*Mods, I don't know if this is "sticky-worthy" but if so, please do! My intent is to help as many people as possible with an issue that I assume to be fairly prevalent. Thanks!*
Hi everyone,
I want to start off by saying that I love my Surface. Though there are some small pitfalls, it has exceeded pretty much every one of my expectations except for a couple of things. One of those was the inability to add my Gmail account to the mail app that I have found so convenient. I did some searching but my Google-fu wasn't strong enough to find a good resource on it. I did eventually figure it out, though, so I thought I would add it here in hopes that I can help as many people as possible find a fairly complete set of instructions.
As always, input and feedback is welcome!
I'll stat by saying that I did this with a Surface Pro running Windows 8 64-bit. I don't know whether it is the same for RT or desktop Windows 8 users, but I would guess that it is. Just a guess though. I will attempt to add any discrepancies that I can predict within these steps, but if there is a mistake, hopefully someone can correct me.
Step one: Go to https://mail.google.com. Log in if needed and click on the ‘gear’ icon in the top right corner. From the dropdown box, select ‘Settings’. Click on the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ tab near the top. Scroll down to the ‘IMAP Access’ section and select the ‘Enable IMAP’ radio button. Scroll to the bottom and click on ‘Save Changes’.
Step two: Go to https://accounts.google.com. Log in if needed and click on the ‘Dashboard’ on the left side of the screen. Click on ‘Authorize Account Access’. Sign in (again). Scroll down to ‘Application-specific passwords’. In the ‘Name’ field, enter the name of your Surface which can be found under Control Panel -> Systems. *Side note, I don’t know if it is required that the name of your Surface matches the ‘Name’ field, but I made sure they were the same just so everything was nice and neat.* Click on ‘Generate password’. Note the password that was generated.
Step three: Open up the Mail app. Swipe in from the right and click (or if you are using Windows 8, otherwise access) ‘Settings’. Click on ‘Accounts’; click on ‘Add an account’; click on ‘Other account’. Select the ‘IMAP’ radio button and click on ‘Connect.’ On the next screen, click on ‘Show more details’. Populate the subsequent fields:
- Email address: Enter your full email address. For example, [email protected]
- Username: Again, enter your full email address. For example, [email protected]
- Password: Enter the password that was generated in Step two. For example qwerasdfzxcvpoiu *Side note, I entered the password without spaces. I haven’t experimented with leaving the spaces in (e.g. qwer asdf zxcv poiu) so your experience may differ if you do.*
- Incoming (IMAP) email server: Enter imap.gmail.com
- Incoming (IMAP) email server port: Enter 993 *Side note, I am not tech-savvy enough to know if this number will change depending on user, but that number is what auto-populated for me, and from what I have read online, that seems to be the number used for anyone.
- Outgoing (SMTP) email server: Enter smtp.gmail.com
- Outgoing (SMTP) email server port: Enter 465 *Side note, again I am not certain if this number should be changed for anyone else. This was the number that was auto-populated for me, but the information I have found has produced one other potential number: 587.
Check on for all the options. They should be: ‘Incoming server requires SSL’, ‘Outgoing server requires SSL’, ‘Outgoing server requires authentication’, and ‘Use the same username and password to send and receive email’.
Finally, click ‘Connect’ at the bottom.
There you have it, your Gmail account should be added to your Mail app.
Hi everyone,
I want to start off by saying that I love my Surface. Though there are some small pitfalls, it has exceeded pretty much every one of my expectations except for a couple of things. One of those was the inability to add my Gmail account to the mail app that I have found so convenient. I did some searching but my Google-fu wasn't strong enough to find a good resource on it. I did eventually figure it out, though, so I thought I would add it here in hopes that I can help as many people as possible find a fairly complete set of instructions.
As always, input and feedback is welcome!
I'll stat by saying that I did this with a Surface Pro running Windows 8 64-bit. I don't know whether it is the same for RT or desktop Windows 8 users, but I would guess that it is. Just a guess though. I will attempt to add any discrepancies that I can predict within these steps, but if there is a mistake, hopefully someone can correct me.
Step one: Go to https://mail.google.com. Log in if needed and click on the ‘gear’ icon in the top right corner. From the dropdown box, select ‘Settings’. Click on the ‘Forwarding and POP/IMAP’ tab near the top. Scroll down to the ‘IMAP Access’ section and select the ‘Enable IMAP’ radio button. Scroll to the bottom and click on ‘Save Changes’.
Step two: Go to https://accounts.google.com. Log in if needed and click on the ‘Dashboard’ on the left side of the screen. Click on ‘Authorize Account Access’. Sign in (again). Scroll down to ‘Application-specific passwords’. In the ‘Name’ field, enter the name of your Surface which can be found under Control Panel -> Systems. *Side note, I don’t know if it is required that the name of your Surface matches the ‘Name’ field, but I made sure they were the same just so everything was nice and neat.* Click on ‘Generate password’. Note the password that was generated.
Step three: Open up the Mail app. Swipe in from the right and click (or if you are using Windows 8, otherwise access) ‘Settings’. Click on ‘Accounts’; click on ‘Add an account’; click on ‘Other account’. Select the ‘IMAP’ radio button and click on ‘Connect.’ On the next screen, click on ‘Show more details’. Populate the subsequent fields:
- Email address: Enter your full email address. For example, [email protected]
- Username: Again, enter your full email address. For example, [email protected]
- Password: Enter the password that was generated in Step two. For example qwerasdfzxcvpoiu *Side note, I entered the password without spaces. I haven’t experimented with leaving the spaces in (e.g. qwer asdf zxcv poiu) so your experience may differ if you do.*
- Incoming (IMAP) email server: Enter imap.gmail.com
- Incoming (IMAP) email server port: Enter 993 *Side note, I am not tech-savvy enough to know if this number will change depending on user, but that number is what auto-populated for me, and from what I have read online, that seems to be the number used for anyone.
- Outgoing (SMTP) email server: Enter smtp.gmail.com
- Outgoing (SMTP) email server port: Enter 465 *Side note, again I am not certain if this number should be changed for anyone else. This was the number that was auto-populated for me, but the information I have found has produced one other potential number: 587.
Check on for all the options. They should be: ‘Incoming server requires SSL’, ‘Outgoing server requires SSL’, ‘Outgoing server requires authentication’, and ‘Use the same username and password to send and receive email’.
Finally, click ‘Connect’ at the bottom.
There you have it, your Gmail account should be added to your Mail app.
