This documentation page covers transferring E-mail from a Whitman account to a Google Gmail account.

Preparation

First log into Whitman Webmail ( http://webmail.whitman.edu) and delete all the messages you do not need to save. This will make things easier to transfer and decrease the time taken for the transfer of emails from your Whitman account to Gmail.

Creating a Gmail account

Go to https://www.gmail.com and create a new account.  If you already have an account, login and skip to the next section.

1. Click on the Sign Up for Gmail link in the bottom right corner of the page.
2. Fill out the sign up form and when you have filled everything out completely and read through the Terms of Service, Program Policy, and the Privacy Policy, click the I accept. Create My Account button at the bottom of the page.
3. You should see a screen that says congratulations on creating your account.
4. Click the I’m ready – Show Me My Account link in the top right.  

Backing up Whitman Email

1. Once you are at the main Gmail screen, click on the Settings link in the top right corner of the screen.
2. Click on the Accounts tab.
3. Under the section titled Get Mail From Other Accounts click the Add another mail account link.
4. Another small window should pop up. In the Email Address box, enter your Whitman email address ( yourusername@whitman.edu). Click the Next Step button.
5. In the Username box, enter your Whitman username (your username is the part of your email address that comes before the @ sign). In this case it would be yourusername.
6. In the box titled Password box, enter your Whitman email password.
7. In the box titled POP Server, enter securemail2.whitman.edu if you are a student or securemail.whitman.edu if you are faculty or staff member.
8. In the Port box, enter 993.
9. Check the leave a copy of retrieved messages on server box.  This will keep a copy of your emails on the Whitman servers and also create one directly in Gmail.  This will allow you to try again if your first attempt at transferring your emails fails.
10. Check the always use secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail box.
11. Next check the Label incoming messages box and click on the drop-down menu and select New Label. Type in a label the will help you remember where these messages came from (e.g. Archived Whitman Mail).
12. If you wish the messages not to show up in your inbox so you will have to click on the label to view them, check the Archive incoming messages (skip inbox) box.
13. Confirm that all of your settings are correct:
14. Click the Add Account button
15. Check the No button when asked if you want to be able to send mail from this account.
16. Click the Finish button
17. You will be back at the gmail Settings page and you should be able to see your Whitman email account listed under Get mail from other accounts area.
18. Directly underneath the title of your Whitman account, you should see a message labled Checking Mail. Make sure you wait for this process to complete and do not navigate away from the settings page until the message under Whitman account changes to the time that the account was last checked.
19. Keep in mind that depending on the number of messages in your account, this process may take a long time.  Be patient, especially if you are on dial-up or a slow network connection.
20. You can go back to the Settings page and click on the Accounts tab and then click on Check Mail Now link under your Whitman account at any time to download any new messages that may have arrived in your Whitman account. 
21. For those who have recently graduated don't forget that your email account, along with your netFiles access, expires about one year after your graduation date.

Viewing your messages

When you are at the main Gmail page, click on the name of the label you entered during step 11 above. This is under the Labels section on the left hand side of the page down past the list of all your Gmail folders.  By selecting Labels you will be able to see your Whitman account emails.