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How To Backup Your Email in Seconds

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We sometimes act like our email is a permanent resource for us to keep some of our most valuable information.

The problem?

There are SO many ways you could potentially lose access to your account.

Perhaps you work in sales, and your history and contacts are extremely important to you. But if you change companies tomorrow, you could lose everything.

Hackers are everywhere too, and they often target Google accounts, as we’ve been reminded again recently.

This is why you should consider creating a backup for your emails in case something ever happens. Once you set it up, you’ll feel a whole lot better.

Here’s what to do in 3 simple steps:

1. Download “Save and Backup My Emails”

Go the Chrome Store and download cloudHQ’s Chrome extension Save and Backup My Emails.

2. Click on “Backup all emails”

After you installed “Save and Backup My Emails”, a button should appear on the top of your inbox main home page called “Backup all emails”.

Click on it.

3. Download your Emails

cloudHQ will start saving all of your emails in PDF format to make it easy for you to search through them when you need to. This also includes any attachments or conversation threads, too- so it’s a really thorough solution.

You’ll get an email from cloudHQ when we’re done saving all of your emails to PDF (usually a few minutes to a few hours depending on how many emails you have) , where you can download them to your USB key or your computer’s hard drive, and actually have the satisfaction of knowing that your information is literally in your hands.

Having an Email Backup Keeps You in Control

I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to keep your emails in a separate location than your inbox.

Creating a backup of your emails will keep you in control if:

  1. You leave your job
  2. Your name changes (through marriage, divorce, etc.)
  3. You switch email hosting services and need a new account
  4. You upgrade to a hosted email address instead of using a free “@gmail.com” email
  5. You get hacked and need to delete your old account

All of this can be done in just 2 clicks using the Save and Backup my Emails extension and completing the instructions above.

 
Save and Backup My Emails

Get Text Alerts for Urgent Emails

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Almost every productivity expert will tell you not to keep your inbox open all day. And yet, until recently, I couldn’t help myself.

Here’s me, killing my own productivity by keeping Gmail open in a Chrome tab behind my work:

Gmail Tab Killing My Productivity

Why? Because there are people I want to answer as soon as possible when they send emails.

I could use notifications, but I find those annoying. I don’t want a popup for newsletter, bank statement, and marketing offer I get every day.

So, I kept a tab open and obsessively checked it whenever I saw a had a new email—which (I know) is hardly better for my productivity.

That is, until I started using automatic text alerts from the important people in my life.

Text Alerts for Important Emails

Here’s what I use now:

 

It’s perfect for what I need. It’s also free to use for anyone with a Gmail account. Now, any time my boss sends me an email, I get a text alert letting me know. I have several other alerts programmed as well—one for all four of the people I need to answer ASAP when they write.

How to Set Up Text Alerts in Gmail in 2 Steps

Here’s how to set up text alerts for your important emails in Gmail.

Step 1: Install Send Your Email to SMS (Text)

Start by adding the Send your email to (SMS) text extension from the Chrome Web store. It only takes a moment to install.

Step 2: Set Rules for Your Text Alerts

Click the SMS Notifications button in the top menu:

Gmail button in top menu

Then set the rules for when you’ll receive text alerts. In this example, I’ve told Gmail to send me a SMS text alert for all emails from Naomi:

Gmail set alerts

You can add as many rules as you like. You can also make the notification dependent on keywords in the subject line (e.g. “Urgent”).

That’s all it takes. Now, any time you receive an email from one of your important contacts, you’ll get an instant text alert letting you know.

When to Use Text Alerts

Most emails don’t require a quick response. But for emails from a:

  • Boss
  • Prospect
  • Client
  • Customer
  • Partner
  • Investor

Those are all perfect people for whom you might use text alerts.

Keep Your Productivity High

Whatever your role, SMS text alerts are a simple way to improve both your productivity and your responsiveness for the people that matter.

Send your email to SMS (text) is free to install for anyone with a Gmail account.

Get Send Your Email to SMS (text)
 

It’s new, it’s free, it’s Auto BCC! (for Gmail, that is.)

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Your assistant keeps you sane. But it’s sometimes difficult to keep her in the loop.

You try to BCC her on emails (everything but your personal ones), so she can keep track of what’s happening. But when you get busy, it’s easy to forget.

Wouldn’t it be great to automate this? If your email just knew to copy your assistant on all work-related emails?

Today we’re pleased to announce the release of Auto BCC for Gmail, a tool that will do just that.


It’s the latest addition to our growing library of free and low-cost Google Chrome extensions.

If you’re a supervisor, manager, executive, or assistant, this one’s for you.

