How to Set Up a Google Workspace

Man dressed casually working on a laptop inside an office.

Google Workspace includes many helpful products for business owners, from chat and calendar features to email capability. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to set yours up. — Getty Images/PeopleImages

Despite being easy to use, Gmail — Google’s email service — is not always intuitive to set up. The steps for creating a business email for your company are relatively straightforward. But what if you have an existing, personal Gmail account that you wish to connect to your business account? Here are the steps for bringing all your email into one business Gmail inbox.

[Read more: Grow with Google: How Entrepreneurs Can Stay Organized to Grow Their Business]

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Step 1: Get started with Google Workspace

Google Workspace, formerly known as G Suite, is a full slate of products from Google designed to help your business collaborate and communicate. Google Workspace includes products such as iCalendar, Meet, Chat, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms and, most importantly, Gmail.

[Read more: 5 Productivity Apps That Will Keep You Organized]

If you’re new to Google Workspace, you can try it free for 30 days. Personal and professional users who don’t need a custom domain can use it for free indefinitely. However, if you want to use a custom email or any of the platform’s more advanced features, pricing starts at $6 per month per user. The most expensive tier, Business Plus, is $18 per user per month; for those with more than 300 employees, you’ll need to contact sales to learn more about Google Workspace for enterprises.

When you select “Get Started” on your pricing tier of choice, Google Workspace will lead you through the sign-up process. Fill in your basic information, including your company name, how many employees you have and your desired email address.

Step 2: Add your domain name

Next, Google Workspace will ask if you want to own a domain name. If you already have a website, then you will want your email domain to match the website domain. For instance, if your website is “www.yourbusiness.com,” then you will likely want your email domain to be “@yourbusiness.com.”

If you don’t have a domain yet, choose the option, “No, I need one.” Google Workspace will lead you through the process of setting up your domain or connecting your domain to your new Google Workspace account.

If you do not have a domain name, you will need to register your choice with Google Domains (a Google Workspace product).
If you do have a domain name, enter it when prompted. Google will walk you through the process of verifying your domain using your MX (mail exchange) records from your host, e.g., GoDaddy, Enom, Ionos, DreamHost, or another domain registrar.

Once you’ve selected or connected your domain, it’s time to register your email.

Establish a naming convention that you can use consistently across your business. For instance, maybe you choose your first name and last initial; or maybe you choose your first name and full last name @yourcompany.com.

Step 3: Create your email address

Next, choose an email address. This address will also be your Google username that is used across Google Workspace apps and services. Establish a naming convention that you can use consistently across your business. For instance, maybe you choose your first name and last initial; or maybe you choose your first name and full last name @yourcompany.com. Whatever combination you select, make it easy to understand and memorable for customers who want to get in touch.

Step 4: Pay for Google Workspace and open your account

Now, you can either select your free 14-day trial or share your payment information with Google to get started. Once you’ve completed the checkout process, you can begin to migrate information from your personal account to your business account.

Step 5: Connect your personal account

If you’ve never had a Gmail account before, you can skip these steps. But if you had a personal account with Microsoft Outlook, Gmail (e.g., [email protected]) or another webmail provider, you might want to migrate your data to Google Workspace.

First, set up your old email address to start forwarding mail to your new Google Workspace business inbox. Here are the instructions for setting up automatic forwarding:

On your computer, open Gmail using the account you want to forward messages from. You can only forward messages for a single Gmail address, not an email group or alias.
In the top right, click “Settings,” then “See all settings.”
Click the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
In the “Forwarding” section, click “Add a forwarding address.”
Enter the email address you want to forward messages to.
Click “Next,” “Proceed,” “OK.”
A verification message will be sent to that address. Click the verification link in that message.
Go back to the settings page for the Gmail account you want to forward messages from, and refresh your browser.
Click the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.
In the “Forwarding” section, select “Forward a copy of incoming mail to.”
Choose what you want to happen with the Gmail copy of your emails. We recommend “Keep Gmail’s copy in the Inbox.”
At the bottom of the page, click “Save Changes.”

To migrate your email from your Gmail inbox to your business inbox, Google offers a data migration service. Not only can this service migrate your emails, but it can also carry over your contacts and calendar. Note that there’s a separate process for migrating information from Microsoft Outlook, but like the data migration service, it’s relatively easy to follow the prompts.

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Published February 18, 2022