How to Back Up Your Gmail Account

By eHow Internet Editor

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Does the thought of losing personal email and confidential information from your Gmail account worry you? Using POP (Post Office Protocol) access, you can back up your Gmail with Microsoft Outlook Express, Apple Mail, Mozilla, Thunderbird and so on. Follow these steps to back up your Gmail account using Outlook Express.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Computer with Internet access

Back Up Your Gmail Account Using POP Access

Step 1

Login to your Gmail account and open it.
Step 2

Click on the "Settings" option on the top right side of the page.
Step 3

Press on the "Forwarding" and "POP" tabs. Go to the POP download section and select "Enable POP" for all mail. Click on the "Save Changes" tab.
Step 4

Open the mail client you have configured to check for new messages. For example, you can choose Outlook, Eudora, Netscape Mail, Thunderbird or Mozilla.

Configure Your Email Client With Microsoft Outlook Express Automatically

Step 1

Configure your email client. For this, run the auto-configuration tool and open the Mail Client Autoconfiguration page.
Step 2

Press ''Open'' to select the program you want to use with your Gmail account. You will find 2 options: Microsoft Outlook Express and Microsoft Outlook 2002 or older with the Internet Mail Only option. Select Microsoft Outlook Express.
Step 3

Enter your Gmail account information. Enter your email address and your name in the ''Display name" box.
Step 4

Click ''Configure." The display will show the Configuration Complete page.
Step 5

Click on the "Finish" tab to exit Microsoft Outlook Express. This will enable your email client to send and retrieve messages from your Gmail account.

Configure Your Email Client With Microsoft Outlook Express Manually

Step 1

Enable POP in your Gmail account.
Step 2

Open Microsoft Outlook Express. Click on the ''Tools'' menu. Select ''Accounts…'' from the menu.
Step 3

Click on the ''Add'' tab and select the ''Mail…'' option. It will open the Internet Connection Wizard page.
Step 4

Enter your name in the ''Display name'' box and click on the ''Next'' tab.
Step 5

Enter the email address of your Gmail account in the ''Email address'' box. Click on the ''Next'' tab.
Step 6

Enter ''pop.gmail.com'' in the ''Incoming mail (POP3, IMAP or HTTP) server'' box and enter ''smtp.gmail.com'' in the ''Outgoing mail (SMTP) server'' box. Click on the ''Next'' tab.
Step 7

Enter the username of your Gmail account in the ''Account name'' box. Enter your Gmail account password in the ''Password'' box and click the ''Next'' tab.
Step 8

Press ''Finish'' and highlight the ''pop.gmail.com'' in the ''Account'' box. Then click on ''Properties." Click on the ''Advanced'' tab.
Step 9

Check the box next to ''This server requires a secure connection (SSL)'' under ''Outgoing Mail (SMTP)," and enter the numbers ''465'' in the ''Outgoing mail (SMTP)'' box.
Step 10

Check the box next to ''This server requires a secure connection (SSL)'' under ''Incoming Mail (POP3)'': the numbers in the port will change to 995.
Step 11

Click the servers tab to check the box next to ''My server requires authentication'' and click ''OK."