A lot of people think that the only way to be able to use Google Services like Google Drive, Docs, Sheets and so on, is by opening a Gmail account.
The reality is that Google allows you to superpower your own existing email address with their services so you dont have to get a Gmail account if you dont want to.
There is a simple way to enable the non Gmail email account youยดve been using till now to work with Google Docs (for example) allowing others to share documents with different permissions with the email address they already know from you.
The steps to do this are very simple:
1 – Click here to open the “create a Google Account” page ( dont worry you wont create a Gmail account).
2 – When the page opens, click on “Use my current email address instead” to enable your existing non Gmail account with Google Services.
3 – Thats it, follow the on-screen instructions by entering all the required details enter all the details and follow the online screens.
The following steps will require you to (didn’t want to bore you with more screenshots) ๐
– Verify the email account you just entered.
– Verify your mobile phone number (they use it to recover access to your account in case you need to).
– Birthday and Gender (also for account recovery purposes)
– Option to link your phone number to your account to be able to receive Hangouts calls and such (optional).
– Acceptance of Privacy and Terms conditions.
If you followed these simple steps, you can now receive shares from other Google users and you can also share Google Drive files from your new created account.
But…why this is useful?
OK, let me exemplify some reasons why you might want to have your email account enabled with Google Services.
Example 1: You use G Suite Services for work, meaning, your main office tools are Google Docs, Google Slides, Google Sheets (you get it). You work with external providers who do not use G Suite, but you need to collaborate with them on some files.
As you know Google allows you to share files with others and everybody can be using and seeing the latest version of the file. But if you have to ask the other party to share with you their Gmail account instead, it becomes a bit frustrating.
Then you need to remember to which Gmail account you need to share files to that specific person, etc. So if the other person just enables their professional email address with Google services, problem solved. You share all files with the account you know from them and the other person will be able to login with their own email and the chosen Google Account password to work on the shared files.
Example 2: You use Microsoft Office 365 services but you have customers who use G Suite, a customer tells you they need to share some files with you but knowing they need to export the files and attaching them into an email, you decide to enable your existing Microsoft account with Google Services, this way, your customer can share files directly with the email address they know from you and you ease the whole sharing and collaboration process.
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