Merging Gmails

Step 1

In the secondary Gmail account, click the gear icon to the right and select Settings. Locate Gmail's settings.

Locate Gmail settings.

Step 2

Click the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab and locate the Forwarding settings.

Find the Forwarding tab.

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Step 3

Click Add a Forwarding Address. The Add a Forwarding Address popup displays:

Enter the email address that will receive your forwarded email.

Step 4

Enter the email address that will receive your forwarded email. Click Next to continue. The Confirm forwarding address popup displays:

Click Proceed to continue.

Step 5

A popup displays reminding you that Gmail is verifying your forwarding Gmail address.

Click OK to confirm the forwarding email.

Click OK. Gmail sends a verification email to the primary email address entered.

Tip: If your primary email address is also a Gmail account, log in by clicking the user image in the top right of the Gmail window and choosing Add Account. Connecting the two accounts in this way will allow you to quickly switch back and forth between accounts during the confirmation process without logging in or out.

Connect two Gmail accounts to make switching inboxes easier.

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Step 6

In the confirmation email, you’ll find a confirmation code and confirmation link.

Enter the code or click link to complete forwarding process.

Step 7

Enter the confirmation code in the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab in the secondary Gmail account, or click the confirmation link in the email.

Gmail prompts you to confirm that mail will be forwarded.

Click Confirm to forward email.

Click Confirm. And then you'll get a final confirmation success email that follows, letting you know the forwarding is now properly setup. The secondary Gmail account is now forwarding to the primary email address.

2. Send Email as Another Account

Setting up a forwarding address is great, but what would make this really run smoothly is if email sent from a Gmail address could appear as if it’s coming from another email account. I’ll show you how to send email from other email providers in Gmail.

Step 1

In Gmail, click the gear icon to the right and select Settings. Choose the Accounts and Import tab.

Gmail allows you to send email as another account.

Step 2

Within Send Mail As, click Add Another Email Address You Own.

Enter the email address you'd like to send mail as.

Step 3

Enter the secondary email address. You may also edit the displayed name and specify a different reply-to address. Gmail prompts you to verify the secondary email address.

Send the verification email.

When prompted by Gmail, send the verification message to the secondary email address.

Step 4

In the verification email, you’ll find a confirmation code and confirmation link.

Enter the confirmation code in the Verification window in Gmail, or click the confirmation link in the email. Gmail displays another popup confirmation.

Click Confirm.

Click Confirm to continue the process. You will see a confirmation success popup display.

The Gmail account may now send email as the secondary email account. Repeat the process for all of the email addresses you’d like to use in Gmail.

Step 5

When complete, there will be a new From drop-down in the Compose New Message window.

Select the address from which you would like to send email.

Select the address from which you would like to send email from the drop-down menu.

3. Set a Default Send Mail As Address

While you can select from which address you’d like to send email in the Compose New Message window, it may happen that you more often want to send email from your Outlook or other email addresses than from your Gmail email address.

In that case, it makes sense to set another email address as the default Send Mail As address in Gmail. Here's how to do that.

Step 1

Again, click the gear icon to the right of the Gmail window and select Settings. Choose the Accounts and Import tab. Displayed here are all of the email addresses with which you can send email within Gmail.

All your connected email addresses are listed.

Click Make Default next to the email address you will use most often to send email.

Step 2

Next time you compose a new email, the default Send Mail As address will be automatically selected in the From field.

Emails sent with Gmail look like they came from another account.

4. Organize Email Sent to Different Addresses

In an inbox of thirty messages, it may not be obvious what’s important and what isn’t, which emails were sent to each address. Gmail filters and labels can help keep all of those different email addresses straight in your inbox.

Step 1

Click the gear icon to the right of the Gmail window and select Settings. This time, select the Filters and Blocked Addresses tab.

Create a new filter in Settings.

Select Create a New Filter at the bottom of the window.

Step 2

There are many options for your filter, but for this tutorial, you only need to complete one of the fields. In the To field, enter a secondary email address that is being forwarded to your primary Gmail account. Click Create Filter with this search.

Apply a label to messages matching the search.

Step 3

Gmail can do a lot with a filtered message, and it’s best if you decide how you want to receive your forwarded messages yourself. Would you like them all marked as read and archived, or should they be starred as important?

I’m going to allow Gmail to handle the forwarded messages as usual, but I want to add a label so I know to which account the message was sent. Click the Apply the Label checkbox. Click the up and down arrows next to Choose label.

If you haven’t created a label to handle forwarded messages from the secondary email address yet, select New Label. The new label popup displays.

Create a new label.

Enter a name for your label and click Create.

If any previously received messages meet the filter’s criteria, you may also apply the filter to those messages, too.

Click Create Filter when you’re done. All messages addressed to the secondary email address will receive the new label.

Conclusion

While it may seem like you have to abandon old email accounts or schedule time to check various accounts still in use, with a little effort, you can get all of your email merged in one Gmail inbox. If you have any trouble combining your email accounts in Gmail, be sure to leave a comment below and we'll help you figure out how to get it working.