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Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

Summary: Learn how you can receive transcribed voicemail messages and texts in any email client you wish.

David Gewirtz

By for ZDNet Government |


All projects: DIY-IT Project Guide
This project: The Ultimate Google Voice How-to Guide

Filters are your friends

The best way I've found to get messages is by using email filters. This way, any message that Google Voice gets comes into my associated Gmail account, a filter (or rule, for you Outlook folks) runs on it, and the message then gets forwarded to one or more additional accounts or services.

First, switch on over to your associated Gmail account. If you've gotten any voicemail or SMS messages since you enabled notifications, you'll see them in your Gmail inbox.

Find the Options gear at the far right of the screen, and select Mail Settings from the drop-down menu. Next, click Filters to put yourself on the Filters tab.

Here, you'll add two new filters. The first is going to have a From field value of "voice-noreply@google.com" (without the quotes). Click Next Step, and then check "Forward it to:".

It's here where you'll fill out your alternative email forwarding address. If you don't have any authorized addresses, adding them is easy. Just click "Manage your forwarding addresses," enter your desired address, and Gmail will send a confirmation email to that address. Once that confirmation has been clicked on, Gmail will know you're the rightful owner of the email address you've registered, and will let you set forwarding.

The "voice-noreply@google.com" will handle voicemails. Add a second filter that matches a From field value of "@txt.voice.google.com" and forward this to your alternate email address as well.

When you're done, you should have two filters that look something like this:

So there you go. Your voicemails and texts can now be sent to any email address you want.

 

Topics: Google, Browser, Cloud, Collaboration, Telcos

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17 comments
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  • Counterintuitive?

    Forwarding GV messages to Outlook sort-of defeats the purpose of a cloud service. I would imagine you'd want to do the exact opposite.

    GV is great, can't live without it.
    ddevito@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

      @ddevito@... Not really. I think you're missing the marriage between Outlook and Exchange. Our Exchange server lives in the cloud and I access it from my phone, my Web browser, and from five or six physical machines, all running Outlook.

      The local copies of Outlook sync with Exchange, in a way very similar to how Steve Jobs announced iCloud will sync with Macs and iOS devices.

      Outlook has often been considered a client-only solution, but in the enterprise, it's far, far more. I like Gmail, but I've had a cloud-based Outlook/Exchange solution running since well before people started calling it the cloud.

      Frankly, I'm finding the marriage between Google Voice and our Exchange/Outlook implementation rather awesome, kind of like peanut butter and chocolate, or steak and more steak.
      David Gewirtz
      Reply Vote

  • Helpful info

    David

    I usually hit the back button as soon as I find I've clicked on one of your articles. I typically find them to be a rant of one sort or another and mostly useless.

    I'm enjoying the Google Voice posts and the upcoming posts look promising.

    Keep it up!!
    rewand
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

      @rewand Thanks, uh, I think. :)
      David Gewirtz
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    I tried Google voice about 2 or 3 months ago, with my cell phone, but found it difficult. It couldn't transcribe most of the messages, and then it got to answering my calls before my phone even rang! Annoying to say the least. So, I've disabled it for now. I love Google and use a lot of their products, even some beta ones, but I think I need to wait a bit to try this one again.
    jacquie1951
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    I have a Google Voice Number, but they now seem to be unavailable in all of Florida and in many other parts of the country that have any population. This situation has existed for many months and I understand is getting worse. They should never have taken it off the invite stage if they can't supply numbers to people.
    remmeler
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

      @remmeler When I make calls using my google voice it usually dials a Massachusetts number and I'm in Connecticut along the coast, a pretty populated area. Mostly using it for texting though as my job as turned off texting on our blackberry's. It works...kinda, locks up a lot, sends dupe texts, I have to usually yank my battery about once a day average because it'll get hung up on sending a message despite the fact that I'm on WiFi or have full signal. For a free app though you can't really complain as it gets the job done.
      BDower
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

