Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic GMail Help

Does anyone have Google Mail? I recently signed up for it as an alternate email (my older yahoo address kept sending my contacts spam)! The one problem I am having with it is printing. If I want to print out an email, whether I hit "print" under the "reply" in the email or go to Print under "file" the page freezes for maybe 30 seconds! After it "recovers," if I view print preview for example, email text is cut off AND even for a 3 line message, it insists it is 2 pages long, yet shows "Page 1" as blank! Is there an easy solution or do I need to ditch gmail only a few days after getting it.

Thank you kind folcs. Also I'm still around, just ahve not been posting much. Hope everyone is well.

Mona

If you open the message there should be four links to the right above the advertising links:

New window
Print all
Expand all
Forward all

Print All is the one you want, it opens the message and replies in a separate tab for printing. I've never seen a print button below the message, not sure where that would be coming from.

One of the reasons I like Gmail is I can use it as a POP account, as well as get easy access on my Blackberry. I rarely use the web-based part of the service because the POP works so well. That said, I do check the website occasionally to delete the spam folder, etc.

Like Marcus, I see "New Window" and "Print All" on the upper right hand corner of the screen when I'm on the website. The "Collapse/Expand All" and "Forward All" features seem to be added when you have a thread (as opposed to an individual email), so be prepared for that difference. But I just clicked on "Print All" as Marcus said and it instantly popped up a new window with the email, plus automatically opened my printer menu box so I could select my printer, see a preview of it, etc.

I have a Mac, but I don't think that should affect the way the website works, just my printer menu.

Good luck!

Kathy

I use a PC desktop and a Mac laptop, it's pretty much identical on both.

Now I'm wondering if the original poster was using a PDA or a phone or something, that I haven't tried.

Thank you Marcus and Kathy. I did see "Print all." Sure enough it worked just fine.

Marcus, I saw your new post, after adding my own, so backtracking here. I have no such fancy a cell phone, merely one of those pre-paid, pay as you go, zero frills, no texting. I am using a regular "old fashioned" pc with Win7.

Kathy, were you saying if an email had been sent back and forth a few times (multiple replies) that there'd be no way to simply print a part of it?

Have a great day and thanks again,
Mona

Depending on the browser, you may be able to select some of the text in the print view and only print that.

One more Gmail question. It seems every few times I get this message:

"You have been signed out of this account.
This may have happened automatically because another user signed in
from the same browser. To continue using this account, you will need
to sign in again. This is done to protect your account and to ensure
the privacy of your information."

Does that mean someone evil hacked into my account? I've only had this account for 3 days! The only other thought I have is I sometimes check my email from my father's computer but I don't see why that should generate the above message. Oh, I did, for the purposes of a card exchange off another forum, create a gmail address just for that only. Does my computer somehow "know" I check 2 gmail addresses on it? That shouldn't matter. I used to have 2 Yahoo based accounts. (one was @pacbell and the other @yahoo--both checked through Yahoo Mail).

Thanks everyone. Again.

Mona

If you have two Gmail addresses, you can only be signed into one at a time from the same computer, unless you configure your account to let you do so. So if you are signed in to your main one, you have to sign out before you can sign into your other one.

I believe Yahoo is the same -- I have two Gmails and two Yahoos, and I can't quickly switch between them; I have to sign out and sign back in. Same would apply if someone else in your household uses your computer to check their email. (For example, if I want to check my Yahoo mail on my daughter's computer, I need to log her out and log myself in.)

Now, in poking around Gmail, I see that you can set it up to switch between multiple accounts -- go to "Settings" in the upper right corner, "Accounts and Import", then "Google Account Settings" at the bottom of that page. From there, you can click to edit "Multiple sign-in" and follow the instructions there.

Does that help?

Kathy

Hug, Kathy, and thanks. Unfortunately, that doesn't explain my situation. I am never signed into more than one account at one time. I generally check my Yahoo (pacbell) mail first followed by gmail. The second (temp) gmail account I only check once a day since the exchange has not gotten going yet. The other odd thing, is this does not happen all the time.

At the very bottom of the page, in small print, one of the options is this "last account activity." Clicking on that shows a supposed history of times I've checked gmail?
I mention this because it tells me what my pc's IP address is. It does indeed show that # as one of them, but includes some different! What does that mean?

Perhaps this should be a fictitious case for L and C! :p

Thanks again,
Mona

Actually, you should be able to log in to different accounts in different browsers. I have three Gmail accounts for different things and I usually have one open in Firefox and one in Chrome [depending]. Dunno about the IP thing though...

That said, I log in from school etc all the time and I rarely have to relog in at home.

I don't use G-mail (I don't trust Google with my private correspondences.), so I haven't participated in this thread yet. But I can answer this question. You mentioned that you are not extremely computer savvy; so rather than giving you a long-winded explanation that would boil down to "It depends on a lot of factors," I'll just give you the bottom line: If you turn off your computer or otherwise disconnect from the Internet, you are likely to get a new IP address each time you reconnect. The first part of the address should be the same each time, but the last part may differ. (The precise length of a "part" will vary, but at the very least, the number before the first period (full stop) should be the same each time.)

