It all started with an innocent comment from a well-meaning friend. "All my Gmail gets downloaded into Thunderbird." Whaaaa? Email can do that? A few days later I sauntered over to Gmail and found out that yes indeed, not only can I download Gmail into my desktop email client (Outlook 2003, in my case), but it will synchronize emails and folders (or labels) in both directions! Why didn't anyone tell me?!
So I spent the weekend migrating all my email from Yahoo to Outlook, and it was as much of a misery as I expected it to be, mainly because I started out with some bad instructions. (Yet another reason not to believe everything you read on the internet.) As a result, I ended up learning more about email than I ever wanted to know.
First there is POP, Post Office Protocol, which the basic way to download email. Since Yahoo doesn't allow free POP access, I had to download a lovely little program called YPOPs to set up a proxy POP server to download from Yahoo into Outlook. (Still with me?) It worked like a charm once I figured out what settings to use (which took most of the weekend). It took a few hours to download my 4000 or so emails, but they all (eventually) arrived safely, and with their original dates and times, which was nice.
The key in this process is not to upset the delicate UIDL (Unique ID Listing) system which gives each email it's own number so it only gets downloaded once. Changing just about anything during the process scrambles the numbers and you end up getting the same emails twice. There are various useful options though, such as downloading only unread messages, downloading from certain folders, and either deleting or leaving the original messages on Yahoo.
That was really the only hard part because Gmail's IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) capability is a dream. Once you've configured your email client, messages and folders/labels get shuttled between it and Gmail instantly. I mean, scary instantly. So I just shuffled my freshly downloaded Yahoo emails into the Gmail folder in Outlook and voila!, there they are in Gmail. So now I can have a copy of all my webmail on my home computer, which was the point of going through this whole rigmarole. I should add that not all Gmail users have access to IMAP, for some mysterious reason, but it does provide free POP access that is probably much simpler than what I had to deal with. EDIT: I should also add that you have to tell your email client to download the full messages, and not just the headers, if you want a copy on your home computer. (Thanks, Paul!)
Now begins the arduous process of changing my email address all over the place. At least I don't have to worry about things falling through the cracks because I can leave YPOPs running and it will send me anything that arrives at my Yahoo account without my even having to go there. Nice. I'm also getting to know Outlook better. Though there are many things I like about Yahoo (it's the #1 webmail provider for a reason), Outlook has a dizzying array of useful and fun features, and no ads! It doesn't give me the same out-there-on-the-interwebs feeling that I get from using Yahoo, but I think I'll get over that. I will miss the emoticons, though. 
So, without further ado, I will tell you that my new address is islandbookworm at gmail etc. Now I think I will go set up a custom audio alert for all my blog comment emails. Technology can be fun... when it works!
