Most clients, on my advice, are using Gmail as their primary mailbox. There are many advantages to this cloud based email. So far so good. I just hope Google does not mess it up in the name of progress!
The most obvious advantage cloud based email has over traditional pc ‘local disc’ based email is to give the owner access to all their mail and addresses from any internet connected computer, tablet or phone.
I have come across too many problems with other common cloud based email systems such as Hotmail and Yahoo and avoid them like the proverbial plague.
Traditional email systems such as the very obsolete Outlook Express and its more professional version – Outlook, are quite dated and limited in their capability but, in the case of Outlook, still widely used in business.
I have a rather mischievous view that a lot of IT ‘Professionals’ make a healthy living out of some of these older, more complex systems. Who in their right mind would recommend Outlook and Exchange Server based networks to small organisations employing just a handful of people with limited computer skills, unsophisticated requirements and no on-site technical support? I digress…
Thunderbird and other PC based email software, largely following the Outlook model are still, in my view, better suited to yesteryear. I am a bit of a traditionalist and not easily swayed by new software but things are changing and generally getting better.
I have not found any software that adequately backs up Gmail to a local PC despite the claims and the sales hype. I have tried all of them and they all have weaknesses.
It is possible to use IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) to synchronise pc based email such as Outlook or Thunderbird with Gmail and this does work well in some circumstances but requires moderate technical skill and some effort on behalf of the user. Frankly, it is a bit of a hassle and life needs to be easier. Large numbers of ‘folders’ or ‘labels’ cause problems with IMAP.
Cloud based backup solutions work very well.
It is entirely logical to backup cloud based Gmail to another cloud based storage facility – cloud to cloud – secure and fully encrypted.
The best and easiest ‘paid for’ solution that I have found is ‘Backupify’. It works reliably and is not expensive, about £25 per annum for unlimited storage. I use it daily and have done for more than 3 years. Backup is automatic with no user intervention. Recovering email is simple and also works as expected. I have tested it thoroughly with 7GB of emails and attachments (more than 20,000 items) and successfully downloaded that backed up data to a local drive.
There are some free solutions which work extremely well for people with smaller storage requirements and I have clients using ‘SpinBackup’ very successfully – 2GB of free storage. If 2GB is too little, it costs around £20 per annum for 15GB.
Gmail is incredibly well resourced by Google and data loss is virtually unknown. The real risk is mistakes by the user (you!). Careless sharing of passwords, failure to take security seriously, finger trouble – deleting something and then regretting it or just hitting the wrong keys by mistake.
Getting locked out of an account is quite common, normally because the wrong password has been entered too many times. Account recovery options need to be put in place before this happens. I have never had an instance of Gmail failure, only the failure of a Gmail user.
Most of my clients entrust me with copies of their passwords and access codes which I keep in a very secure and encrypted form. This gives my clients a plan ‘B’ and someone to whom they can shout “help” if things go wrong. It is a level of trust that I take extremely seriously and something I am very proud of, thank you.