Joy,
Lynn

Carol, the names "Firefox and Chrome" only strike the hazy possibility of being browsers, otherwise I'm afraid, you lost me. I just use regular IE. Thank you though for your added thoughts.

Lynn, I have gotten adept at doing what I use the computer for daily along with a few other things but when it comes to most tech issues, forget it. I'm sorry you had a bad google experience. As I originally posted the reason I'm trying gmail is only because my yahoomail address which I had had forever, began sending out spam to all my contacts. Repeatedly changing passwords did nothing so I got rid of it.

Thanks for the IP explanation. I don't leave my computer on 24/7. Also, unfortunately, my DSL service is through At & T. I've had this for over 10 years and despite having a new pc--earlier this year--my modem is ancient. It's one of those that requires me to "establish a broadband connection" in order to surf the net.

Anyway, I appreciate all the help and advice.

Mona

P.S. I know it's only mid October-ish but we should (maybe) start our holiday card exchange list? I'd be glad to help with that btw.

Hi Mona,

Thanks. Actually, I have never had a bad experience with them personally, but I do know that they collect exorbitant amounts of data which they retain indefinitely and which they are not forthright about how it uses. If you search for "Google privacy concerns" online, you will get a plethora of web sites that will give you a bit of Google's history and will show you that I am by no means alone in distrusting them.

I only joined the list this past February, so this will be my first holiday season on it. How does the card exchange work here?

Joy,
Lynn

Lynn, belated welcome to a wonderfully friendly (and fun) forum. I am not the ost frequent of folcs anymore on here but think this is basically how the holiday exchange works. I think 2 kind folcs volunteer to head it up. They create an email to which anyone interested in participating sends their name and mailing address to. I think this process happens over a months time to give as many people as want an opportunity to sign up. Once "sign ups" (if you want to call it that) are over, the 2 coordinators divide up the list of participants and match people up. This is all done "secretly" so no one knows until they get their card who their "secret holiday folc" will be. To make it "harder" to guess, I don't think it's ever an even exchange. Like if I was given your name, you wouldn't be given mine. Then during December and even January as people get their cards, they post, "revealing" their sender. It's a lot of fun and good way to get to know someone on here a little more personally. I am extremely cautious online and admit to not participating in this until a couple years ago, but, I did and all went well. Whew, did I get that right? I hope!

Back on gmail topic, yikes, that does not sound very good about Google. I definitely don't like the idea of them holding onto my personal info. To be honest, I preferred the ease of Yahoo Mail to gmail. Maybe, I'll have to try it again. The main reason I wanted an alternate email is to seperate personal messages from those from stores such as KMART or CVS, who now have those savings cards. It just makes it easier.

Anyway, I pulled a Lois Lane ramble here, sorry about that!

Welcome and thank you again,
Mona

Chiming in, too.
Yes, it's possible that logging in from your father's computer logged you out on your own PC and Google threw a not entirely fitting message for that. It's also possible that AT & T disconnects you once in a while for a short moment, your PC automatically reconnects and voila new IP (my provider forces a disconnect at a maximum of 24 hours online).
And then Google maybe goes "Wait a moment that account got a new IP, lets be sure that nothing fishy is going on and have the user log in again."

If your gmail address is a rather generic one, it might also be that someone is mistyping their own, producing a couple of password errors, potentially blocking access to that account for some time.

If you worry about the IP addresses, write them down and check which provider they belong to.

Make sure your password is a strong one , don't use it for anything else, never ever give it to anybody no matter how convenient it would be at the time.

(That being said, I wouldn't get an account with the data kraken either.)

Yes - Firefox and Chrome are alternatives to IE. I hate IE .

My point was simply that I can open different Gmails in different browsers without logging out . Limited to browser not to computer. [But you can't open a separate Firefox window and log into a different account].

Carol

Lynn. See here for details of FoLC Secret Santa.

LabRat

Actually, you can, but you'd need two versions of Firefox not using the same account settings. I have two SeaMonkeys and two Operas doing the "logged in with two accounts at the same time" quite regularly on certain systems.

(SeaMonkey and Opera are suite programmes, meaning they not only contain a browser, but also email programme and other stuff. If my primary browser weren't SeaMonkey, I'd use Opera, it's options are great and it's svg and css support is simply delicious, not to mention, that it natively can read out websites.)

Chaos does "data kraken"= Google? Meaning you'd never get an account with them?

What do you guys think is the "safest" free email service? Should I give Yahoo Mail another chance? I had more former email address for a good 10 years with never any problems until a couple months ago. I admit until then never to have changing the password on that account but it never occurred to me that I needed to either. As I said when I did, the spam kept being generated (my account to contacts) anyway so it did not seem to matter.

Thanks,
Mona

Mona,

I think the problem was that perhaps someone might have broken into your Yahoo account and copied your contacts, and now is sending things in your name. The thing is that a person does NOT need to have continuous access to your account to send things in your name. There was a time that I started receiving "return to sender" emails with my University address that I knew weren't sent by me (but using my email address), and by looking at the information in the email, I could see that it wasn't being sent by the University server, either. Just that someone was using the address to send SPAM and I was getting the "reply-to" information. It finally stopped after a few weeks. Never happened again. I did, however, email the University Help Desk about what was going on, but they couldn't do anything about it.

malu