How to Switch From Yahoo Mail to Gmail
Changing from one email service to another can be time-consuming and complicated, with lots of glitches. But it doesn't have to be that way. If you want to switch from Yahoo! Mail to Gmail and import your contacts and mailbox contents, Gmail has made this process easier than ever.
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Instructions
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Visit Gmail's switch guide on their website.
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Enter your Yahoo! email address in the box and click on "Help Me Switch." Alternatively, click on the "switching from any email address" link to see general directions for switching to Gmail from any email account.
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Export your Yahoo! Mail address book in preparation for setting up your Gmail contacts list. Before exporting your Yahoo! contacts, read the Yahoo! Address Book! FAQs to learn about system requirements, browsers and the correct format--.csv or .vcf--for importing and exporting contacts.
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Import your contacts into your Gmail account, following the directions in the tutorial: sign into your Gmail account; click on "Contacts" on the left-hand side of any page in the account; click "Import," and choose the .csv file you want to import by clicking on "Browse"; and click on "Import Contacts" after you locate your file.
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Announce your new Gmail address to your friends.
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Set up signature settings, automatic replies or customizable reply-to addresses, so that friends who send email to your old Yahoo! address will know about your new Gmail address.
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Add your Yahoo! account to your Gmail account and manage all of your emails in one place. The "Switching to Gmail" tutorial walks you through the necessary steps to accomplish this.
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Tips & Warnings
If you will not be using your Yahoo! account any longer, set up an auto-response email message that anyone who sends mail to that address will receive. Go to "Mail Options" and choose "Vacation Response." Your auto-response message could specify that all mail should now go to your new Gmail address, but be aware that spammers will also be seeing this message.
Check your old Yahoo! account on occasion to make sure that no one important is sending email to that address. Alert anyone who is sending mail to that account to update their address book to reflect your new address.
After four months of an account receiving no activity, Yahoo! deactivates that account, so if you intend to keep your Yahoo! account alive for an extended period, be sure to log in every week or so.
