How to Configure Gmail to Get Your Work or Whatever Email

So you wanna keep getting your professional email in gmail, because you love gmail's interface, and you know that you can access it from any computer that has an internet connection. I know. I feel the same. I have about 4 email addresses configured to come to my gmail account, and I couldn't be happier.

Here are the advantages to setting up your gmail account to receive your work or other emails:

• Gmail serves as a backup of all of your emails, so if your computer crashes, all of those emails that were sent to you live on in gmail. NOTE: Gmail will not have records of the email you SENT to people. Not unless you CC yourself every single time, but that could be a pain.
• You can access your email from whatever has an internet connection. Example: I'm working in Starbucks. I can receive emails on my Mac Mail program on my computer (comparable to Outlook or Enterouge), but when I go to reply to someone, I get a funny notice telling me that I can't send an email. Strange. But with some mobile connections, apparently T* Mobile is one of them, you can't send via your Outlook, etc. The alternative: Send from your gmail account, and have the From address be your work email. I can send from my blank@gmail.com, or I can send from my blank@katie-james.com account - in gmail.
• Set up a filter in gmail to automatically read and archive all email sent to your work email. Because that is time suckage to read it twice.

One issue to be aware of, as "ksg" pointed out in the comments below, is that when you send from your work email, like blank@katie-james.com, gmail will insert: "Sent on behalf of...", which doesn't look 100% professional, if the receiver of the email even notices. I send on behalf of my work email for a few reasons, which include making sure the reply goes to my work email in the future, and if I'm stuck at Starbucks and don't have a choice but to reply from there. I'd rather it say that than just be from my gmail email. I don't mind this issue, but others do. You may be able to get around this by paying for a professional gmail account, but I have not used it to make a recommendation either way.

Let's get started, setting up your gmail account, which is also called "Configuring" your gmail account to receive email on behalf of another email. I hope I haven't lost you yet, with all of these email terms flying around. ;)

Log into your Gmail account.

In the top right of your screen, click on Settings.

From those tabs, click on Accounts.

Click "Add an email address"

On the popup, enter the name you want to show up for your account when you send an email. This name will be what the person sees in their "From" line when they open an email from you. Type in the email you are trying to set this up for (not your gmail email, but your work one), and click Next Step.

You will be presented with a message like this:
"Before you can send mail as blank@collective-e.com, we need to verify that you own this email address. To perform the verification click "Send Verification". We will then send an email to blank@collective-e.com with instructions on how to verify your address. "

Click Send Verification.

The nex screen will say something like this:
An email with a confirmation code was sent to blank@collective-e.com. [Resend email]
To add your email address, do one of the following: "

You can either click the link that comes in you email, or you can enter the code that is provided in that email.

To click the link from the email, go to your actual email where you normally recieve email for the email in question, like in Outlook, Enterouge or Mac's Mail, and click the link in the email. It will be from Gmail Team.

Click the link, or copy and paste the code that is in the first few lines, and paste it into the little box that first told you about it.

You final screen should say this:
"You may now send mail as blank@collective-e"

Yay! You did it.

Now you want to send an email as your work email - while in gmail. No problem. From any email you are writing, whether it be one you are starting or one you are replying to, look at the From line. There is a drop-down. Click it, and you will see your options of which email to send FROM: blank@gmail.com or blank@collective-e.com

Next Up: How to create a filter for these emails, so that you never have to see them if you primarily get your email via Outlook, Mail, etc. Stay tuned.