How Auto Bcc for Gmail Works

With Auto BCC, you can configure Gmail to automatically CC or BCC another email address any time you send emails:

AutoBCC button

 

You can set as many rules as you like—with a variety of options:

Set rules for AutoBCC for Gmail

That’s all there is to it.

Once you set a rule, it will run in the background, automatically adding a CC or BCC email using your criteria.

3 Situations Where AutoBCC Is the Perfect Tool

Here are three situations where Auto BCC for Gmail might be the perfect tool for you:

1. For Bosses

If you’re a boss, manager, or executive, Auto BCC is a simple way to keep team members “in the loop.”

You may need your admin to keep a detailed log of all communications with certain customers, for example.

Or you may want to BCC your second in command any time you deal with a specific person in another department.

Auto BCC can do this automatically. It can also prevent you from having to remember the CC or BCC every time.

2. For Assistants

If you’re an assistant, you may need to keep your boss informed when you send emails on his or her behalf.

Using Auto BCC, you can BCC your boss on every email you send—or just emails to certain people.

3. For Training

If you’re in charge of training others on your team, you might want to keep an eye on how they handle themselves by email.

This is especially important in sales or support roles, where the new employee will send emails to customers on a regular basis.

Are they following the script? Are they professional?

Since you’re getting a copy of the emails, you’ll be able to keep an eye on things.

Free for Anyone Using Gmail

Enforce your standards. Inform your boss and team members. And protect yourself from unexpected complications.

With Auto BCC for Gmail, you can rest assured that whoever needs to have a copy of your email, does.

Auto BCC for Gmail can be installed in seconds. It’s also 100% free for anyone using Gmail.

 

Get Auto BCC

5 Quick Tips for Perfect Video Emails

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It’s now incredibly easy to create and send video messages directly from Gmail.

All it takes is the free Video Email Chrome extension.

Once you’ve set up the extension, here are five quick things you can do to ensure your video looks and sounds great.

1. Use a Good Microphone

In a pinch, you can use your computer’s built-in audio pickup. But for better sound quality, you’ll need a microphone.

If you’re using a Mac, the microphone embedded in Apple’s standard EarPods (the ones that come with an iPhone or iPod) is surprisingly good and can give you excellent audio for a video:

cloudhq_blog_perfectvideo_1_airpods
 

The earbuds from most other smartphones also have mics that can be plugged into your computer. Just be sure to check that they work with your computer before you start recording.

You can find a variety of dedicated microphones on Amazon. A top-quality podcasting mic will cost you $100 or more, but even a simple $20 lapel mic can significantly improve the audio quality of your video.

2. Get the Right Light

Check the bulbs in the lamps and light fixtures around your webcam. You probably have something called “soft white” bulbs.

Those “soft white” bulbs aren’t ideal. They’re actually slightly yellow—which will make you look slightly yellow in your video.

What you want is natural light from a window or “daylight” light bulbs.

These are available on Amazon or at any retail or hardware store for the same price as regular light bulbs.

To get the best light, use two lights at eye level behind your webcam, so the lights are shining on your face. That’s the best way to get flat, even light with no shadows.

You don’t need professional lights for this. I use two simple desk lamps that look like this, which I picked up at Home Depot for $15 each:

cloudhq_blog_perfectvideo_1_desklamp
 

If you have a window that can provide some natural light for the video, that’s a great option too.

3. Check the Background

Video Email will show you a preview of your face and your video background before you click “record.”
Make sure the background is free of anything distracting.

People moving, bright lights behind your head, or a sloppy, unorganized background will disrupt viewers as they watch your video—and that’s never a good thing.

Videobackground
 

4. Write a Quick Outline

You don’t need a full script for your video email.
Part of what makes Video Email great is you can open an email, record a video, and send it in just a few seconds—without much prep required.

But you should at least have a quick outline of what you want to say.

I use a half sheet of paper, which I place on my keyboard recording. That way if I get lost for a moment while recording, I can glance at the outline to get back on track.

It also helps make sure I’m not missing anything.

5. Look at the Camera (Not the Screen)

Done right, a video message creates a feeling of increased connection through eye contact, an indicator of confidence and one of our most powerful body language cues.

That’s why you should lock your eyes on the camera when you record your video—and resist the temptation to look at yourself on the screen.

I’ll sometimes even cover up my screen, just to ensure I keep my gaze level on the camera. This can be especially helpful on laptops (like my MacBook Air)—where the webcam is less than an inch above the screen.

Practice Makes Perfect

Our best advice if you’re new to video email?
Practice makes perfect.

