Should I forward Gmail to Outlook?

[cwbcpa]

I have been wanting to try WP8 for a while now. I am picking up a used 822 today. I'm really looking forward to it. Windows phone is the only OS I have not used. I use Gmail for my personal email along with the calendar and contacts. Would it be better to send everything through outlook or just set Gmail up as an email account? I really want to get the most out of WP8 and I'm possibly looking to move to Outlook anyway. I use Outlook for work as well. Thanks for the help. I'm sure I will have other questions.

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[psiu_glen]

I would say to try get your Google account running as an Exchange (Activesync) account today, Google should be disabling that from being activated on new devices within a couple days. This won't be a problem once GDR2 is released to everyone, but until then it is the way for you to get your contacts and calendar.

I used to be primarily Gmail as well, just ended up slowly shifting back to my old Hotmail account. I had spent some time cleaning up contacts between the two, I leave a few older ones in the google account. You can filter contacts to only show (for example) your MS contacts, but when you search within the People hub or do other things like compose an email, the "hidden" contacts will show (in my case, FB, Twitter, Google).

For alternative google apps, I use jiTalk for chat (there is another one I see recommended as well, can't remember it right now) and MetroTalk for GV (I use it for the free texting). GMaps is an alternative to the native mapping on the phone, but I usually end up preferring the native stuff (though oddly, I actually prefer the somewhat hidden Bing Maps interface versus the new Nokia Here one, but that might just be me).

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[cwbcpa71]

Thank you. I do have a hotmail account, but other than using it for the Xbox, I don't really use it since moving to Gmail a few years back. I just wasn't sure how well Gmail, google contacts and calendar would sync with a Windows Phone. If I am better off moving to outlook then I don't have a problem with that. I know I don't have to close out Gmail and can just have everything come through Outlook for now until I decide if I make a permanent move. So I guess the real question is, will everything sync just as well using Google through exchange (activesync) as it would if I moved to Outlook?

 

[psiu_glen]

Yeah, the ActiveSync is the same setup MS uses for Hotmail, the only problem you might run into is multiple calendars (I ran into a weird problem when I switched to my 928 a month or so ago, but it works enough for me). Once GDR 2 comes out it will include full contact/calendar/mail sync for Google as well (using Google's preferred methods).

 

[aximtreo]

I started using Windows phone with the 7.5 and have just forwarded all my emails to outlook. It's simpler to me to have everything go to one in box and I haven't had any problems at all. I don't use Exchange so can't comment on how it works but direct forwarding works great for me.

 

[cwbcpa71]

Ok. So I decided to run my gmail through Outlook. My emails are coming through and my calendar came over as well as my contacts. I have started setting up my phone. Email and calendar are working fine. My contacts are not showing up though. I set up a Microsoft account with my hotmail address, but the only option was to sync email. I then set up my hotmail address a second time and it duplicated my emails and calendar, but I unchecked those boxes and solved that problem. I still cannot get contacts to show up on the phone though. FaceBook contacts are there, but none of the ones that came over from Google. I can see them if I log into Outlook on my PC, but they don't come over to the phone. Any help would be great. Thanks.

 

[cwbcpa71]

Ok. I don't know if it was the right way or not, but it seems to have worked. I exported my Google Contacts into my Hotmail account and they all showed up on my phone. I assume it has something to do with Google not syncing. I remember having an issue with my wife's iPhone similar to this. I have a lot of set up to do. Getting around the phone is easy, but getting it all right requires some time. I know android and ios like the back of my hand. I feel like I am in a foreign land. It's fun though. I like trying new things.

 

[AR2186]

Make sure to sign into the phone with the hotmail account first (you can rename it to an outlook account online) so that all your Xbox stuff syncs. Trust me, takes forever to merge the accounts if not.

I was in the same boat as you, and finally decided to forward everything and switch to an outlook email address. I have not looked back, very happy with it and it works great.

If you plan on using Gmail as your main email going forward, then maybe this would give you some pause, but if you are considering switching its an awesome solution. I was never really huge into the google ecosystem beyond basic maps/google voice/chat, and I have found good third party alternatives

 

[jhguth]

Get your own domain name (name@whateveryouwant) and never have this problem again. Switching from Gmail to Hotmail was a breeze because I have my own domain, and if I ver want to switch from Hotmail (Live) that will be easy too.