An updated version of this guide is listed on the Email Forwarding book page.
If you're like me, you can't stand Lotus Notes. I wrote this up on my personal blog, but here's a copy of it for those of you who aren't aware:
It's actually fairly easy to circumvent the Lotus Notes software completely if you want to. First, you need a free email account. Try Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, whatever. I use Gmail, but you can use any email address you want. Also, I will do my best to explain so that anyone can follow what I'm saying, but if something needs clarification, let me know.
There are 2 main steps with step-by-step instructions included:
- Set up your personal account to write like it's coming from your Lotus Notes account. (I don't know if this step works for other web-based email besides Gmail. Does anyone know? If not, skip ahead to 2nd bullet.)
- Log in to Gmail. Go to your Settings (top right corner of Gmail).
- Go to the Accounts tab (2nd). Next to "Send mail as:", click "Add another email address".
- Enter your Rush email address (e.g. Firstname_Lastname@rush.edu) when prompted. The click "Next Step". Then click "Send Verification" on the next screen. The next screen should contain a box to enter a confirmation code.
- Log in to your Lotus Notes email in a new browser. You should have an email from "Gmail Team", open it. Copy the confirmation code into the awaiting box in Gmail (or follow the instructions in the email).
- You should now see your Rush email listed on the Gmail settings page. Below this there is an option "When I receive a message sent to one of my addresses:", you may want to make this "Reply to same address the message was sent to". If you've never used this feature in Gmail before, please understand what it is. From now on, any email you send, you'll be able to choose who you want the email to be "From" (e.g. mynick@gmail.com vs Firstname_Lastname@rush.edu). It's a pretty cool feature.
- Create a "rule" that will forward any emails you receive from your Lotus Notes account to your personal email account (e.g. Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail).
- Log in to your Lotus Notes email and go to the "Mail" tab if you're not there already.
- Hover your mouse over the "Tools" menu (just above your list of emails on the far right) and click on "New Mail Rule". A new window should pop up (make sure you've allowed pop-ups for this page).
- Make a name for your rule (e.g. Fwd_to_gmail)
- Under "Create Conditions", click the first drop-down menu and select "All Documents" (you need to scroll down). Then click "Add>>"
- Under "Specify Actions", select "Send copy to" from the first drop-down menu. In the next empty box, enter your personal email address (Gmail). Make sure "Full" is selected on the bottom drop-down menu. Then click "Add>>".
- The following step is optional, but beneficial. Under "Specify Actions", you can tell Lotus Notes to delete the original message. To delete messages from your Lotus account once you've forwarded an email to your personal account, select "Delete" from the first "Create Actions" drop-down menu. Then click add. If you're worried that deleting is too final, you can always skip this step. (Another option would be to create an "Archive" folder which you simply move messages to after they've been forwarded, so your Lotus Notes inbox stays clean.)
- Click "Save & Close" at the top of your screen. Then go back to your inbox.
- Test it. Have someone send you an email to your Lotus Notes account and watch the magic :)
Some things you won't be able to do outside of Lotus Notes:
- Look up people's email addresses. I highly doubt there's a way to search the Rush directory from outside Lotus Notes.
Emailing the list-servs (maybe this is possible?). Update: This actually works from any email address.- Probably more things that I've forgotten.
UPDATE: You can also click on the document/attachment below to get a screen snapshot version of the above directions!
UPDATE #2: You don't need to be "invited" to get a Gmail account anymore as it states in the pdf below. Just go to gmail.com and click Sign Up.
UPDATE #3: These instructions stopped working for a few weeks last year. If they're not working for you, you can use the alternative method on the
Email Forwarding book page.
Comments
Thanks jonathan...mad
Thanks jonathan...mad useful:)
No problem ;)
No problem ;)
... with screen snapshots!
http://rmstudents.com/system/files/RushGmailv2_0.pdf
No invite needed
You no longer need an invite to sign up for Gmail. Just visit: http://mail.google.com/mail/signup.