Has anyone had a successful, pain free migration to Google Mail?

[essjay1]

Most people discussing the migration of Telus email to Google Mail are coming with questions and/or complaints.  This is unnerving as I contemplate initiating the migration.  It would be helpful to know how often the migration works seamlessly.  If ever. 😉

Has anyone had a successful, problem free migration to Google Mail?

[giantbrownguy]

Noticed you didn't get a reply. Likely not. The @telus.net email is tied to your account. They have no incentive to let you keep it if you leave. 

[giantbrownguy]

The service is set up through a corporate G-Suite system, so they are paying Google to run the @telus.net emails. It's not the same as the free gmail email accounts.

[BA2020]

Re: Telus regular Email changed to Telus Google Mail
We are a small business and have just been migrated from our very reliable MS OutlooK 10, including use of offline folders, many contacts, the ability to print in a letter format and actually be able to read the print with out a magnifying glass. No one has assisted or given actual one on one guidance with their transfer to Telus Google Mail. We do want to try to find apps that might help with printing or things like this. Still waiting for the promised transfer of contacts or how to connect to our many offline folders.
Spent many hours several times on hold to no avail. Now have read that there is no way to reconnect to the offline folders. As well another comment stated to get past tier one help - it must be paid for?!
Seems no one can assist - you are on your own! We can’t even get back into our previous MS Outlook 10 program on our own computer to at least go through our offline folders!
Please bring back the previous reliable system!!

[BA2020]

Please to note for BA2020.
I missed out the most important word in my post approx 8 hrs ago!
We DON’T want to try to find suitable apps that “might” be able to help with printing or email formatting or needed to open attachments, etc.
We do not have a lot of computer knowledge at all. We are not pleased.
We are now only receiving in box email to which google has already sifted through the inbox putting what they think is important to us into the inbox and rest into other folders - oops now called “labels”?! This pre-sifting of our mail should not be done at all it should be left up to the email user to decide what's important for themselves.
Still not able to get through to Telus as to finding contacts and help with offline folders. EGADS!!

[RonAKA]

@BA2020 

First off, I am not from Telus, and I am not sure anyone here is. We are just users of the Telus services in most cases. I am retired and not so young any longer either. I did not ask for this migration to Gmail either. But, it does have some advantages, but certainly comes with the pain of having to make changes. The up side is that you do not have to notify everyone that your email address has changed. 

On the print size for Gmail that is a common problem for new users. When you want to print an email make sure you use the Print Icon just to the right of the title of the email. See the icon highlighted in yellow in the snip below.

This icon will bring up a print preview page which will show you what the printed page looks like. If it is not filling the page as you like, then scroll down to More, and then to Scale. In the scale set it to Default. 

That is the simple part. Not having access to Outlook or your offline folders is more puzzling. If you created folders in Outlook and they were saved on the Telus server, then it will be Telus that has to give you access to them.

I have not used Outlook for 10 years or so, and cannot help you much with it. It appears that if you want to continue to use Outlook you have to download a file and do some setup to access the new Gmail account with Outlook. Here is a link that explains how to do it. You need to check you have a suitable version of Outlook before proceeding. Normally you select Help in your Outlook, and it will show you what version of Outlook you have. Here is the link:

Set up TELUS email on your computer using G Suite Sync for Microsoft® Outlook®

Hope that helps some,

[Oldislander]

I am not the least impressed with gmail and do not appreciate being forced to use it by Telus, particularly when the Telus technicians have no idea how to make the complete transition. Having said that I have downloaded Mac Mail and can now use the old Telus mail with all my saved mailboxes.

[BA2020]

Thank you for your support and information.
I have been on hold so much it is very frustrating. I am not computer savvy and especially don’t want to mess up the business email.

[BA2020]

Also wanted to add we are unable to even open our MS Outlook 10 program on the computer.It seems to be trying to connect to the Internet also. Did read that can change the program to work “offline“? then would be able to at least look at offline folders? - just not sure of anything!
Telus seems to have just migrated us all into their own type of delete folder - we are all in the “closed & done” folder.

[RonAKA]

@BA2020 

It seems like Outlook may be trying to connect to the old Telus account, and it needs to be set up to access the new Gmail account. Unfortunately I have not used Outlook for many years and I don't remember much about it, other than I was not happy with it, and made the change to Thunderbird. 

[lgartner]

My conversion was a nightmare. Every mail moved over to google however now my Outlook 2016 client will not recognize the imap google server and my contacts are totally messed up. I am an ex 20 year employee of Telus and understand IT pretty well. Telus "help desk" said wait 24 hours and see if it works...and its been 3 days and it still doesn't work on Outlook. Fair warning to others...this migration is not well planned. Back up your old info.

