Question re Mail.

snollup

Evening all,

I'm wondering if it is possible to set up two separate gmail accounts within mail, one for my wife and the other for me. I know two account can be set up but to keep them separate is the thing I cannot manage.

Thanks in advance.

aidan_walsh

I presume by keeping them seperate you mean you don't want to see each other's mail accounts? You would need to use different mail clients, or different OS X user accounts.

PhilipMarlowe

Depends on how 'seperate' you want them.
If you enable and use IMAP then you can have them both appear in a combined Inbox but you can easily click each account name under that inbox and see only those related mails.
For a completely private setup then you need different log-ins to the computer or different clients.

snollup

Thanks lads, different clients it is then. Any recommendations as to which to use as the second client?

Sad Professor

A separate client won't really be private though. There will be nothing stopping either of you from looking at the others email. It seems like a rather awkward solution to me.

snollup

Sad Professor wrote: »

A separate client won't really be private though. There will be nothing stopping either of you from looking at the others email. It seems like a rather awkward solution to me.

That won't be a problem. We don't really have anything to hide there. As is, she has my p/w & vise versa.

Any ideas as to a good client?

Sad Professor

Might as well just use Mail then. I have 6 email accounts set up on it.

But if not, check out Sparrow. You can buy it on the app store.

Liameter

Why not simply set up a browser to access Gmail web mail for your wife?

If that's not acceptable then I'd set up another account for her and turn on "fast user switching".

kippy

Why anyone uses a mail client to access Gmail, whether on Mac or otherwise has never made any sense to me, and as for paying for a mail client to do this........well that is just barmy!
Any browser is good but Chrome tends to be the best for interaction with google services.
http://www.google.com/chrome?platform=mac

Thumper Long

If you have office 2004 or 2008 with Entourage it allows you to have different identities, which are separate from each other.

alexlyons

You could just set up smart folders within Mail.

All mail coming to xxx@yyy.com goes into one folder, all the mail coming to you wires account goes into a different folder.

It will all be in the one inbox, but instead of you using the inbox you use your folder. You could do the same for sent items if you wanted.
You'd need to be careful that when you're sending emails you choose the correct account. In the new message box, above the body, you will have a drop down to choose what email account it sends from, otherwise you may end up sending mails from your wife's address.

It is cumbersome etc but if you're set on one mail client it is a way around it.

conor.hogan.2

Webmail has passwords, if you are worried about losing your mail have your gmail or whatever backed up to a secondary gmail or hotmail.

barryj

As others have mentioned - separate OS accounts solves the problem and many others, like keeping favourites, documents, etc. all separate - it only takes a couple of seconds to switch between accounts without having to log out. It always amazes me how many people seem to resist keeping separate accounts, and struggle on sharing an account.

- barry

Liameter

barryj wrote: »

As others have mentioned - separate OS accounts solves the problem and many others

^^^^ What he wrote.

Gregor Samsa

kippy wrote: »

Why anyone uses a mail client to access Gmail, whether on Mac or otherwise has never made any sense to me,

Don't know what the OP's situation is, but one reason is that you'd have access to your existing messages when you're offline.

Also, as far as data backup goes, never trust "the cloud".

kippy

phutyle wrote: »

Don't know what the OP's situation is, but one reason is that you'd have access to your existing messages when you're offline.

Also, as far as data backup goes, never trust "the cloud".

Fair enough - although I cant see that being an issue for many nowadays (not being online)
As far as databackup goes, I have emails in Gmail since early 2004 I'd trust the cloud far more than I would trust any form of device I could have kept in use since 2004.......etc.
But yeah, I suppose backup may be an issue for certain users.

Gregor Samsa

kippy wrote: »

Fair enough - although I cant see that being an issue for many nowadays (not being online)
As far as databackup goes, I have emails in Gmail since early 2004 I'd trust the cloud far more than I would trust any form of device I could have kept in use since 2004.......etc.
But yeah, I suppose backup may be an issue for certain users.

Walk 20 metres from your house with a MacBook (and no broadband dongle) and you won't be online. Trains, buses, planes, hotel rooms, etc - lots of places you can take your computer where you may need access to archived mails, but you can't get an internet connection (or have to pay extra for it). It certainly doesn't apply to everyone, of course.

As for not trusting backup devices - you're 100% correct. Always back up your backup