        @BDower If you are in Connecticut and you are using a Massachusetts number, the people that call that number with a Massachusetts area code to get you are charged long distance even though they are also in Connecticut. I guess you are just using the SMS texting, which you could do from your phone without the lock ups.
        remmeler
        Reply Vote

  • I use Google voice to call my friend

    This is so great, I just slip on my headset and talk away. The voice quality is so good.
    I just love my Google voice!
    dale_may1999@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    If I don't know an incoming number, I let it go to google voice and I check the transcript. It could not be easier. Gmail is my primary non-work email though. I use Mac mail to pull it by IMAP and it works well for me. I recently added the google two-factor authentication, and I like that as well. Very useful ...
    awilson77584
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    Forgive me if these are repeats as I've not read the other articles but here are some things I've found.

    More tips:
    1. You can reply to a "text" email just like a normal email and it responds via text to the original sender.
    2. Using the Chrome or Firefox plugin, when you receive a text your computer will "ding" to let you know (if you happen to be at home.)
    3. Using the tip you mentioned above regarding labels and forwarding, you can set an "auto-response" for specific senders or all text messages. I actually used this once for a contest, and it worked amazingly well.
    4. There is an export and import function under contacts that, in conjunction with both AT&T and Verizon "my services" pages, you can easily transfer contacts back and forth. I had a business phone with one, and a personal phone with the other. Within 15 minutes I figured out how to have ALL contacts on ALL phones. Very handy!
    beckerist@...
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    I've been using GV since receiving my first invite. It has worked great and I've never had a problem with it. The only flaw so far is the voice to text translation is flaky, but the text message is enough to let you know the gist of the message and whether to follow up on it or just delete it. I work for a big box retailer and they have their computers locked up tight, however I can still access both GV and GDocs, able to text from my desk and use GD's since we don't have access to email or MS office. Great work arounds.
    Harley130
    Reply Vote

  • Why has my Google Voice disapeared from Gmail?

    Hi, great all the things GV can be used for. I had it downloaded and installed quite a while ago, last year already, while i was living in Berlin, Germany.
    Never used it though. Than i moved to Oh Canada and since it says free calls to phones in Canada as well as the US i wanted to start test driving it - but, the "Call phone" menu link in my Gmail did no longer exist, all i still got was a "account settings" page for GV, with nothing o it that could get me to make a call. The Gmail help desk forum told me some story that Google simply and quietly removed all GoogleVoice installations from users not living in the US, kind of wild story to think of, but indeed, also my GF in Canada has lost hers - but than a friend in Singapore has just successfully downloaded and installed GV on his Mac - anyone in the knowing what is really going on in above regards - P.S. when i try to re-download the GV it just redirects me to my Gmail inbox!!!
    rmworldwide@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

      @rmworldwide@... GV is US only, that means as soon as your IP address is non-US the GV option in Gmail disappears. I know because of travelling between the US and the UK. If you travel out of the US GV is a waste of time as it disappears at the border.
      MrBeck
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    Can GV be used to give the caller options before leaving the message? I want different messages for family and business callers - and when they choose which category is them, the message is recorded in the appropriate place. Perhaps this is a different way of saying what is in the article, or perhaps this feature is a different app. Please offer insight . Thank you very much!
    cathyver
    Reply Vote

  • Use as a personal voice memo

    I was just thinking about blogging on this same thing. Glad I googled it first, great info! I've been using it when in the car--I call myself with something I want to remember for later and get an email, fairly accurately transcribed for later. A real efficient person could probably set up a filter in gmail to forward and tag in evernote I suppose as well.
    @mrschwen
    mrschwen
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Voice: beyond Gmail. Get voicemail and texts using any client you want

    We've switched to Google Voice for the "house phone" and it works great. The only annoyance has been that Google Voice rarely picks up before voicemail on one of the cell phones kicks in. It would be nice to be able to adjust that timing.
    software@...
    Reply Vote
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