# A web-based email account to rule them all. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129 "2007-06-23T15:27:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/1 "2007-06-23T15:27:04Z")
I have many email accounts, and although some can be accessed from the web I need something where all my emails, sent and received are kept in an online account. It’s sort of like gmail, but the other way around. I am sorry if I can’t explain myself better. Hopefully somebody will understand what I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/2 "2007-06-23T15:43:30Z")
Do you mean that you want your email - across all your accounts - uploaded to a web-based account? If so, you can use Gmail for this. I haven’t used this [Gmail loader](http://marklyon.org/gmail/), but it might fit the bill. Note also that Gmail allows you fetch mail on an on-going basis from any Pop3 enabled account. Just look in Settings/account/add another mail account. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/3 "2007-06-23T18:48:09Z")
Say I have the following email accounts. [me@mightygirl.com](mailto:me@mightygirl.com), [myself@mightygirl.com](mailto:myself@mightygirl.com) and [I@mightygirl.com](mailto:I@mightygirl.com), where I own the domain [mightygirl.com](http://mightygirl.com). What I want is some sort of online thunderbird where all my emails, out and inbound would go and I can access them online, and most importantly that I can email people from each account individually as each is used for a different purpose. I don’t know if that’s a better explanation. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/4 "2007-06-23T18:52:48Z")
You can do that with gmail. It will let you send outgoing mail as any address you have access to, and you can use forwards or POP3 to access other accounts. And you can sort stuff into folders (or “labels” in gmail-speak) based on the to-address.) ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/5 "2007-06-23T19:34:08Z")
I agree with the comments above as to gmail’s ability to send mail back under varying addresses. I used gmail for that purpose when I was away from home on business recently – worked brilliantly. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/6 "2007-06-23T19:36:29Z")
I am not sure if Outlook Express can do this but with OUtlook you have the capability to look at more then one mailbox for an account ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/7 "2007-06-23T20:06:59Z")
[QUOTE=ChrisBooth12] I am not sure if Outlook Express can do this but with OUtlook you have the capability to look at more then one mailbox for an account [/QUOTE] But Outlook isn’t an online email account. I think that’s what **Mighty\_Girl** is after. ---
**Author:** ![SoCalled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@SoCalled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoCalled)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/8 "2007-06-23T20:49:13Z")
A less well known alternative to Gmail is fastmail.fm. It has worked well for me for the past several years; there is a one-time fee of $15 for a new account. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/9 "2007-06-24T00:56:38Z")
What ISP hosts [mightygirl.com](http://mightygirl.com)? Have you asked them if they have webmail? ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/10 "2007-06-24T01:11:09Z")
**ZipperJJ** , yes, there is a webmail, but I also have half a dozen accounts and would have to check each separately. On top of it there is a spam filter but it doesn’t catch everything (although most of it gets caught server-side) so I have to go through hundreds of pages to find a non-spam message. I need to consolidate all my emails in one account, sort of like an online Thunderbird. ---
**Author:** ![fisha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@fisha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fisha)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/11 "2007-06-24T01:22:10Z")
Go to gmail, go to settings, go to accounts. ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/12 "2007-06-24T03:32:52Z")
I do precisely the same thing using gmail. Hundreds of email addresses\* all forward to my gmail account, and I have it set up so I can send mail from the three or four addresses I care to send mail from. The only problem with it is that some mailing lists’ unsubscribe method involves sending an email _from_ your account with the word ‘unsubscribe’ in the subject. I can’t easily unsubscribe from those lists because again, only my major accounts are on the ‘send from’ list. \*Like **Mighty\_Girl** , I own a domain name, and use it to filter email: for every company I register with online, I use a modified version of [ThatCompanyName@MyDomain.com](mailto:ThatCompanyName@MyDomain.com) as my address. Then, if I get spam, I have proof of where it’s coming from. Individual email addresses don’t need to be created–if they fit into the schema just mentioned, they’ll go through to my gmail. ---
**Author:** ![jlitvak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@jlitvak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlitvak)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-web-based-email-account-to-rule-them-all/409129/13 "2007-06-24T13:00:21Z")
Though perhaps a little too “bithead” for most people, I used to use the Fetchmail utility in Linux to gather up all my e-mail, forwarding it to a single online mail account. A pain in the neck to configure but once I got it up and running it worked like a champ.