Leaving Google: Switching to Zoho Mail

I made the big switch this morning. It went pretty well, with just a few snags. I am of course still in the process of changing over, but I feel confident in the setup.

Zoho has an extensive control panel which basically allows me to do everything I need. It has a great Mail Migration tool, I’ve set up Groups, I’ve got both my domains, I’ve set up email ActiveSync for mobile and IMAP for desktop. My email and contacts are syncing to my phone and laptop and I’m very happy.

I decided to go with only two email addresses: a personal and a professional one. I used to juggle between four, but I really didn’t need them. So now I’m routing all of my bills & services email to a folder within my personal box. I’ve paid $72 for the year for 2 boxes. What’s cool is that I can add as many domains as I’d like to the account and add email addresses at will to any domain.

The Control Panel is pretty well laid out though I think they need a little work on UX… I had trouble with a number of things:

• How to change my password (yikes)
• How to change the super-admin user
• How to suppress emails upon adding users to groups (looks like you can’t)
• Enabling Mobile & Imap delivery (you have to manually turn this on for each account)
• The purchase process is a bit janky
• All of the migrated emails download to Mac Mail with today’s date

However, I was eventually able to figure out everything I needed. So after 2 hours, I’m thrilled to be off Gmail. Hopefully I remain this happy…