This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Account Settings
While we’re in the account settings for one of your email accounts, let’s take a look around and see what you can set here (4.9).
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4.9 The email settings also list all the accounts on your phone.
Display
The email address of the currently selected account is displayed at the very top of the Email Settings screen.
The Your Name field is the name that is displayed when an email from you appears in someone’s inbox. The Description field shows what this email account is named in the Fire interface. Tap either one to edit its text.
Default Account is the account that the Fire will use by default when creating new email messages. Tap here to change the default to any currently linked email account (4.10).
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4.10 Make your default email account the one you use most often.
Sync and data settings
Setting up an email account wouldn’t be of much use if it didn’t actually sync your email to your phone. But whenever you get an email on your Fire, that process uses a little data (or a lot of it, depending on the message). This doesn’t matter much when you’re on Wi-Fi, since you can generally use as much bandwidth as you like without consequences, but when you’re on a cell network you can use only as much data as your plan allows before you enter “overage charges” territory. No one likes that.
The Sync and Data Settings section controls what gets synced with your Fire on a per account basis and how often this syncing happens.
The Sync Calendar and Sync Contacts toggles turn on and off syncing of calendar and contacts for supported accounts. Tap the toggle to change it from its current position (on to off and vice versa).
Inbox Check Frequency tells your Fire phone how often to poll this account for new email (4.11):
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4.11 Set the frequency your inbox will update.
Automatic: Also called “Push,” this option is available for certain supported email accounts (Gmail and Exchange, to name two). When an email is delivered to your inbox on the remote server, the server “pushes” the new message to the Fire. The Fire doesn’t need to check at all; the server just sends the new message and it appears on your phone instantly.
For some accounts, like Gmail, when this option is selected it will work only when your Fire is connected to a Wi-Fi network. When connected to the cell network, the Fire will check infrequently in order to use less data.
- Manual: New mail is checked for only when you initiate the check yourself. The Fire won’t automatically check for email. This is a great setting when you’re on vacation, or if you’re very concerned about data usage, because you are in total control over when you will get new email.
- The remaining options allow you to set a schedule for when your Fire will check for email. Select Every 15 minutes, Every 30 minutes, or Every Hour, and your Fire will check for email on that schedule. You can also manually check in case you’re anxiously awaiting a particular email.
Days to Sync tells your Fire phone how much of your email you want to have available on the device (4.12). You can select Automatic and leave it up to the Fire, select a particular time period (one day to one month), or just select All to have all the email in that account available on your device. You can change this setting at any time, so I recommend starting with one week and then adding more time if you find yourself looking for older email. When changing this setting to a longer period, you should be connected to a Wi-Fi network; faster downloads speeds will make the sync process quicker.
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4.12 Days to Sync controls how much email is downloaded to your phone.
You can append a signature to every new email you send from your Fire. In fact, the Fire thoughtfully appends the signature “Sent from my Fire” to new emails by default. If you’d rather your Fire didn’t do this, or you want to change the signature to say something else, tap Signature and edit the text (4.13). Enter new text, or delete all the text, and tap OK.
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4.13 This signature will be inserted into all email sent from your Fire.
Signatures are per account, so your work account can have a signature with your work phone number and fax number, while your personal account could have a whimsical or inspirational saying.
Server Settings are found at the bottom of the settings screen for each account type (other than Gmail). Tap this to change server settings, login information, and more.
At the bottom of the settings screen for Gmail accounts, you’ll find a Reauthorize Gmail Account option. This allows you to get back in to your Google account should you change the password.