After the release of Windows 8 RTM, we have covered many useful articles on basic Windows 8 apps and how you can use them in your everyday life. To ease things out, we have already discussed how to add videos and songs in Windows 8 Music and Video app and also how you can configure Windows 8 Mail App Signature.
Today I am going to address a very common question desktop email app related question: “ How to add my Gmail account? ” …most of us search for an answer to that question when switch from Gmail’s web interface to a desktop email client, isn’t it?
So let’s see how you can configure Windows 8 Mail app and add your Gmail and Google Apps account easily. No need of POP or IMAP settings, all you’ll be needing is your login credentials.
Adding Gmail Account in Windows 8 Mail App
Step 1: Open Windows 8 Start Screen and select the Mail app. If you don’t already have the app by default, you can download it from the Microsoft App Store. It’s available for free and is one of the very basic modern apps for Windows 8.
Step 2: When you are in the Windows 8 Mail app, open the charm bar by pressing the Windows+C hotkeys and select settings.
Step 3: In Settings, select the Account option to configure all the accounts that are associated with your Windows 8. Here, click on the option Add an account.
Step 4: Now in the Add an account option select Google as an account type and proceed.
Step 5: Finally provide your Gmail login credentials to authenticate your account and add it. After the account has been added, it will be shown with all the other accounts configured in Windows 8 Mail App and you can simply switch between them.
If you are using Google apps on your custom domain to send and receive emails, you can configure it too on Windows 8 mail. Simply provide your full username (like xyz@guidingtech.com) while providing the login credentials. The configuration of the app account will be done automatically.
If you are planning to use Windows 8 calendar and contacts for the selected Google account, don’t forget to check the option to import contacts and calendar for the linked Google account.
Conclusion
You can configure multiple Gmail accounts in Windows 8 Mail in the exactly same way. Don’t forget to try out Windows 8 Mail App and let us know what you liked and what you didn’t about the app. To get the conversation started, I want to mention that I don’t like the full-page compose window which does not allow me to refer to other mails. Your turn!
