If you have your domain with Google Domains, there's a feature which allows you to forward all emails to your consumer Gmail account. By using Google's mail servers, you don't run into problems with being misclassified as spam.
- My login stays the same (regular @gmail account)
- For receiving e-mails, it works like a simple forwarding service to my Gmail inbox. There's no copy of the e-mails anywhere else, no extra inbox, like I was using POP3
- I'll be able to send e-mails from that custom domain directly in Gmail, using Google's SMTP servers, but all the recipients will be able to see my original Gmail address in the hidden e-mail headers, and it's going to show "sent via Gmail" or something like that. I remember that's how it worked for an old alias I had, maybe it's the same thing.
If this is how it works I would definitely use it. I keep a live local IMAP backup and I also use Takeout regularly so there's very little risk involved.
Not quite, but almost. I've been using this setup for a few years now, with my own domain and Gmail.
To answer your questions:
- Login: You'll have two logins (Gmail address, GApps address you@yourdomain.com), but in daily use you only need the Gmail one.
- There is an additional copy of your emails in the GApps account. I configured GApps to move them to the trash after forwarding, but you can't outright delete them. I just empty that trash once a year. You'll also need to setup a mail rule that whitelists either all Spam, or (what I do) all your whitelisted addresses, so that no mails get stuck in GApps spam filtering.
- You'll be able to send emails in Gmail from your custom domain, and it will show only your custom domain in user-visible From: fields, if you configure Gmail to not use the Gmail SMTP user, but your GApps username and password. The "sent via Gmail" is what you get if you don't configure the SMTP server.
FYI I use Server: smtp.gmail.com, User: me@mycustomdomain.com (this works!)
- You'll need to add the SPF and MX records for Google Mail to your DNS records. If in the future you ever want to switch from GApps to something else, you'll just need to change those and transfer your mails.
- I don't use any of the other GApps features, as to not get locked in.
If you like, I can send you an email so you can take a look at the headers yourself.
You don't really need a Google Apps account for this if you're using Google Domains as your registrar. You can choose to forward whatever email address you want directly via Google Domains.
Of course it might involve manually fiddling with MX records if you're using a different registrar for your domain and forwarding (e.g. with Google Apps) might also be required.
That's new, and did not exist when I setup my domain.
But if I understand that link correctly, if you do this you'll run into the "sent via Gmail" problem the parent poster alluded to, as Google Domains will not issue you a new SMTP username like with GApps. With my version, I'm actually sending mail via the GApps user (and my domain), not the Gmail one, and my Gmail account name is not revealed in the headers.
I have this setup. Your login remains the same i.e. gmail. For receiving emails it acts more or less like a forwarding service without an extra inbox. When you reply to an email sent to the alias, it will choose that alias to send from so you won't accidentally send from your gmail address. Also in email headers you'll see a gmail message id but it won't reveal your gmail address AFAICT.