--------> I would also HIGHLY suggest that if you have not used your telus online webmail contacts as your primary contacts; that before you go through this migration that you delete every single contact inside of the telus webmail and then upload (import) the contact list that you do use regularly into the telus webmail......or else your contacts will be as messed up as mine.

[vangirl604]

My emails transferred over, but not my contacts, notes or calendar.

Also I cannot set up telus email in Outlook 365 on my laptop

[RonAKA]

@vangirl604 

Are you trying to set up Outlook using POP3 or IMAP? I recall seeing some posts indicating there are issues using POP3 and the new Gsuite Gmail. I set my Thunderbird up using IMAP and it worked fine. I previously had Thunderbird set up with POP3 on the Telus Server. However, I was scared off trying to do it based on the negative posts here. 

[essjay1]

@lgartner  @vangirl604 

For those having apparent issues with contacts, my experience might be of use. Google annoyingly has Contacts as an app unto itself, which you have to pick from the Apps grid.   After conversion, my contacts weren't visible in that app.  However, when I tried to compose a new message and entered the beginnings of a contact/addressee, I was presented with the pick list with the appropriate contacts listed.  That was evidence that they made it through the migration.  Coincidentally, a friend mentioned that her apparent problems with the migration had resolved when she shut down her computer that night and started up the next day.  Behold, the contacts were now listed in the Contacts app.  So, I tried the same thing.  I shut down and rebooted, and the Contacts appeared in the Contacts app.

This note may be too late to solve some people's frustration, but it might be of use to others.

[RonAKA]

Yes, with Google, mail, contacts, and the calendar are all separate apps. I don't particularly like that aspect, but I guess they must do it to keep the app size down?? That was what I like about Thunderbird. It had all functions in the one program. I pretty much have it back to that state, but it is a bit more complicated with Google and my iPhone in the picture. I now have Thunderbird contacts, Google Contacts, iPhone Contacts, and Ooma Contacts (VOIP) that I am trying to keep all in sync. It is still a bit of a work in progress... I guess what I have gained in this whole forced migration to Google is that I now have mail and a calendar on my iPhone. 

[sandmanbc71]

Note: you might need a cell phone to set up your Google account.

Well, I didn't get very far in the migration today. I used my work email for the alternate email required. I clicked the link and found the telus.net account. 

Next: "This device isn't recognized. For your security, Google wants to make sure it's really you." - the only option they provide is to send a security code to a cell phone, which I do not have. 

This does not make any sense either, how does sending a security code to an unregistered cell phone number help verify "it's really you"?

I will try and sort it out on my Chromebook at home tonight.

I know this is no longer a common issues, but my wife and I try and live cell phone free.

[Oldislander]

I have had similar issues. I avoid using Google mail and the only cell phone we have is for travel and it rarely gets used during the pandemic.

I installed Mac Mail on my iMac and my old Telus is working with all the mailboxes and saved data, which was not the case when we tried Google.

Telus let their customers down by switching before they had the ability to do so smoothly, which has not been the case as we have seen and heard.

John

[NFtoBC]

The process was to identify the cellphone number while logged into your Telus account, thus not an unregistered cellphone number. You then identify yourself with that cellphone. You will likely need to contact Telus directly to address this issue, as other credentials will be needed.

[sandmanbc71]

Yep, which means that this will not be a "pain free migration". Nothing like waiting for a real person at Telus support. 

It would have been nice if Telus had arranged for back-up security codes to be sent with the migration email sent to the alternate account.  This is Telus' lack of foresight rather than Google. My work IT did a similar migration and sent Google back-up codes and registered user phone #s (landline included) prior to the migration, so all went smoothly. No cell phones required.

These are all things Telus could have investigated prior to mandating this migration and sent a pre-migration survey to users to make sure everything would be addressed prior to migration.

[Oldislander]

FYI I tried to reply to your comment on Telus Neighbourhood as well as another post and it says that I have been “banned from the site”. I guess Telus does not appreciate customers criticizing them or revealing the truth about their incompetence.

John

[NFtoBC]

There has been a recurring error on the site today:
"The requested URL was rejected. Please consult with your administrator.
Your support ID is: 15275532863967274925"

This does not mean you have been banned. Telus bans spammers, delete vulgar posts (and repeated offenders) and posts which are wildly off topic. That's about it.

Clearly if you can post here, you have not been banned.

[Oldislander]

I was wondering about that…these are heading out via email. But, when I logged in I got a banned message with no explanation.