Getting set up with Google Apps
The first step is to create a new account at "Google Apps for Work" and enter the domain name for which you're moving the email handling to Google Apps.
Creating the "Admin" user
When you get to the form below, at (1) enter the email address you want to use when you log in, and receive emails. e.g. admin(at)your-domain.com might be a good choice as this account will have 'super user' access rights.
And at (2) enter your existing mailbox address - be it at Gmail or another ISP - where you are currently checking your email.
Verifying your domain and MX
This is the step where you need us to make some changes to the DNS for your domain. You will be prompted to add a 'meta tag', but below that you can "Choose a different method" where indicated below:
Select the option "Add a new TXT record to your domain" and send us the code that appears in the circled section:
Finally, we will need to update the MX records for your domain to tell that world that emails should now go to Google instead of to Chirp.
Again, send us the details from the circled section:
Until we have made these changes for you to the DNS for your domain your email will continue to flow through the Chirp mail server.
Now what?
Now all emails to your domain will come to your Google Apps for Work account where you can have one or more Gmail-like accounts, and one "Admin" user - yourself - with an overview of all user activity.
For each person in your organisation you need to create a "User" and assign them an email address. After that you can add email aliases ('info', 'webmaster', 'admin') as necessary to each user. You will be charged per User and not for aliases.
There are also options for importing their old mailboxes, and much, much more.
Pro Tips
- create one User account for each person in your organisation who needs to log in to check email, but don't create User accounts for functional addresses. They can be overlaid as aliases;
- to set up an alias with multiple recipients, you need to create a "Group";
- you can copy some/all past emails from your old email account, and configure the old account to redirect to the new one. Or you can leave your old account in place and set up POP3 access to let you check it from the new one;
- you can have http:// mail.your-domain.com / as an entry point for accessing emails - just tell us to set up the CNAME for you;
- additional domains can be added to your Google Apps account at no extra charge;
- In the Admin console some features (including Groups, Domains, and Data Migration) can be accessed by clicking "MORE CONTROLS" at the bottom of the Home screen;