How to add Gmail accounts

Do you need to create a secondary Gmail account to use for work but don’t know how to do it? You have just created a Gmail address, are you trying to configure it in your favorite e-mail client but strange error messages appear at the end of the procedure? Do not despair, there is a solution to all this and if you want I can explain how to proceed.

In fact, with today’s guide we will see together how to add Gmail accounts in all the main email clients available for computers, smartphones and tablets: from the very classic Microsoft Outlook to MailDroid via Apple Mail. We will also find out how to configure Gmail to use two or more accounts at the same time without having to resort to browser extensions (which, as known, in some cases, can also pose privacy risks).

Contrary to what you may think, I assure you that these are two externally simple procedures to complete, completely free and that require very little time. In short, all you have to do is take five minutes free and put into practice the instructions you find below. Courage, let’s get to work immediately!

Add an account on Gmail

Gmail allows you to use two or more email accounts at the same time without resorting to browser extensions or particular applications. Let’s see immediately how.

If you want to configure Gmail to use a second account on your computer, connected to your e-mail box, click on your photo located at the top right and press the Add account button in the box that opens. On the page that opens, choose whether to add an existing Gmail address by typing its username and password in the login form or click first on the item Other options below and then on  Create an account to create a new e-mail account (for more info about it, see my tutorial on how to create Gmail emails ).

Once the operation is complete, you can switch between accounts at any time by clicking on your photo at the top right and selecting the mailbox you want to consult from the menu that appears. It is also possible to use multiple Gmail mailboxes at the same time, in different browser tabs.

If, on the other hand, you want to add a secondary Gmail account to the Gmail application for smartphones and tablets (it is available for both Android and iOS ), press the Menu button located at the top left (the icon with the three horizontal lines ) and first press on the arrow pointing down that you find in correspondence of your email address and then on Manage account and then tap on the + Add account button.

Now, if you want to add an existing Gmail account, type its email address and password in the fields on the screen and wait for the login procedure to be completed. If, on the other hand, you are interested in adding Gmail accounts by creating a new e-mail address at the moment, press on Other options, select the item Create an account from the menu that is shown to you and follow the simple procedure that is proposed to you (for more info on what to do, you can follow the instructions in my guide on the subject that I pointed out a few lines above)

Then you can easily switch from one account to another via the Gmail app by simply tapping the Menu button at the top left, pressing the down arrow next to your email address, choosing Manage account and then tapping on what you want. use.

Add Gmail accounts to an email client

To configure Gmail in a traditional e-mail client, such as Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird or Apple Mail, you must first activate the use of the IMAP or POP3 protocol on your e-mail box. Don’t you know the difference between one and the other? No problem, I’ll explain it to you right away.

The IMAP protocol allows two-way synchronization of mail, this means that all messages are downloaded to your computer, smartphone or any other device and also remain on the Gmail servers. In addition, any changes made online or in the local mail client are automatically reflected on the other side as well. The POP3 protocol, on the other hand, is not suitable for use on multiple devices and does not support bidirectional data synchronization (usually the messages downloaded locally are deleted on the remote server): I do not recommend its use, except in cases exceptional and I suggest you take advantage of the IMAP protocol instead, then, of course, the last word is up to you, based on your actual needs and preferences.

To activate the IMAP or POP3 protocol on Gmail, connect to your Gmail mailbox via browser (the one you prefer), typing  mail.google.com in the address bar and then pressing the Enter key on the keyboard. At this point, click on the button with the gear icon at the top right and select the Settings item from the menu that appears. In the page that opens, select the Forwarding and POP / IMAP tab, put the checkmark next to the option Enable IMAP  (to enable the use of the IMAP protocol) or Enable POP for all messages (to enable the use of POP3 protocol) and click on the button Save Changes located at the bottom of the screen.

In the case of the POP3 protocol, also check the box next to Enable POP only for messages arriving from now, and set the Archive copy to Gmail option from the drop-down menu When messages are downloaded via POP  so that they are not deleted from the Gmail servers. Afterward, click the Save Changes button to apply the changes.

At this point, start your favorite email client, start the wizard for adding a new email account and fill out the form that is proposed to you by entering the following information.

IMAP

• Incoming mail server (IMAP): gmail.com, Port: 993, Requires SSL: yes.
• Outgoing mail server (SMTP): gmail.com, Port: 465 or 587, Requires SSL: yes, Requires authentication: yes.
• Full name or display name:[your name]
• Account name or Username:Gmail address (e.g. name @ gmail.com ).
• E-mail address : Gmail address (e.g. name @ gmail.com ).
• Password: Gmail password.

POP3

• Incoming mail server (POP3): gmail.com, Port: 995, Requires SSL: yes.
• Outgoing mail server (SMTP): gmail.com, Port: 465 or 587, Requires SSL: yes, Requires authentication: yes.
• Full name or display name:[your name]
• Account name or Username:Gmail address (e.g. name @ gmail.com ).
• E-mail address : Gmail address (e.g. name @ gmail.com ).
• Password: Gmail password.

If you don’t know how to start adding a new email account with the client you intend to use, please follow the instructions below.

• Microsoft Outlook– Go to the File menu, presses on Account Settings and select New then put the checkmark next to the item  Manually configure the server settings or additional server types, click  Next, select the  POP or IMAP item, go further and configure the Gmail parameters manually. You can also try the automatic account configuration procedure by filling out the form that is proposed to you immediately after selecting the option to add a new account with the data relating to your Gmail address.
• Mozilla Thunderbird– Click on the Menu button at the top right, go to the New Message menu, click on Create a new email account and fill in the form that is proposed to you with the Gmail configuration parameters.
• Apple Mail– Go to the Preferences menu … , click on the Account tab, press the + button (plus symbols)  in the lower-left part of the window that opens, select the item Other email accounts… and fill out the form that is proposed to you with the Gmail configuration parameters. If you want, you can also choose the Google option in the window for choosing an e-mail provider and provide the access data to your account to carry out the automatic configuration procedure.

As anticipated at the beginning, the configurations for IMAP and POP3 just seen together can also be applied to the e-mail clients available for Android (eg MailDroid ), iOS (eg Spark ) and other mobile platforms. Even in this case, you must proceed by going to configure the service through the application settings. Generally, the configuration procedure takes place automatically so after tapping on the option to add a Gmail account, just enter the e-mail address, password and any code for two-factor authentication and the game it’s done.

However, keep in mind that in some cases the automatic configuration procedure does not work and it is instead necessary to manually type the parameters in order to use the Google home e-mail service. If so, all you have to do is enter the data I provided you in the previous lines, when I explained to you how to add Gmail accounts via an e-mail client on your computer.

The case of the Gmail app is different, for which the configuration procedure is extremely simple and immediate. In fact, just start the application, press on Login and log in to the Google account by typing your email address and password. That’s all! Furthermore, if a Google account is already configured on the device in use or in any case other big G apps are present, it will not even be necessary to provide login data. In this case, all you have to do will be to turn ON the lever on your account. Very easy, right?

Note:  In the event that two-step verification is activated on your Google account, in order to correctly configure the use of Gmail you may be required to create a specific password for the client you intend to use. If you do not know how to do it, you can help yourself by reading my article on how to authenticate Google account through which I have explained it to you in great detail.