So last month I had a situation where i really wanted to try out using a Linux laptop for the day. The only problem is all my email lived on my main MacBook Pro still sitting at the office. Then it hit me. I could switch my email to iMAP rather than POP. IMAP keeps the messages on the server and SYNCS with your email client, while POP copies them to your local machine and then deletes them from the server.  So, I decided to go to the cloud for all my email. This solution would give me the ability to get my email (old email too - that's the cool part) from anywhere I have a computer and internet access. At The RetroTechs office, we use Google Apps for our email. Each account gets over 7 gigabytes of data storage. It has a great web interface for accessing email - and that's Gmail. The major problem I had was referencing old emails. My plan was to go back to the first of the year (2010) and up move all those messages back up to Gmail. This would give me access to new email and old. Now I would have access from any computer with an internet connection and not be tied to one particular laptop for my older email.

So, here's how i made the switch. I first created a new IMAP account in my email application. I linked that account to my regular Google mail. Then I moved all the mail, folder by folder, to my IMAP folders. This then would "upload" the mail back up to Google's server. Moving forward all new mail is synced with my laptop, but also remains accessible via the web. Now, if don't have my laptop with me, I can still respond to everyone and have all those quotes, messages and past requests right at my finger tips! This by far is not a noval concept. I just wish did it earlier.

If you are interested in a convenient set up like this, please call your helpful RetroTechs consultant or email our office.