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Google Apps Gets Mail Migration, Dozens of New Features

Announcement
June 25, 2007

This week we’re adding mail migration to Google Apps, Google’s web-based platform for communication and collaboration. This is one of more than 30 features and updates to the service we’ve rolled out since February 2007 and is just another example of the power of hosted services to deliver updates and innovations to users quickly, without making them wait years for the next big scheduled upgrade.

We’re excited about the new mail migration feature because it will make it easier for organizations to get started on Google Apps Premier and Education Editions and give their old email new life – in many cases, that email is sitting in storage, covered with metaphorical dust and difficult to search. Administrators use a self-service wizard to easily and securely transfer existing email data from an IMAP server over to users’ Gmail accounts on Google Apps. Gmail will put messages into conversation threads, display the original sender, recipient, and date of messages, and convert existing mail folders into labels. Old messages are instantly searchable with Gmail’s fast Google-powered search. This tool currently supports email servers with an IMAP interface.

We’ve also been busy with some other updates that are either already available on Google Apps or will be available very soon:

  • Shared address book – Users who want to add colleagues to a new email or document no longer have to go to a separate list or company directory. Users can search through all the users on a domain by clicking the "Choose from contacts" link.
  • Google Docs & Spreadsheets charts – Number-crunchers will be happy to see that we’ve included the ability to create charts in a spreadsheet.
  • Increased Gmail attachment size – We made it easier to share more of those large presentations and files as attachments by doubling the allowable attachment size to 20 MB to make Gmail space even more useful.
  • Multi-user chats – Now users can invite multiple contacts into the same chat on the Google Talk gadget from their Start Page. This will be useful for small groups working on a document or other project together.
  • Google Docs & Spreadsheets refresh – Soon we’ll complete a visual overhaul of Docs & Spreadsheets that will make it much easier for users with dozens or even hundreds of documents to search, locate, and organize their documents.

Google Apps launched as a free service in August 2006 and includes Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Gmail email services, Google Calendar shared calendaring, Google Talk instant messaging and voice-over-IP, and the Start Page feature for creating a customizable home page on a specific domain. Please visit www.google.com/a for details on the product, local availability, partners and customers.

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