Use Gmail as a Universal Inbox

These days most people have more than one e-mail account. If one of yours is a Gmail account, you can use it as your primary inbox, checking the mail for all of your POP3 accounts in your Gmail browser window. Note that you'll be able to check other POP3 accounts only; you won't be able to check Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, or other Web mail accounts. And since not all POP3 servers work with Gmail, you may want to check with your ISP beforehand.

To get started, open your Gmail account, and click Settings, Accounts. In the 'Get mail from other accounts' section, click Add another mail account. Enter the e-mail address of the account you want to add, and click Next Step.

Enter your user name, password, and POP server. If you plan on continuing to access the account through a mail client or through the ISP's own Web interface, in addition to picking them up in your Gmail account, check Leave a copy of retrieved message on the server. This allows you to read the mail in Gmail, but the mail will stay on the server so that you can download it with your mail client or read it through the account's Web interface. If you intend to access the mail for the account only through your Gmail account, leave the box unchecked.

Check Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail to to keep mail snoops at bay. In some instances, a POP3 account may not work with an SSL connection; if so, you may have to leave this box unchecked.

If you want all of your incoming messages from the account to carry a label--such as the name of the account--select Label incoming messages. In Gmail, a label works much like a folder: You can view all mail that carries the same label by clicking the label. Gmail automatically creates a label for the address of the new account. You can select a different label or create a new one by selecting the appropriate entry from the drop-down list. Another option is to have messages bypass your inbox and go straight to your Gmail archive--a good choice if you want to use Gmail primarily for searching through mail. When you've made all your selections, click Add Account.

You can compose mail in Gmail and have it appear to the recipient as if it were from the account you just added. When a message appears asking whether you want to create a custom From address, click Yes and follow the instructions.

Gmail will check your account, and any mail will appear in your Gmail inbox. To stop Gmail from checking the mail, click Settings, Accounts and choose delete next to the account.