The GMail Switch

Prior to this week i was using Mail.app to handle email for home and work via IMAP. Since GMail now provides the ability to specify different From addresses for sending mail and lets you forward mail to other accounts using their filters, i decided to make the switch. Since i’m a strong believer in back-ups, i use the forwarding feature to send the mail on to my work and home accounts where it is archived and backed-up regularly.

One way to start using a new service is to just start fresh, but i wanted to be able to search my archives and sent mail when required so i opted to load my old email into GMail. To do this, i used Mark Lyon’s Google GMail Loader utility.

The tool has come a long way since i first tried it out and now sports a graphical user interface. To get it up and running on Mac OS X, you need to do the following:

1. Download the Linux/OSX/Source Only Version of GML


2. Download Python Mega Widgets


3. Double-click on gmlw.tar to open the archive


4. Double-click on Pmw.tar.gz to open the archive


5. Move the Pmw folder into the gmlw folder


6. Run it. Bring up a Terminal and type the following:
   

   
      cd Desktop/gmlw
      python gmlw.py
   

   
   

GML wants an MBOX type file to load email from. The latest version of Mail.app doesn’t provide that. The easiest thing to do is go download Thunderbird and configure it for your email service provider.

I then used Thunderbird to create a Local Folder called Import. I first moved all my old email from my IMAP folder(s) to Import (but not Sent Messages).

Important: Exit Thunderbird at this point.

Then, using the GML tool, i clicked on Find and navigated to $HOME/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/{blah}.default/Mail/Local Folders/Import (ignoring the Import.msf file). File Type should be set to mBox (Thunderbird).

After filling in the other required pieces of information in GML (click Requires Authentication, fill in your GMail username and password and your GMail address at the bottom), i clicked Send and off they went.

I then started up Thunderbird again and moved the messages from Import back to my IMAP account, and repeated the procedure above with Sent Messages. This time, i made sure to tell GML i was uploading Sent mail (Message Type).

Before sending this batch, i right-clicked on the Import folder in Thunderbird and selected ‘Compact this folder’. And when it finished, exited Thunderbird.

If you do not Compact the folder, the other messages from the first import may still be in there, but marked as deleted. You may not see them, but GML will.

Send Messages to GMail.

Lastly, move i moved my messages from Import back to my Sent folder.

The details on the forwarding set-up will vary wildly with service providers, so i’ll just leave that alone and just make one comment: do not create a mail loop! If you forward your mail from your ISP, then forward mail from GMail back to your ISP, you could have big problems.

Enjoy GMail.

ps. Be sure to get the GMail Notifier utility for OS X and the GMail+Growl plugin if you’re a Growl user.