Monk,
I'm sorry, I am still not understanding. All email is online. And there are two major types of email, POP3 and IMAP. What are you trying to get to work with windows 8? I'll explain.
Windows 8 is the operating system. It is what your computer runs on. You start it up, and it says windows 8.
Internet explorer (or another browser) is how you connect to the internet. Often times, email is accessed from an internet browser. There are many different email providers. Gmail, AOL, Hotmail, and Yahoo are all very popular email providers.
Some programs can pull email from the internet to your computer, such as Outlook. So you open outlook, and receive your email.
Programs like Outlook can receive mail from most email providers.
However, Windows 8 has an option of using a Microsoft account, such as live.com or Hotmail.com, to access your user account for the computer. So you have the option to have a local, non-Microsoft account, or a Microsoft account. In this situation, gmail or any other email provider that is not Microsoft will not work for accessing your computer user account.
If you have something completely different that you are having trouble with, please explain in detail what the problem is. Are you trying to go to gmail online, and you are not being connected? How so? What is preventing you from connecting? Are there any errors? Any pop-ups? What browser are you using? Are you using a program like outlook, or just through an internet browser? I apologize for the confusion, and hope I am able to figure this out with you. Talk to you later