In this digital sphere, email communication plays a crucial role. Whether it’s for personal communication or business connection, one cannot simply function without the help of email.
With over 1.5 billion active users worldwide, Gmail offers endless capabilities for both small businesses and individuals that they can leverage to their advantage. From effectively organizing one’s inbox, high security & spam filtration to a huge cloud-based storage facility; Gmail’s primary focus is productivity.
Due to its strong reputation of providing high security, quick accessibility and various email functionalities, many prefer to use Gmail as their email client to manage personal and work accounts. In addition, they might have several accounts dedicated to school work, side business, hobbies or any other personal project. Having to sign up for more than one Gmail account or constantly juggling with signing into more than one Gmail is time consuming and one might miss out on important emails while doing so.
Not anymore! With Gmail’s in-built feature, one can easily manage multiple Gmail accounts in one inbox. No more worries about missing out on any crucial communications! Simply follow this guide to learn everything from how to manage multiple Gmail accounts including business emails or third party emails in one inbox. Let’s dive in.
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How to manage multiple Gmail Accounts?
Whether one uses Gmail for work purposes or for personal projects, with Gmail, one can easily manage multiple Gmail accounts in one inbox. Here is how you can use Gmail’s in-built feature to efficiently manage multiple accounts:
Step 1 – Head over to the “Accounts and Import” section in Gmail Settings
Make sure you are logged in your primary Gmail account (whichever account you use most frequently to check emails). Click on the setting icon on the top and go to ‘See all settings’. Then head over to the Accounts and Import section.
Step 2 – Add the secondary Gmail account
In the ‘Send mail as:’ there is an option to ‘Add another email address’. Upon clicking on the link, provide the name and secondary email address you want to add. Check on the ‘Treat as an alias’ box. This means all the emails sent to your secondary email address will appear in your primary account’s inbox. Next, click on the ‘Next Step’ button.
Step 3 – Verify the secondary Gmail account
The next step requires you to verify that the secondary email address is your account. Click on the ‘Send Verification’ button.
Step 4 – Accept the confirmation request
Navigate to your secondary Gmail account. You will receive a confirmation email with a link. Click on the link to proceed to the next step. Ensure the email starts with mail.google.com, to be aware of phishing links.
Step 5 – Confirm the secondary account
Finally click on the ‘Confirm’ button. Once confirmed, a confirmation success message will show up on your screen.
Step 6 – Forwarding emails from secondary account to primary account
This step is to ensure that emails from your secondary account are forwarded to your primary account. Go over to the settings panel in the secondary Gmail account and click on the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ option.
Step 7 – Add primary account in the forwarding settings
Click on ‘Add a forwarding address’ in the forwarding section and add the email address for the primary account. Click Next and then the Confirm button. A pop up window will show up on your screen, where you will need to click on the Proceed button. After that you will receive a confirmation email in your primary Gmail account.
Step 8 – Confirm the primary account
Enter the verification code in the field in the forwarding settings in the secondary account and click verify.
Step 9 – Selecting the forwarding option
In the last step, check on the ‘Forward a copy of incoming mail to….’ And select a forwarding option from the drop-down.
That is all, now both your primary and secondary Gmail accounts are connected. The changes are automatically saved on all devices connected to your primary Gmail account including Gmail apps in Android and iOS.
How to check if it is working?
To test how it works, simply open the compose window, click on ‘from’, here you can select which email address to use besides your primary one. If the drop-down menu of multiple email addresses appears then it is working fine. You can now send emails as your alias. What about receiving emails from your secondary account to your primary Gmail account inbox? To test this, you can send a test email to your secondary account and see if it appears in your primary account inbox. If it does then, the connection is proven to be working. No more switching from one account to another to check emails, with Gmail you can sync emails from multiple accounts under one inbox. How efficient is that!
Want to add non Gmail addresses as well?
Do you wish to add your business email or other third party address and check mails under a single Gmail inbox? This is possible in Gmail using a POP3 and SMTP.
Step 1 – Head back to the settings section (from your primary account) and click on the ‘Accounts and imports’ menu. Then click on the ‘Check mail from other accounts’ section and click on ‘Add a mail account’.
Step 2 – Type in the email address to continue with the next steps. If your business account is from a hosting provider, then you will need to connect it with POP3. Click on the option to connect and click Next.
Step 3 – Fill in the POP3 information either by logging into your hosting dashboard or search ‘my host POP3 server’. Make sure to click on the ‘always use a secure connection’ and select the right settings. Once all the information is entered accurately, you will see a confirmation message.
Step 4 – To send emails you will need to connect to SMTP for outgoing emails. On the confirmation message, check on the ‘Yes, I want to be able to send mail as….’ and click on the Next button.
Step 5 – Fill out the relevant information and click ‘Add account’. The final step requires you to go to your business email and click on the confirmation email to verify the process. There you have it; your business email is now synced with your primary Gmail account.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How many Gmail accounts can I have?
In total one can have four accounts per IP address, which means four accounts using the same PC or phone number.
- Why does one need multiple Gmail accounts?
Many professionals prefer to have a personal and a work Gmail account attached to their CRM. For instance, a salesperson might organize certain clients or lead stages into different Gmail inboxes or accounts. One might keep a separate Gmail account just for spam mails to keep their professional inbox free from marketing emails. Managing multiple Gmail accounts depends on one needs and is more suited for business purposes to keep a stable workflow.
- Are there other ways to manage multiple Gmail accounts?
Yes, there are other ways. One can open Gmail on different browsers, switch accounts with Google’s multiple Sign-In option, use Google Chrome account switcher, use browser extensions or even desktop apps to manage multiple Gmail accounts.