Switching from Gmail to Outlook.com

I always recommend using a free personal email service like Gmail or Microsoft as opposed to your ISP's email service. Why is this? Well lets say you have a Comcast email address and you decide to switch to Verizon. You are going to be in a position where you are forced to change your email address which can be a big inconvenience. If you use Microsoft or Gmail for example you will not need to make any email address changes, regardless of your ISP (internet service provider).

During the past year Microsoft has really stepped up their free email service and transitioned what had been Hotmail and Live.com over to Outlook.com. This is the one I recommend.

As I just noted switching email services can be a huge decision, and a major chore. You have to notify friends and family members about your new email address, transfer over your contacts and folders, and find a way to get all your messages from one service to the other.

The thought of all that work might discourage you from switching, even if you're not happy with your current email provider. But if you use Google's Gmail and it just isn't working for you anymore, Microsoft wants to simplify the process of moving to Outlook.com.

The software recently introduced s new functionality in Outlook.com that lets you easily transfer over all your emails, contacts, and folders from Gmail. The new service is rolling out and should be available to all Outlook.com accounts worldwide over the next several weeks.

You can access the new tool from your Outlook.com settings, or by clicking here and signing in with your Outlook.com account (if you don't already have an account, you'll be able to sign up for one). From there, you'll have the option to import all your Gmail into a new set of subfolders in Outlook.com.

Next, you will need to sign in to Gmail and grant the tool access to your account. Once you OK this, the tool will start copying over your email and you will be navigated back to Outlook.com. After you start the import process, Microsoft will send you instructions on how to set up email forwarding, so that all the messages sent to your Gmail account go to Outlook.com. Once the import is complete, Microsoft will send to a message letting you know it has finished.