Openera is a Web service that constantly monitors your Gmail or Google Apps email account and automatically backs up your documents and images to your favorite cloud storage. Openera has a free account, the “Free Lifetime trial” and also has Pro, Teams, and Enterprise accounts. Even though the free account is limited to just one email address, one cloud storage service, and a few other things, it’s still worth using and is sure to come in handy to auto-file gmail documents and images. Openera is an invaluable tool that I’ve been using for the past four to five months. Once you set it up, it just works; you’ll totally forget that you’re even using it. Here’s how it works.
Setup
- Click on “Sign Up” on the Openera home page, and you’ll be taken through the signup process.
Connect your email account; enter the email account that you want to use and click “Authorize.” You’ll be taken through the Google email authorization process. Connect a cloud service; you can choose Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, or SkyDrive. You’ll be taken through the authorization process for the service that you’ve chosen. Create a password for your account.
Openera will start going through the important files in your Inbox. In a few hours (or longer depending on your Inbox), you’ll receive an email from them letting you know what was found.
Openera will start you out with a few default filing rules. As you can see in the screenshot above, it can file contracts, invoices, receipts, documents, images, presentations, spreadsheets, and more. Note: The supported file types may vary by cloud storage service. If you’re happy with the rules given, click on “my account” where it says: “No thanks, just take me to my account.” Otherwise, click on the green “View My Rules” button to change your rules or add more.
Once you go to your account, you won’t see any activity listed. You will need to give Openera some time. I remember when I signed up some months back, it seemed to take around twenty-four hours for my files to show up. Since you’ll get an email from Openera, there’s no need to leave the page open, or to keep going back to check.
Final Thoughts
Openera is a true lifesaver. No longer do you have to worry about accidentally deleting an important document or image. Just go to your cloud storage and you’ll find your files safe and sound. You can choose to receive a digest daily or weekly to let you know which new files were backed up from your email to your cloud storage. With a free account, Openera limited the number of files saved daily to just 7; if you upgrade you’ll get an unlimited daily file quota. Also, you’ll only be able to save 200 of your most recent files. If you’re someone that does not receive a lot of documents or images in your email, then you won’t have any problems with the free account. Is there another service you have found that will allow you to auto-file gmail documents and images to the Cloud? Let us know about it in the comments below.