Send a few videos to friends or co-workers to practice the process and fine tune your setup.

That way—when you send video emails to customers, clients, partners, or anyone you want to impress—you’ll be comfortable in front of the camera and ready to record a high-quality video, every single time.

 

Video Email for Gmail
 

Be Massively More Productive with Email

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“You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” —Peter Drucker

You probably have no idea how much time you spend on email.

That’s because you almost certainly don’t track it.

If you’re a boss or an employee, that’s time you’re wasting on a task that’s known to ruin productivity.

If you’re a freelancer or contractor, it’s even worse because that lost time is billable.

New Tool: Gmail Time Tracker

Whether you’re a boss, an employee, or a contractor, we have a new tool that can help you manage your inbox.

To use Gmail Time Tracker, just install the free Chrome extension, which only takes a moment.

Once installed, open Gmail, then read and write emails as usual. Gmail Time Tracker will run in the background, tracking your time and activity as you work.

To check your stats, just click the timer in in the upper right corner of your browser, and export to Excel or .csv file.

 

3 People Who Need Gmail Time Tracker

Here are three people who would benefit immediately from Gmail Time Tracker:

1. Supervisors

The average knowledge worker now spends over 20 hours a week managing email. If you’re a boss, is that really how you want your employees spending their time? Have them install Gmail Time Tracker and show you their reports. If they’re spending too much time on email, you can take steps to correct the problem.

2. Employees

If you want to be the most productive employee in your office, use Gmail Time Tracker to control or reduce the time you spend on email. You can also use the tracker if you’re overloaded and need help. The reports are an easy way to show your boss just how much time you spend on your email every week.

3. Contractors and Freelancers

It’s so easy to not bill for the time you spend on communication. Gmail Time Tracker will automatically show you how much time you spent on email from every sender, making it easy to bill each client for the time you spent on email.

Reclaim Control of Your Inbox

You can’t escape email, but you can stop it from controlling your life.

Gmail Time Tracker will give you the visibility you need to help prioritize the time you spend on your email communication.

 
Get Gmail Time Tracker

Do You Want a Personal Copy of Your Emails?

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When you have emails in your inbox that you need to save together as a personal copy like:

  1. Emails from the IRS
  2. Changing jobs
  3. Emails from a customer for archiving

Whatever it is, here’s how to safely save your emails with just one click.

New Tool: Save My Emails

Save My Emails is the latest addition to our growing library of free and low-cost Chrome productivity tools.

Installing it only takes a moment, and with one click, you can backup any email in your Gmail account.  All you need is a USB keychain or your computer’s hard drive to download them to.

Using Save My Emails

Here’s how to install and use the Save My Emails extension:

Step 1: Install the Extension

Install the Save My Emails Chrome extension, which is free from the Chrome web store. It only takes a moment to install.

Step 2: Select the emails you want to save

Go to your Gmail and select the emails you want to save.

Step 3: Click the “Save My Emails” button

Click the “Save My Emails” button. That’s all there is to it.

You’ll get an email when we’ve done copying them all for you in PDF, CSV or MS Excel format. Then you can download them onto your USB drive, or your computer’s hard drive. Here’s a 60-second video of Save My Emails in action:

Experts estimate that 1 in 5 businesses will be hacked at some point this year.  Among hackers, email is one of the top targets. In March, for example, a hacker was asking $450 for a file that contained credentials for over 20 million Gmail and Yahoo! accounts.

Though less common, network outages and server failures can also wipe out your email storage.

For all those reasons, it’s vital that you have important emails backed up somewhere safe. Now you can do that with just a single click.

 
Save My Emails

How to Use Video for the Easter Holidays

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We’re celebrating both Easter and Passover this week at cloudHQ. As we often do, we’re busy creating holiday messages for friends, family, and important clients.

Our CMO Naomi, in particular, has a tradition of sending emails to friends and family this time of year.  This year, however, she’s not writing emails. She’s recording videos using our new Video Email Gmail extension.

“It’s so easy, why wouldn’t I send videos?” she told us earlier in the week.

Video Email Is Perfect for Deeper Connections

Text can only feel so personal. It does a bang up job most of the time, and a decent-ish job when done right.  But video is on a whole other scale of its own. Check these stats out:

When you include a video in an email, you have 80% more chance of a conversion.

That’s on top of a 300% higher open rate.

Why is that? You create a more meaningful connection hitting on senses that are visual, and audio simultaneously. When you can hit more senses at once, you’ll reach your desired goal in a much faster way, with much more emotional attachment.

