Gmail external email accounts: Mail Fetcher vs. Google Apps for your domain

Posted by Matt Thommes on September 18, 2008

Looking at the full headers for two emails sent to me, it's easy to notice the difference with emails sent from Gmail using Mail Fetcher, and emails sent using Google Apps for your domain.

Screenshot of email header

Screenshot of email header

The first screenshot is what you want to occur, if you're using Gmail for your domain. There is no indication that Gmail is handling the sender's email.

In the second screenshot, which uses standard Mail Fetcher, you'll notice the Sender field, which displays the Gmail address used to maintain the external email account. This is what you don't want, because some email clients (specifically Outlook) will show your incoming mail as:

real_email_address@mysite.com

on behalf of

gmail_address@gmail.com

This is poor branding, especially when your real email address is for your company, but you manage it in Gmail.

So I'd recommend using Google Apps for your domain whenever you'd like a complete branding experience for external email accounts. Mail Fetcher is handy, but not always the best choice since it doesn't completely hide your background management system.

About the author(s)

Matt Thommes is an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from a suburb of Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

Comments

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# Terry at 3/23/2009 12:27 pm cst

Am I correct in thinking there is a fee associated with Google Apps?

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# Matt Thommes at 3/23/2009 2:44 pm cst

There is a fee but only for the "Premiere" edition. There is also a free standard edition:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/editions.html

Hope that helps.

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# coffee at 5/5/2009 11:01 am cst

Thanks for the great tip. I've somehow always overlooked the regular edition.

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