Adding a non Google Apps account to a Google Apps Google Voice account

Question

I have Google Apps Standard edition. I upgraded the domain so that user's account are also Google Accounts. I have one of those accounts set up with Google Voice. I would like to enable the forwarding to email feature, but have it forward to a different account (not @mydomain).

When I try to "Add a new email address" (Voice Settings > Voicemail & Text), I get the following message:

Google can't change personal information for [email protected].

To change the information, contact your domain.com administrator.

If I expand the drop down and look at the addresses that I can forward it to, I notice that these are all the aliases I have set up for my account in the domain settings. I can't add a non @domain alias though. Adding this address in Gmail as Send As address, Forwarding address, or a POP3 address does not add it to this list. I noticed that there is also an @mydomain.com.test-google-a.com address, which I believe is used as a temp account for Google App Engine. If there was a way to add another account like this, where I choose the domain name, this would resolve the issue.

If I go to my Google Account page, I see a list of Email addresses, which is exactly what shows up in the drop down box. There doesn't seem to be a way to add another address to this list. If there was a way, my issue would probably be resolved.

Choosing an alias and then creating a forwarding rule in the email account doesn't work, since the email must come from the same address it was sent to. Otherwise, you get a "Delivery Status Notification (Failure)" message. I'm using a custom application to access this email, so I can't access another account (i.e. I must be able to send an email to [email protected], not [email protected]), and I can't send as another account (i.e. Google Voice must be configured to send the mail to the exact address I will be sending from, [email protected]).

I was able to do this flawlessly with Gmail by adding another account, but Google Apps is being overly restrictive in not allowing me to add a non @mydomain.com address which Google Voice can forward to.

Is there any way to associate another email address with my Google Account or is there any workaround to get Google Voice working with another email address?

Answer 1

Google Voice accounts CAN be transferred to non-gmail based Google accounts.

Use this link: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=cjlWRDFTWERkZEIxUzVjSmNsN0ExU1E6MA (this form is referred to on an official Google support page).

Even though it says there that it will not work with a Google Apps account, it will work if you’ve migrated your Apps accounts into the general system. I did it, and if you do it, make a note saying that the account migration had been done. They transferred it over just fine. Took about 2 days for me.