Whether it’s just to say “Hi” to your grandmother and have your kids in the video with you, or if it’s to reach out to your best customers and offer them something very exclusive, Video Email is the perfect tool to make them know you care.

How to Record a Video Email With A Few Clicks

Here’s how to record and send a video email in just seconds.

  1. Install the Video Email Chrome extension for Gmail
  2. Click “Compose” to open a new message
  3. Click the video button
  4. Record your video

cloudhq_blog_holidayvideo_1_record

The extension will spend a few seconds processing and embedding your video in the email. When it’s done, click “Send.”

That’s all it takes.

You can email the video to one person or a list of people. And if you want, it’s easy to copy the video link and drop it into Messenger, Skype, WhatsApp, or any other chat platform.

A Personal Video is as Special as a Handwritten Note

Receiving a personal video is as special as receiving a handwritten letter, but takes far less time, and a personalized video actually means more to the recipient because they visually get to see you and connect with you in a different way than text ever could.

The next time you want to send a note to someone important in your life, don’t spend 20 minutes writing an email. Spend 2 minutes recording a video instead. Your friend, family member, or client will be glad you did.

Send a Video Email Now 
 

Calendar Scheduler Throwdown (Calendly vs. Mixmax vs. Meeting Scheduler)

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If you’re a salesperson, realtor, recruiter, or anyone who regularly schedules meetings with people outside your company, you need an appointment scheduler.

If you’re unfamiliar, an appointment scheduler is a tool that lets other people choose a meeting time with you based on available times from your calendar.

Appointment schedulers eliminate back and forth emails about scheduling.

They can also make it 87% more likely that you’ll actually book an appointment with a decision-maker.

Some appointment schedulers require a monthly fee, but (as we’ll show in this article) you can get an excellent appointment scheduler 100% free.

Here’s our rundown of three of the major tools on the market: Calendly, Mixmax, and Meeting Scheduler.

comparison4
 

1. Calendly

Calendly is a simple appointment scheduling app that syncs to your Google Calendar, although recipients can receive an invite from using iCloud, Google, or Outlook calendars.

Calendly requires sign-up at the Calendly website and works as a third-party app. To set your available times and meeting-types, you’ll need to work in the Calendly dashboard.

Once times are set, you’ll send recipients your standard schedule link (e.g. calendly.com/yourname). Anyone with your link will be able to schedule an appointment with you.

Calendly has a free plan, but for the best feature set, the premium plan will cost you $8 per month.

cloudhq_blog_calendar_calendly_required
 

2. Mixmax Calendar

Mixmax is targeted to salespeople and has been designed to help you get appointments with decision-makers from prospect organizations.

Mixmax works through a Chrome plugin, one that will overhaul the “compose” window in your Gmail, adding a suite of features over the standard Gmail interface.

Also, like Calendly, Mixmax also requires you to use a separate dashboard to set your calendar availability. To make Mixmax work, you’ll need to get comfortable using this dashboard:

Mixmax has a free plan with a limited number of calendar appointments per month. For the best features, you’ll need the Starter plan at $9/month or the professional plan at $24/month.

cloudhq_blog_calendar_MixMax_required
 

3. Meeting Scheduler

Meeting Scheduler is a brand new appointment scheduler available for Gmail.

It was designed to meet the needs of real business professionals who use Google Calendar—without some of the annoyances common to many appointment scheduling tools like a third-party dashboard to learn… because real professionals don’t have time to learn something new.

Meeting Scheduler works natively within the Gmail eco-system of tools, where you’re already familiar. It also scans your calendar before offering times to ensure that you don’t get double-booked in your calendar.

But what’s also cool is that you can also offer different availability to different people, something that’s very difficult from most appointment schedulers.

And finally, also unlike Calendly and Mixmax, the full-featured Meeting Scheduler is completely free for unlimited use.

cloudhq_blog_calendar_MeetingScheduler_Embedded
 

Install Meeting Scheduler for Gmail

If you use Gmail and Google Calendar, Meeting Scheduler is the easiest calendar scheduler tool available.

Install it for free from the Google Web Store or the cloudHQ Chrome extensions page.

 

Get Meeting Scheduler. It’s free..
 

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cloudHQ
Specializing in email organization and team workflows, cloudHQ is an easy cloud app synchronization service used for backup, app integrations, and implementation of team workflows. To date, we sync over 5 million files a day, and service clients like HP, Gartner, and Uber.
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Gmail Label Share & Chat
A free tool designed to help incoming emails get answered by teams. It is the only effective way to write comments about emails before any team member replies to the email sender. This is an excellent tool for sales, customer service, or project management.
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