As promised, here’s how you fix the ‘From’ address Google Apps puts on your messages. Note that the illustrations are from Google’s new look, but if your account still has the old layout, things should be the same except for colors and other details.

1. On the main Gmail page, click the gear icon at the top right and choose Mail settings in the popup menu.

2. On the Settings page, click the Accounts tab, and then the “Add another email address you own” link; a popup window should appear.

3. In the popup, enter yourlogin@wou.edu in the email address box and make sure the Treat As Alias checkbox is checked, then click Next Step.

4. The popup will change and show you three buttons. Click Send Verification.

5. The popup will change again, giving you two choices for what to do after the email verification arrives. You don’t have to leave the popup open, because you’ll use the first method which doesn’t require you to enter the verification code here; either way, though, go back to your inbox using the link in the folder list.

6. Since your @wou.edu address delivers to gmail, you don’t have to go anywhere else to get the verification message. If it doesn’t show up in your gmail inbox after a minute, reload or refresh the inbox page. When it does appear, click on it just like any other message.

7. In the email, click the verification link.

8. This should open a new page that says the verification has succeeded. Click the link to go back to the inbox.

9. As before, click the gear to go back to Settings.

10. In the Accounts tab, the @wou.edu version of your address should now be in the list; click the “make default” link next to it.

11. Finally, check that the @wou.edu address says “default” next to it. If it does, you’re done!

I’m not sure how this happened, but a fair number of students seem to think that their email addresses have actually changed because they signed up for a WOU Google Apps account. The confusion probably stems from seeing messages from “somebody@mail.wou.edu” where they’re used to seeing “somebody@wou.edu”. The ‘mail.wou.edu’ address only shows up because of the way we had to set up our Google Apps domain; we would have hidden it if we could have. In other words: use the same addresses you’ve always used! They will reach people whether or not they have set up their WOU Google Apps account, and even if they have set it up but still use the old webmail to actually get mail. Coming soon: instructions to make your Google Apps email show up as from youraddress@wou.edu instead of the mail.wou.edu version.