Tech Bits - Reading AOL mail in GMail

In the way of full disclosure, I've had an AOL account for almost 20 years now. I began back in the days when it was $10 a month and was dialup access only. Back in those days, you'd dial into AOL and have access to, well, AOL. It had a build in browser for going to the rest of the web but it wasn't the intranet. It was AOLs portal. It wasn't browser based either. You installed an AOL client on your PC that would be updated from time to time. It was the worlds largest internet walled garden.

Back in those days AOL was a powerhouse that actually bought Time Warner. This turned out to be a bad move for Time Warner as the cable companies made it easier and easier to purchase cheap high-speed internet access. The AOL pricing model collapsed causing Time Warner to spin off AOL in 2009 to leave the sinking ship to its own devices. AOL has since adopted the Yahoo model of being a web portal with exclusive content and email.

And here I sit with my old AOL account that I still use for family matters.

I've used GMail since the beginning and like the interface a great deal. I have several account linked to it from various smaller sites so I decided to take the plunge and have it handle my AOL email as well. The method for this is fairly simple.

Go to the Google Gear in the upper right of the screen inside GMail. Select Settings.

From the new window, select Accounts and Import.

Look for two links:

1. In the 'Send Mail As' section click on Add another email address you own and follow the wizard.
2. In the 'Check mail from other accounts' section, do the same for Add a POP3 mail account you own.

At this point GMail will begin importing your AOL messages. In my case, I had thousands. There is a problem, however: all the messages come in as unread. There is a solution to this but it is far from obvious.

Once your messages have arrived from AOL, to the the email search box at the center of the main GMail screen and type is:unread. This puts a filter on your email showing you only the unread items. 

Go to the check box control in the upper left of the screen and select all.

Once you do this you'll get a link above the email list that reads 'Select all conversations that match this search'. Select this and then, in the 'More' drop-down, mark all as read.

Presto, you have all your old AOL mail available in GMail.