Google Apps has recently made some updates that require users to change how they log into mail and other Google services. If you get a message that says you have a "conflicting account," here's a general outline on how to resolve it. Depending on your situation, you may see different screens and be offered different choices.

Caution! Read the documentation carefully! We have no way of retrieving any data if you do not follow Google's instructions.

Let's say you have an email account called me@acmexyz.org that is managed by the organization you work for, and you've used this address to sign up for Blogger, Google Groups, Picasa or other Google services.

When you log in to your email account, you might see a screen like this that says "An update to your account is required". Follow the information on this screen and the items linked from it, then click the "Get started" button at the bottom left.

On the next screen, you will see a couple of options. Decide which one is appropriate for your needs. If you want to continue using the same email address you have been using to log into Google services, click the link that says "Move data to your organization's account".

You will now be on a screen that says "Moving data between Google Accounts, 1. Review your accounts." Read the instructions, then look below the blue box in the left column, and you'll see a plus (+) sign next to "Google products used" and a number. Click the plus sign and the products will be listed. In the example below, Picasa Web Albums and YouTube are listed.

Now, below the gray box in the right column, you will see a button that says "Sign in to this account". Click it.

You will now be on a screen that says "Moving data between Google Accounts, 2. Sign in to the account receiving the data". At the right side of this screen, enter your email address (like me@acmexyz.org) and your email password (the one you use to get your mail for that address). Click the "Sign in" button.

You will now (probably) be taken to a screen titled "Important changes to your account". Read the information, then click the "I accept. Continue to my account." button.

You will now be on a screen that says "Moving data between Google Accounts, 3. Select product data to move". In the left column under the blue box, you'll see "Google products used" and a number. Below is a list of products. Check the ones you want to use -- in the example below, you could check Picasa and YouTube. Now scroll down to the gray box near the bottom of the page, read its contents, and check all four of the checkboxes. Then click the box marked "I accept. Move this data."

You will now be on a screen that says "Moving data between Google Accounts, 4. Check results". In the left column below the blue box, you will see progress toward moving your data. In the example below, YouTube was moved successfully, but Picasa was not. If you get a similar message, follow the instructions for moving your data manually.

If you are syncing data between your CHCS Google account and an iPhone, let us know. We need to change a setting to ensure it will work.

Managing email, social networks, and other electroniic communications is a must for me, and for most of the folks I talk to. Macworld has an excellent series on how to manage email. (Their techniques work on other computers, too.)

If you missed my earlier post on this subject, here's the link. How do you manage electronic communications?

At CHCS, we have moved our email accounts, and those of our clients, to Google Apps. It's pretty reliable, although (like anything else) there are occasional outages.

If you are having problems with your email, try these steps.

• Check to make sure your internet connection is working.
  • Using a web browser, go to a web page you haven't been to recently.
  • Check to see if you can access your mail on someone else's computer.
• Try logging into your mail account through the web. Using a web browser, go to http://mail.your_domain_name.com (replace with your actual domain name; substitute .org or .net, as appropriate)
• If the above web address doesn't work, try one of these:
  • http://mail.google.com/a/your_domain_name.com
  • https://mail.google.com/a/your_domain_name.com
  • http://start.your_domain_name.com
  • https://start.your_domain_name.com
• If you are using the Firefox web browser, try installing the Gmail Manager add-on and logging in that way. (This is a great add-on in any case. Highly recommended!)
• If you are using an email client program like Outlook, Thunderbird, or Apple Mail, try restarting it.
• Try restarting your computer.

Go to the following locations to check the status of Google Apps Mail.

• Google Apps Status Dashboard Look for Google Mail under Today's Status.
• Gmail Help Look for a box with a red border at the top right of the page.
• Google Apps Help Forum See if anyone else has posted a problem.
• CHCS System Status (also available here and by phone at 206-686-2777, option 5).

Almost all of our clients are now using email from Google Apps Gmail. It's an excellent system, particularly now that it supports IMAP. IMAP has many benefits, such as allowing you to sync between machines easily.

But Gmail doesn't set up IMAP quite like the standard. Thus, email programs like Thunderbird, Apple Mail and Outlook have needed some tweaking.

But now, Gmail has a way of controlling how IMAP works. It's experimental, so use with caution, but so far, I like what I see.

Here's how to set it up.

1. Log in to the web interface for your email account at http://mail.YOUR_DOMAIN_NAME.com/
2. Go to Settings at the top right of your screen.
3. You'll see several tabs. Look for one called Labs. If you don't see it, cut and paste the following address into your browser's address bar, and press Enter.
   
   https://mail.google.com/mail/?labs=1#settings
   
   This will enable the Labs tab.
4. Now click on the Labs tab, and look for Advanced IMAP Controls. Click Enable, scroll down and click Save Changes.
5. You will now have several new options available to you (see the link below for details). But the one that is probably most useful is "Show in IMAP." In Settings, go to the Labels tab. If you don't want to see, say, the Starred or Spam folders in your email program, uncheck the corresponding box. That's it!

More information about Advanced IMAP Controls is available from the Official Gmail Blog. As I said, this is experimental, so use with caution. But you might like the results.

Gmail uses a slightly non-standard way of dealing with folders, including trash. You can improve how your CHCS Gmail interacts with Apple Mail (Mail.app) by following the instructions in CHCS Knowledge Base Article 200. Thanks to Mac OS Hints.

If you are using Gmail from CHCS, you probably already know that you can read your mail by going to http://mail.Your_Domain_Name.com The Gmail web interface is very flexible, and there are lots of ways that people have come up with to improve it. Here's a compilation of tips. Note that it also has links to several other Gmail tip sites.