Here's hoping that you haven't spent several hours of your life forwarding emails from an old Hotmail or Yahoo account to one under Gmail's umbrella.  Although it was a long time in coming, Gmail's now made the option to import old messages and contacts available to everyone.

Back in mid-May, Gmail began to let new users import their old email and contacts.  This was a moderately clever move that made the process of transitioning from one account to another much simpler.

Longtime users probably won't find the option as useful; most of them will have already copied over their contacts and any critical emails.  Still, some procrastinators are bound to be pleasantly surprised.

A post on the Official Gmail Blog explains that the import process is "easy - just go to the Settings > Accounts & Import page and click 'Import mail and contacts.'  A window will pop out to lead you through the short import process.  If you want us to continue to forward any new mail your other account gets for 30 days, we can do that too."

One last note: the copying of mail may take up to a week, so don't get antsy (especially after all this time).

Source: webpronews.com