How to make any email account behave like Gmail

Gmail has some great features, like the advanced spam filters and the way it organises your inbox into priority, social and promotional email.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have these features for your Yahoo, Hotmail and other email accounts? Well, you can. Thanks to the Gmailify feature in Gmail you can have all of your email in one universal inbox, with full access to all the features mentioned above. And here we’ll explain exactly how to get these Gmail features on any email account.

First, though, there are a few things to note. Gmail will scan your emails to determine how they are organised, so if you’re not happy to let Google have that kind of access to your data then you won’t want to use this feature.  Second, you can only link one other email account at a time with your Gmail account.

Finally, emails from the second account will appear intermingled with your Gmail emails, not as a separate account. That may be ok, but it also may not.

How to Gmailify email accounts on Android

To bring Gmail functionality to your non-Google account, you’ll first need to have the Gmail app installed and setup. Next, open the app and tap on the three in the top left corner then scroll down and select Settings. Tap Add account and choose your email service from the list that appears.

Follow the instructions to set up the account, including your login details, and when everything is completed, you’ll see a page with the heading ‘Less spam, more control’. Underneath this there should be the option to Try Gmailify. Tap this, select the Gmail account you want to link, then tap Next.

Gmail will now link the accounts and take you back to your inbox. To ensure that everything has worked as it should, go to Settings and you should see that under your Gmail account it should say ‘Linked with [your email account]’.

That’s it, you’re now free to enjoy the normal Gmail experience, only this time it includes any messages from your other account as well.

How to get Gmailify on iPhone

The method for adding accounts on the iOS version of Gmail is practically identical, with the slight difference that after opening Settings you need to tap on the arrow to the right of your username then select Manage accounts > Add account. After that, follow the steps outlined above to have your non-Gmail account linked with your Gmail account.

How to get Gmail features on an email account via the web version

To add an account via the web version of Gmail, go to your Gmail inbox, select the cog symbol in the upper right corner to open Settings then select See all Settings.

Click the Accounts and Import tab and look for a section called Check email from other accounts. In here you’ll see the option to Add an email account. Select this and enter the address for your non-Gmail account. A dialog box will appear with two options, from which you need to tick Link accounts with Gmailify then click Next.

Log into the account you want to add, then when you see the message ‘You’ve been Gmailified!’ click Close to finish the process.

Of course, Gmail isn’t the only email service that can offer interesting features and handle multiple accounts. So check out our guide to the best Gmail alternatives for some fine options.

Also, here’s how to redirect (or forward) email from an old address to a new one.