Administrative Services