How to migrate from Gmail to Google Apps for free and take your messages with you

Step 4: Move your old Gmail to your new Google Apps mailbox.

In your Gmail account, go to the settings and enable POP download.

In your sparkling new Google Apps email account, go to the settings and choose the accounts tab. Hey, what's that? A section to get mail from other accounts. Sweet!

Add your Gmail account and, thanks to the wonders of POP3, your messages will start getting pulled over into your Google Apps mailbox. You can even set it up so that those old messages skip the inbox. But be warned: your labels, filters and stars will all be lost in transit.

You may want to set up filters in your Google Apps email settings to re-label your messages. And definitely watch your spam folder, since some old messages could end up there thanks to your freshly minted Google Apps spam filters.

If you have lots of messages, this process can take days, since it will only move a few hundred messages at a time. But you can still access your old mail by logging into your Gmail account any time you want.

Once everything's up and running, you can start stretching your legs in Google Apps and setting up options like a custom home page. Then you can sit back and relax, ruling your virtual domain like a benevolent and much-loved dictator, safe in the knowledge that all your old Gmail is within your walled garden. Just pray that Google doesn't go down.