Migrating to a new email address

After ten years of having to change email address whenever I’ve moved to a new Internet provider, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and get a single Gmail address that I’ll be able to take with me. The problem is, I’ve got around 60 contacts to tell about my new address. What’s the best way to do this without causing them (or me) too much disruption?

MARTIN OLDFIELD

There are two ways to help nudge people towards your new email address. The first is to ensure any replies you send to emails that have been delivered to your old address automatically go from your new address. With Gmail this is simple enough if you’re now using your web browser to collect your mail.

If you’ve not already done so, route your old email address through Gmail by clicking the Settings button and choosing Settings > Accounts and Import, then clicking ‘Add an email account’ under ‘Check email from other accounts’. This means all emails to sent to your old address will show up in Gmail and when you click Reply, Gmail is the account used to carry the conversation on going forward.

If you’re using a different email client – Mozilla’s Thunderbird, say – then assuming both accounts are set up, right-click your old account in the Folder Pane and select Settings. Simply enter your Gmail address into the ‘Reply-to’ address field and click OK.

If people persist in using your old address, go back to your old account’s settings in Thunderbird and add a signature gently reminding them to update their records. Tick ‘Attach my vCard to messages’ to create a virtual business card that email recipients can click to add your new address to their Contacts.

What’s most likely to be happening is that the MacBook Pro is trying to talk to your iMac due to their close proximity. That behaviour is extensively employed by the Continuity set of features; these are intended to make it easier for you to use multiple Apple devices together – for example, Handoff for moving a task from your iPhone to your Mac (or vice versa), and AirDrop for sending files or other info directly between devices, even when there’s no local area network available to facilitate this.