Merging two accounts on Mac mail

[Velvis]

Client has Gmail and exchange account. She is trying to simplify her work flow as she is getting older.

She wants to setup folders that will automatically be filled based on rules of incoming email. However because she has two email accounts it seems overly confusing and I am not sure if the separate account can share the folders.

Is the best solution to add the exchange account to the Gmail account with its ability to check other accounts?

Then it will all flow into one account in Mac mail and rules can be applied to the incoming mail

Just wanted to check if their might be a simpler solution.

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[timeshifter]

I've been sitting here for 5 minutes thinking about this, and what you're proposing seems overly complicated. You want Gmail to pull in Exchange, then connect the Gmail to Mac Mail and let Mac Mail process all the mail, which then updates Gmail's servers. I guess it would work, but it seems to not simplify in my mind.

I'm a long time Mac user. I have two email accounts - one G Suite with my domain name and one Gmail account. My daily driver is a MacBook Pro. A couple of years ago when I did a clean install I didn't bother setting up my mail again in Mac Mail - which I've used for years. Instead I have one button for each account on my Chrome toolbar. Works great, and I wouldn't want to run it any other way.

 

[britechguy]

Were I you, I would use Gmail as "Filtering Central" if it's able to do so for both the native Gmail account and Exchange account (I've never used Exchange with Gmail's interface).

What I'm trying to figure out here is whether (and why, really) she would have two separate accounts where she would want selected email messages from each to go into some common folder. And I guess that's because the reason I use separate accounts is that I have "certain business" that occurs on each of them that I never want intermixed.

But having your filtering on the server side, regardless of what server(s) are involved, along with the folder structure related to same makes it a cinch when you later want to get a new machine, switch your e-mail client, or add another device to access that e-mail.

 

[Markverhyden]

I understand what the customer wants but I don't see why she sees a benefit in that. I use macOS Mail as my client. Depending on which machine I may have a many as 9 separate email accounts. Certain email accounts are used for certain things so I don't want the messages commingling with others.

You can create Mailboxes that reside only on the local machine. Right/CTRL click on Inbox>New Mailbox>first field option has On My Mac. Then you just create rules to route traffic. But it'll only work on that machine. New machine? Hopefully a good backup will pickup where you left off. There's a reason why server side features are so robust.

 

[timeshifter]

Were I you, I would use Gmail as "Filtering Central" if it's able to do so for both the native Gmail account and Exchange account (I've never used Exchange with Gmail's interface).

Nowadays, email / SPAM filtering is pretty good with most email providers. But, not too long ago we used to run people's mail through Gmail because of their excellent filtering.

My personal Gmail account is really for my personal domain. My personal domain email is hosted at GoDaddy and forwarded to my @gmail.com account.

And maybe that's the easy answer here. Just forward all mail from Exchange to Gmail. No need to make Gmail the client. From the Gmail web client you can send as your other account. I've done it like that for a long time.

 

[britechguy]

@timeshifter,

If she's already using Gmail webmail and likes it, that's definitely the way to go. I am trying to wean clients (or at least sighted ones) off of e-mail client programs as fast as I possibly can if they are already using webmail for something and like it. And since virtually all webmail clients will allow you to have offline access (if you so choose) to recent messages, which it downloads to a local store which it keeps locally in case of loss of internet access, there's no benefit to an e-mail client, unless that's preferred.

The convenience of being able to log in to your webmail from any web browser in the world really cannot be overstated. I've had many occasions over the years when I was not near one of my machines, and before the age of the ubiquitous smartphone (and even after when I'm out of service area), where being able to snag my e-mail from the middle of nowhere on a machine not my own was a godsend.

 

[callthatgirl]

Client side rules are great until they break lol. Then it's a mess. So she wants an email that comes in Gmail to be ruled into a folder in Exchange? or vice versa?

 

[Velvis]

Yeah, I dont get why she wants to do it that way. I am going to try and make a better plan/solution.

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[nlinecomputers]

Exchange or gmail can forward all incoming mail to the other. Pick your favorite and go. Outlook can also open both gmail and exchange in separate inboxes. One email program maybe all she is really trying to achieve.