How to Set Up Gmail Email on Windows Mail

Authored by: Support.com Tech Pro Team

1. Introduction

Gmail is very popular, free to use email service provider. This guide will help you setup the Windows 10 Mail program to access your email, rather than rely on the web interface.

Before You Begin:

Verify Password
Before setting up, take a moment to visit the web-based version of your email, and try to log in (sign out then back in if you need to). You will need to remember your password in order to complete setup.

Gmail and Windows Mail

2. Gmail Email Setup for Windows Mail

  1. Open Windows Mail, and select Add account.
Windows Mail

Windows Mail with Add account highlighted.
  1. Select Google from the list.
Add account with Google highlighted.
  1. Enter your Gmail email address, and select Next.
Connect to Google service with email and Next highlighted.
  1. Type in your Gmail password, and select Next.
Connecting to Gmail with password field and Next highlighted.
  1. Windows will ask permission to access your Gmail account, select Allow.
Gmail account permission with Allow highlighted.
  1. Enter your name as you want people to see it when you send them an email message, and select Sign in.
Add account with name entry and Sign in highlighted.
  1. An advertisement for the Outlook mobile app is shown, select Done.
Outlook mobile app ad with Done highlighted.
  1. Your mail will sync and display in Windows Mail a moment later. Windows Mail is all set up and ready to use!
Windows Mail with messages loaded.

3. Basic Use of Windows Mail

Windows Mail is a simple program to use, with the workflow going from left to right. What this means is you choose things on the left, then move a column to the right, choose something else, and move a column to the right to read or do something.

This guide will give you a brief overview of the three sections of Windows Mail, and the options in each one.

Menu Ribbon

On the left-hand side is the Menu Ribbon containing many of the major areas you may wish to visit when you are working with your Mail.

Windows Mail with Menu Ribbon highlighted.

Menu

Windows 10 Menu

Expands the menu with text descriptions, favorite folders, etc.

Windows Mail with Menu expanded and highlighted.

New Mail

New Mail

Allows you to compose a new mail message to someone.

Windows Mail with new mail message highlighted.

Accounts

Accounts

If you have multiple mail accounts, you can choose which account you are working with.

Windows Mail with Accounts menu highlighted.

Folders

Folders

Allows you to choose what folder of mail you are in, such as a subfolder in your Inbox for organization, or the Trash if you've deleted something on accident.

Windows Mail with Folders menu highlighted.

Mail

Mail

Microsoft considers Mail part of a suite of communication applications, this reminds you where you are.

Windows Mail main window

Calendar

Calendar

Open the Calendar app to organize appointments.

Calendar App

People

People

Open the people app to manage your Contacts.

Windows 10 People app

To-Do

To-Do

Opens the Tasks app to create to-do lists.

Microsoft To Do app

Settings

Settings

Change settings in the Mail program, such as customizing how often it checks for new mail, or the background image.

Windows Mail with Settings menu highlighted.

Messages Pane

Just after the Menu ribbon, you will see your Messages Pane, where you're shown a small icon (a picture if the contact has one, otherwise just their initials), the sender's name, the Subject, and the first little bit of the message itself as a preview. It's organized by date, and shows the time the message came in on the right if it was recently.

Windows Mail with Messages pane highlighted.

Items in bold haven't been opened yet. Normal items have been opened.

At the top are the following options:

Search

Search

Allows you to search through your messages.

Sync

Sync

Refreshes your messages, and checks-in any new messages right away.

Selection Mode

Selection Mode

Most useful when you want to delete a lot of messages, Selection Mode will let you put checks next to messages to select multiple pieces of mail, and either delete, move, copy, print, or any other "bulk" task to a bunch of messages at once.

In addition, when you move your mouse over any mail in this list, three other icons appear.

Archive

Archive

Move the message to the special Archive folder, so you can save an important message, but it won't be synced to your computer all the time, and won't show up in your inbox to get in your way.

You can show archived messages again by choosing Folders, then All Mail.

Delete

Trash

Moves the message to the Trash.

You can always access your Trash by choosing Folders, then Trash.

Flag

Flag

Allows your to flag a message so you know to look back over it later.

Composing and Sending an Email

Select the + from the Menu Ribbon, and the far-right pane will change to allow you to write an email.

New Mail


Windows Mail with New Message button and pane highlighted.

Generally speaking, you will need to put in the other person's email address for To, the Subject of your email, and then the body of your email. When you are done, select Send in the top-right corner.

Email composition pane with To, From, Body, and Send button highlighted.