After publishing instructions on how to synchronize Google Apps to your T-Mobile G1 it became apparent that, while this solution allows you to check your Google Apps email on your G1’s Gmail App, it doesn’t sync your Google Calendars. In fact, if you are already using the Google Account that you enslave to Google Apps, it compromises the non-Google Apps calendar such that it is not accessible anymore. Furthermore, when you make your Google Apps email the primary login for your Google Account (enslaving it), you are able to access all your calendars on your G1 but you can’t create or modify events for all of them. Indeed, when I select “New event” from the G1’s Google Calendar application, it doesn’t display all my calendars for which to select and create the event. At most it would only display three calendars to select from and there seemed to be no reason why it chose these three to allow me to create or edit events. I even tried moving all the calendars from the Google Account to the Google Apps account but that didn’t change anything at all. You can try to avoid this by simply creating a new Google Account to enslave with your Google Apps email address but I’m pretty sure you’ll have the same problem.
So for those of you that would like to have it all; synchronizing Gmail, calendars, and contacts between your Google Account and Google Apps, I suggest you try a different approach. Why would you want to do this? Well, for one, it will allow you to access and edit all your calendars properly from your T-Mobile G1. Secondly, it will also permit you to check your Google Apps Gmail from the convenience of your G1’s Gmail application. This consolidation-like solution is probably the best fit at this time since you cannot currently run multiple Google Accounts on your T-Mobile G1 phone at this time. Of course you could separate the two accounts (Google Account, Google Apps) and check your Google Apps Gmail and access your Google Apps calendar using the phone’s browser, but you’ll have to manually login each instance and it’s not as easy as just porting them all into the G1’s native Gmail and Calendar apps. Some people prefer to not mix their personal emails (Google Account Gmail) with their work emails (Google Apps) but you can remedy this by simply creating filters to auto-label any incoming work related email messages.
The set of steps outlined in this article permits you, using your T-Mobile G1, to fully access and send email from your Google Apps Gmail, create and edit events from your Google Apps calendars, and sync contacts between both accounts while still keeping your Google Apps’ Gmail inbox from getting overwhelmed with your personal emails. This is particularly important so you don’t accidentally overlook any work emails from important customers. However, as I alluded to previously, it is also possible to minimize this by creating filters to keep work and personal emails separate from a visual standpoint. Thus you can specify that any incoming email addressed to username@gmail.com is labeled with “personal” and any incoming email addressed to username@yourdomain.com be labeled as “work”! To create a filter just go to Settings > Filters, and create a new one by following the directions Google provides. This works well as long as your clients and coworkers only send emails to your work address and friends understand they should only use your personal address. We all know, however, that friends will email you at work occasionally and clients and coworkers sometimes end up sending work related email to your personal inbox. So to keep all that straight it’s best to maintain your inbox by reading each and every email that you come across and immediately labeling it to prevent any mix-ups.
Steps To Sync Services Between Google Accounts and Google Apps
1. Login to your Gmail account that’s registered on your G1 and import email from your Google Apps Gmail via POP mail
To do this you need to open your Google Apps Gmail and go to Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP, and enable POP mail. Then open your Google Account Gmail, go to Settings > Accounts > and click on the “Add a mail account you own” link in the “Get mail from other accounts” section. Now enter the settings as instructed by the image below.
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You could do the same for your Google Apps’ Gmail (i.e. pull Google Account emails into Google Apps Gmail), which would essentially create a fully synchronized set of Gmail accounts, but then there is no account separation of your work email (if you use Google Apps for work) and your personal email unless you use filters to visually separate them. Plus in that case it’s possible, in theory, that you would establish a never ending loop of copied emails. I’m betting that Google has already thought of this and it wouldn’t happen but I can’t confirm it wouldn’t happen as I haven’t tried it myself. If you want to safely create a fully synchronized set of Google Gmail accounts, just setup the POP mail for one and then create a filter that forwards any remaining non-synced emails to the other Gmail account.
2. Setup the ability to send mail as your Google Apps email address from your Google Account’s Gmail
This will allow you to send your clients email from your phone using the recognizable email they have on file for you (username@yourdomain.com). Although not perfect, since it will say “sent on behalf of username@gmail.com” in the message, it should work just fine. To do this navigate to Settings > Accounts, and click on the “Add another email address you own” link located near the top of the page in the “Send mail as” section. Then just add your Google Apps email login info into the provided text boxes. You may optionally specify a different reply-to address if needed as well. Once you’ve completed this step you will need to confirm you indeed own that email address by retrieving the verification link or code that was sent to your Google Apps Gmail.
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3. Make primary email address that of your Google Apps’ email within your Google Account’s Gmail settings
This ensures that every email sent from your G1 is business ready. That is, you’d probably rather have emails sent out as username@yourdomain.com instead of username@gmail.com, especially if your username for the gmail.com address is vague, silly, embarrassing, or in no way identifies the owner (e.g. lolcat1583@gmail.com). That way clients are not wondering who lolcat1583@gmail.com is and mistakenly tags the important email as spam. To complete this step, go to your Google Account’s Gmail and navigate to Settings > Accounts, and click the “make default” link to the right of your Google Apps’ Gmail address that you added in step 2. Be advised that when you send out an email from your G1 or from your Google Account (@gmail.com) from now on, the recipient will see both email accounts because it will now say “sent on behalf of lolcat1538″ so if your personal Gmail address is not appropriate for some viewers, you should probably create a new Google Account and register your real name on Gmail (i.e. yourfullname@gmail.com) before you ever start setting this up. If you did that and still wanted to access your personal emails from lolcat1538@gmail.com then you could just port that into your new Gmail account just like you’re doing for your Google Apps Gmail.
4. Share your Google Apps calendars with your Google Account Gmail address
Open your Google Apps calendar, navigate to Settings > Calendars, and click on “Share this calendar”. Enter your Google Account’s Gmail address and select the “Make change AND manage sharing” option so you can not only access but also edit and create events from your T-Mobile G1’s calendar app. IMPORTANT: Your default calendar, the one at the top of the list, does not allow you to select “Make changes AND manage sharing” and therefore you will not be able to edit or create events from your G1 since it will only allow you to view the calendar when it is shared. If you want to be able to edit and create events on that calendar from your G1, you’re going to have to create a new calendar, export the info from your default calendar and import it into the new one. You’ll then have two copies of the same calendar and you can just delete the default one. It won’t disappear, but the events will all be removed. I did this and just renamed the default as “Don’t Use” to remind myself that it doesn’t permit full sharing rights and therefore I wouldn’t be able to edit or create events on it when accessing it on my G1. Again if you want to fully synchronize all the calendars between Google Apps and your Google Account just repeat the steps for each account.
5. Sync contacts between Google Apps and Google Account
I believe the Google Contacts API may possess this ability but I do not know if it is currently available to everyone yet. To accomplish this you’ll either have to manually import and export contacts from each account or use a 3rd-party application like Soocial or Plaxo to sync contacts between Google Apps and your Google Account.
Possible Sync Hole
While you’re able to synchronize all the incoming emails between your Google Account Gmail and Google Apps Gmail, you are not going to have all the sent emails in sync. That may not be of any real concern for most of us but it is nice to be able to locate an email quickly without first trying to remember where you sent it from in the first place. I really can’t think of an easy way of doing this without CCing or forwarding every outgoing email to the other Gmail account, which really seems like overkill. It would be nice to have this feature in Gmail or perhaps get the guys at Gmail Labs to hook us up. Filters may be another targeted solution but currently they only apply to incoming emails. With that said, if you come up with any great ideas on how to sync sent email please let me know.
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