Cerb4 and Gmail

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Contents

Introduction

Gmail is Google's free, web-based e-mail service.

Cerb4 and Gmail aren't mutually exclusive; in fact, they compliment each other nicely. You can forward all your mail to Gmail and then download it using Cerb4.

Some benefits of downloading all your mail from Gmail first:

  • You get a secure POP3 (incoming) and SMTP (outgoing) mail server.
  • You'll automatically archive a copy of all your mail in Gmail. This is a great way to have a free live backup independent of your helpdesk.
  • If your helpdesk is inaccessible for any reason you can still temporarily read and reply to mail using Gmail.
  • Google *is* search. If you just need to find something quickly in your entire helpdesk e-mail history you can log into Gmail to do fast and flexible searches without burdening your helpdesk.
  • It's a great spam filter to reduce the amount of junk that makes it to your helpdesk. Accessing your Gmail through POP3 (from Cerb4) won't download messages that are flagged as spam. This means your helpdesk will waste less time downloading and processing junk mail. You can still train Cerb4's anti-spam functionality to catch the rest.
  • You can configure Gmail to send mail as your helpdesk address (support@example.com) rather than from your Gmail account. Your use of Gmail as a mail proxy will be transparent (other than in the e-mail headers).
  • Your whole team will actually read and reply to all your e-mail using Cerb4, which is much more optimized for a team environment. Your team won't need to share or log in to the Gmail account directly.

Sound good? The instructions below explain how to use Cerb4 and Gmail together.

Signing up for Gmail

If you already have a Gmail account that you'd like to use, skip ahead.

Configuring Gmail for use with Cerb4

Setting up the proper sender address

We want e-mail sent through Gmail's SMTP server to use your official domain and not your new example@gmail.com address.

  • Click "Settings" in the top right.
  • On the "Accounts" tab, click "Add another e-mail address" in the "Send mail as:" section.
    • Name: (enter your company name)
    • E-mail Address: (enter your helpdesk e-mail address, e.g. support@example.com)
    • Reply to: (enter your helpdesk e-mail address, if different)
    • Click 'Next Step'
      Adding an external e-mail address to your Gmail account.
      Adding an external e-mail address to your Gmail account.
  • Click 'Send Verification'
  • Enter the verification code you receive by e-mail
  • Make your official e-mail address your default address by clicking 'make default'
  • Set "When receiving a message" to "Reply from the same address the message was sent to"
    Configuring Gmail to send mail as your primary helpdesk e-mail address.
    Configuring Gmail to send mail as your primary helpdesk e-mail address.

Consolidating your other POP3 accounts

If you'd like your helpdesk to check multiple e-mail accounts, you have a couple options:

  • Redirects (recommended): You can set up your mail servers to redirect additional e-mail addresses to your Gmail account. Gmail will preserve the original headers (To/From) and Cerb4 will use them. This approach is recommended because you'll get all the benefits above (ongoing backup archive, anti-spam, etc).
  • Gmail POP3 Fetcher: You can also configure Gmail to download mail from up to 5 other POP3 accounts directly.
  • Cerb4 POP3 Fetcher: You can configure Cerb4 to download mail from any number of POP3 or IMAP accounts.

Configuring POP3 access for Cerb4 to use

  • Click "Forwarding and POP/IMAP"
  • In "POP Download" choose "Enable POP for mail that arrives from now on"
  • In "When messages are accessed with POP" choose "archive Gmail's copy"
  • Click the "Save Changes" button
    Configuring POP3 access for Cerb4 to use.
    Configuring POP3 access for Cerb4 to use.

Configuring Cerb4 to download your mail from Gmail

If you haven't installed Cerb4 yet

If you've already installed Cerb4, skip ahead.

When running through the installer, enter the following information at the appropriate steps:

General Settings

  • On the General Settings step, enter your "Helpdesk Default Sender"
    Enter your primary helpdesk e-mail account as your default sender.
    Enter your primary helpdesk e-mail account as your default sender.

Outgoing Mail

  • Under "SMTP"
    • SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
    • SMTP Port: 465
    • SMTP Encryption: SSL
    • SMTP Auth User: (your Gmail login)
    • SMTP Auth Password: (your Gmail password)
  • Click "Test Outgoing Mail"
    Enter Gmail's SMTP details for your outgoing mail server
    Enter Gmail's SMTP details for your outgoing mail server

If you have already installed Cerb4

  • Log in to your helpdesk as an administrator.
  • Click "Helpdesk Setup" in the top right.
  • Click the "Mail Setup" tab.

Incoming Mail

  • Enter your account information under "Add New Mail Server"
    • Protocol: POP3-SSL
    • Host: pop.gmail.com
    • Port: 995
  • Click "Test Mailbox"
  • If successful, click "Save Changes"
    Connecting your Gmail POP3 account to Cerb4
    Connecting your Gmail POP3 account to Cerb4

Outgoing Mail

  • Scroll down to "Outgoing Server (SMTP)"
  • SMTP Server: smtp.gmail.com
  • SMTP Port: 465
  • SMTP Encryption: SSL
  • SMTP Authentication: Enabled
    • Username: (your gmail login)
    • Password: (your gmail password)
  • Click "Test SMTP"
    Configuring Cerb4 to use Gmail's SMTP server
    Configuring Cerb4 to use Gmail's SMTP server

The last thing you need to do is configure Cerb4 to use your main helpdesk e-mail address as your default sender.

  • Scroll down to "Default Preferences"
  • For "By default, reply to mail as: (E-mail Address)" enter your primary helpdesk e-mail address (e.g. support@example.com).
    Setting up the default helpdesk sender address
    Setting up the default helpdesk sender address
  • Click "Save Changes"
Retrieved from "http://wiki.cerb4.com/wiki/Cerb4_and_Gmail"
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