I'm planning to switch my email account to Gmail. I am running VISTA

[napi21]

with Windows Mail. Can I change windows Mail so I receive all my Gmail directly into my current inbox, or will I always have to go to gmail to check my email? I've tried to find this answer from both MS & Google, but MS says your new provider will be able to answer you, and Google doesn't appear to have a way to contact them directly and I couldn't find the answer to my question on their help sites.

Maybe this is a mistake? The reason I'm changing isso I can get an account through a site not linked to my ISP. That way if I want'to change providers I won't have to worry about notifying the hundreds of people and businesses that have my email addy that I've made a change. I've had my current one for 8 years, and I know it's going to be quite a challenge to make sure I notify every account I set up for bills via email, every business I have a purchasing account with, etc....... I wish I would have known when I originally set my ISP account what I realize now. I would have just used Yahoo!

[RoyGBiv]

1. Yes, you can ...

It's simple.

There are many, many options with gmail.

Voila', the Help Pages:

https://mail.google.com/support/?ctx=gmail&hl=en

In answer to your specific question:

https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=86382&topic=12810

[napi21]

2. Thank you so much. Now I can set up a new gmail account, and

leave my old one alone until I feel reasonably sure I've notified all the necessary contacts, I can make the switch in Windows Mail.

[Hokie]

3. You may be able to have your ISP mail forwarded to Gmail

I set my mail account with my ISP to forward a copy of all of my mail there to my Gmail account. This is nice since I travel quite a bit all I have to check is my Gmail account on the web or in Thunderbird. I can get my POP mail from my ISP on the road through hotel Internet services but I cannot send or reply without using their web mail version. In Gmail I can do everything. Check your ISP mail account settings on the web and see if there is an option to forward a copy of your mail to another account.