Most of us have more than one email address these days – it makes it easier to keep different areas of life separate. But having to switch between email accounts can be a pain. With Gmail, you can set things up so you can send from multiple accounts without the need to keep switching.

Head over to Gmail, click the cog icon beneath your user image, and select Settings from the menu that appears. Now move to the 'Accounts and Import' section.

In the 'Send mail as' section, click the 'Add another email address you own' link. Enter the email address you would like to be able to send from and then click Next Step.

You can run through the process of configuring SMTP server details if you like, but Gmail can take care of it and simplify everything if you prefer. Make sure that you have the 'Send through Gmail' option selected and then click Next Step.

Click the Send Verification button and an email will be sent out to the email address you have specified – this is to check that you are genuinely the owner of the address. When you receive the email you can either click the link it contains or enter the verification code included to confirm your identity.

When you compose a new email, click the down arrow in the From field to choose which of your configured email accounts should be used to send the current email before continuing with the email as normal.

Gmail will still default to using your main Google email address if you do not opt to use another one, but this behavior can be changed. Head back to the 'Accounts and Import' section of Settings and you can then click the 'make default' link next to the email address you would like to use.

If you're looking to consolidate multiple email addresses into one, you can also configure Gmail to receive emails from other accounts you own.

It's that simple. Gmail can now be used as your sole email tool no matter how many email addresses you have.

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