Microsoft’s Outlook.com sees Google’s Gmail as its biggest competitor, as well it should, and Redmond has decided to take the First National Bank route to convincing users to switch allegiances – namely by making the process easier.
The company has introduced a new feature for Outlook.com that takes the current switching process and makes it a lot simpler to achieve, allowing (soon-to-be) former Gmail users to import all of their mails from Google’s service while preserving their folder structures and read/unread status. The importing tool is possible thanks to Microsoft’s introduction of IMAP support for their webmail service and it’ll also allow for users accessing Google’s instant messaging service from within Outlook.com.
The process is begun in Outlook, where users will make most of their import choices before signing into their Gmail accounts and giving Microsoft’s tool permission to begin the transfer. Once it’s all done, Microsoft also guides users through setting up email forwarding from their Gmail accounts to their new online mailbox.
Microsoft says that the tool will take several weeks to roll out to everyone, so it might not be available just yet. In that case, “…if you don’t have access to it yet, check back soon.”
Source: The Verge