Email Migration from Google Apps to Zoho: IMAP, labels, filters, contacts
I have successfully completed my migration from Gmail to Zoho Mail - the cornerstone of my GooglePlusStrike - and I have some observations to share. First up, a note about contacts. While Zoho has a built-in contact import from Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail, the import didn't work with my Google Apps account. I tried several times without success. I don't know what the problem is, but I solved it by manually exporting my contacts from Google as a CSV file and then uploading the file to Zoho. Unfortunately, all of my contact photos are gone now, as are all my Groups. Losing the photos is a minor annoyance, but losing Groups is a much bigger annoyance. It makes me realize yet again how under-developed contact management apps are in general, and how much we need a better way to exchange contact information. Feel free to chime in on the topic of contact management in the comments below. I'm most interested in open source solutions.
The Filter function is one of my favorite things about Gmail - it really helped me organize my messages. While Gmail allows you to export your Filters, it does so in a XML file format. Zoho can only import filters in .dat format. So, I must start all over again with Filters in Zoho mail. On the one hand, it's an inconvenience. On the other hand, it presents an opportunity to rethink my overall email usage strategy.
Gmail rather famously encourages you to archive mail rather than deleting it. Since Gmail gives you a lot of storage, it's a persuasive argument. But is it really necessary or useful to keep every message you ever send or receive? It's probably more useful to Google than it is to you. Since Google scans all Gmail for keywords, a larger data set presents an opportunity to build a more detailed AdWords profile of the Gmail user.
One of the cool things about Gmail is the way it uses Labels instead of Folders. You can attach multiple Labels to a single message. Contrast that with the alternative of placing copies of a single message in multiple folders. Labels are just more elegant.
IMAP sees Gmail Labels as Folders. Here's where things begin to get complicated. IMAP basically reverses the elegance of the Label concept, by putting a copy of the message into each Folder it creates for a Label.
Zoho can import email from external accounts, using IMAP or POP. I chose IMAP, mostly because I prefer IMAP "push" on my Android device. In retrospect, POP might have been a better choice for migration, and here's why.
Zoho uses a mixed approach of Folders and Labels. But my messages, imported by IMAP from Gmail, did not get tagged with Labels in Zoho. Instead, they went into Folders that are named with the names of the Gmail Labels that were attached to the email messages. Consequently, every Gmail message which had more than one Label attached to it, was copied into multiple folders. So if a message had three Labels, now separate copies of it are sitting in three different Folders.
This is not elegant. It is not an efficient allocation of storage. It's also not an effective way to organize conversations.
So, I have been going through each Folder, and doing some housekeeping. Creating new Filters, creating new Labels, deleting duplicate messages. I'm a fast reader, but this is a lot of work. I think that if I had chosen POP instead of IMAP, I would at least have avoided the duplication problem.
However, there is a positive side to this situation. As I review all my email messages, I am realizing just how much unnecessary junk was in there. I'm also realizing just how much of my email is near-spam quality. Newsletters, Facebook Groups, email lists. Why does it make more sense to have Gmail "smart labels" filter out this junk, than to just delete it or unsubscribe? Does it perhaps serve Google's interests to retain this stuff for keyword analysis? I certainly don't need it.
Since I'm on the topic of near-spam, sometimes called "tofu," let me digress for a moment to <RANT> talk about the unholy devil-spawned "new" Facebook Groups. Between Gmail "smart labels" and my own filters, I had set up a system in Gmail where most of the unconscionable spam-drivel of Facebook Groups was intercepted before it got to my Inbox. But enough of it still got through, to inspire me to write a post entitled Group Spam Is Facebook's MySpace Moment. Well, migrating to Zoho pulled back the curtain on this can of worms. There were THOUSANDS, yes THOUSANDS of Facebook Group messages squirreled away in my smart label folders! I could say more, but will summarize it with two words: ₣U€₭ THAT!!!!! I have permanently deleted my Facebook Profile. Failbook can suck it. </RANT> (Note: currently my Facebook Page is still up, because it hasn't been spamming me.)
So, going forward, what have I learned about email? It doesn't take much - if any - more time to click Unsubscribe than it does to create a filter for crap messages. Delete is not a bad thing, as long as you use it wisely to get rid of junk. Archive should be used for messages that actually have some value; not as a substitute for Delete. Failbook sucks even more than I had realized when I was using Gmail.
When was the last time you audited your email? Maybe you should, and if you use Gmail you might want to ask yourself if it really makes sense - for you - to "remember everything" that ever passed through your email account.http://www.thegeniusfiles.com/email-migration-from-google-apps-to-zoho-imap
