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Before now, if you ever wanted to switch your email account from Gmail to Outlook the process was

complicated and involved many steps. Microsoft has introduced a new ‘Import email accounts’ option that lets you copy all your Gmail messages, including your labels, to your Outlook account using fewer steps. Sign into Gmail and Outlook in separate tabs in your browser. If you don’t have an Outlook, Live or Hotmail account, create one by going to www. outlook.com and clicking ‘Sign up now’ at the bottom-right corner.

1. To begin importing your mail from Gmail, sign into your Outlook account and click the Settings (cog) icon in the top-right corner beside your name. Click ‘More mail settings’ in the dropdown menu. In the Options page, click ‘Import email accounts’ 1 in the ‘Managing your account’ section. Th is new option reduces the number of steps involved in importing your Gmail messages. Click Google, then the blue Options text at the bottom of the screen.

2. Next, select the option ‘Import email into existing folders, if you want to import your Gmail messages into your Outlook folders, such as Inbox, Sent and Drafts. Select the second option -‘Import email into new folder and subfolders’-to create a new folder section in Outlook for your imported Gmail messages. Click Start to begin the import process. Microsoft asks for permission to view and manage your account. Th is is perfectly safe and a legal requirement for Microsoft to begin importing your Gmail messages. Click Accept.

3. A notification informs you that Outlook has begun importing your messages from Gmail. At the same time, Outlook sends an email to your Gmail account explaining how to set up auto-forwarding, so any email you receive in Gmail will be sent to your Outlook account. Click Open Gmail in the

notification box to see this email or click ‘No, thanks’ if you don’t want to set this function up. After a while, you’ll see all your Gmail messages in your Outlook account. Your Gmail messages will appear in your main Outlook folders or in a separate Imported folder depending on which option you selected in Step 2.