Using Gmail

Gmail Help

For assistance with using gmail, Google provides these helpful resources:

• Gmail Help Center
• Google Workspace Learning Center: Gmail

Email Client & Mobile Device Setup

To set up your desktop email client or mobile device, follow the instructions on the General Email Client Configuration page.

Note:

• IMAP already has been enabled for you by the University.
• Enter your full University of Minnesota email address for the username.
• You can refer to the Read Gmail messages on other email clients using IMAP (Google help article) for additional help.

Storage Limits   

• Storage allocations are based on account type. See New Google Workspace Accounts: Storage Allocation for more information.
• Upload documents you want to share in Drive instead of attaching to email.
• Google saves the contents of your Trash folder for 30 days.

Access With Other Email Programs and Mobile Devices

The Office of Information Technology (OIT) strongly recommends the use of the Google web client, as it maximizes the full collaborative features and functionality of Gmail. However, your Google Apps for the University of Minnesota Gmail account also can be configured to work a number of email clients so that you can retrieve your Gmail messages with clients or devices that support IMAP.

Because Google supports several optional desktop email clients which may change from time-to-time, OIT provides support for the web client only, and is not equipped to help users with specific desktop clients beyond the general configuration parameters listed on the right side of this page.   

Personal Google/Gmail Accounts

Your University of Minnesota Google Apps account is totally separate from your personal Google/Gmail account, so nothing about your personal Google account will change. Your private account and institutional accounts will not be merged.

Forgotten Passwords

If you have forgotten your Internet password, you can reset it yourself clicking Forgot Password on the MyAccount page or call Technology Help at (612) 301-4357 (1-HELP on campus) for assistance.

Import Contacts

You can import contacts you already have stored in another email program into your Google Apps for the U of M account. See Importing Contacts on Google's website for details and instructions .

Auto-reply, Out-of-Office Replies, and Mail Forwarding

U of M Google account users will need to use Google's auto-reply, forwarding and mail filters features available in Gmail. The existing central functions will no longer be available to Google users. Please note that in Gmail, you cannot forward to more than one account as is now possible with the existing University user tools.

To configure a vacation out-of-office auto-reply, use the Vacation Reply feature in Gmail.

Email Aliases

Aliases will continue to work as they do now. We will continue to accept mail for the various domains, such as @epi.umn.edu, forwarding them on to users whether they are in Google or not. However, you should note that the "To" and "Cc" lines will show the Google domain rather than the original domain. For example, email addressed to [email protected] will appear as "To: [email protected]" in Gmail. Likewise, [email protected] will show up as [email protected] in Gmail.

Autoreplies will be sent by Google based on mail they receive and should work for those aliases, but that process is still in the testing phase.