OK, I have been reprimanded by Samantha, one of my enthusiastic readers. She says that I have written about Gmail many times. This includes last week as well as over the years. She is correct. But she went on to explain I have never written about how a person goes about setting up a new Gmail account. She thought this could be helpful for some of her friends. I thought, “Well ‘Sam,’ I know I have done that already.” So, after searching over 1200 articles I have written since 2002 I found…she was correct.
So today we will look at how to set one up, which is pretty easy to do. Gmail is owned by Google and is free. Once you set up your account you will have access to many other features. This includes Google Docs which is a free office suite similar to Microsoft Office. If you want to see more of what you get, look at the starting page for creating your account at Gmail.com. Before you start the setup routine you can scroll down the page to find some of what you get.
So, let us take a very quick walkthrough on how to set up this amazing free offering from Google. Also, since you are here, online, reading DoubleClicks.info, I have made a video for you with an overview of the entire setup from start to finish. That video includes some things I did not mention in the writing here…so take a look below and see how it is done.
To start, go to Gmail.com and if you do not have an account you will get to a “Create Account” screen. If you have an account it will suggest you login to that existing account. At the “Create an Account” page you will have (at this time) several areas in which to click on the blue banners with those words in them. You may also choose one of three small dots in the middle of the page to view other things offered to you with this Google account.
Once you click a “Create an Account” link you will need to enter in some information. Like to start with, your first and last names. The second part is the hardest part but not due to the mechanics of how it is done. That is to pick a username for your Google account that will also be your Gmail email with “@gmail.com” added to it. Again, it is not hard to come up with a name but it is hard to find one that has not been previously used. If you want, yourname@gmail.com you can pretty much forget it. When I set up the video for DoubleClicks.info, I tried for my own name @gmail.com and it was already used. But it offered me a couple of alternatives like doyler1111@gmail.com. For the video I decided to be creative and made up “rondoylelikesapples.” However, I deleted that account right after I finished the video so it can no longer be used by me or anyone. Once an account is created Google shuts that name down forever…supposedly.
To finish setting up your account and begin using it, just follow the steps Gmail provides. After you find an acceptable name you will be finished in just a minute or two. And of course, you can also check my video directly below.
