http://tidbits.com/ IMAP, Gmail, and Apple Mail can be a powerful combination, but all have certain idiosyncrasies that can test your patience. Joe Kissell offers an in-depth exploration of the three technologies and how to use them together optimally. en-us Copyright 2009 TidBITS Publishing Inc. Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 EDT editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) editors@tidbits.com (TidBITS Editors) http://tidbits.com/images/tb_logo_152x55.png http://tidbits.com/ 55 152 TidBITS badge http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_18878 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:13:02 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_18878
Joe]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_18877 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:27:11 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_18877 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_17710 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 19:30:11 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_17710 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_17354 Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:31:00 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_17354 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_17353 Sun, 20 Jan 2013 10:30:22 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_17353 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_17314 Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:22:21 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_17314 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_17313 Tue, 15 Jan 2013 10:07:53 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_17313 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16992 Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:12:50 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16992 http://tidbits.com/article/13189]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16940 Thu, 13 Dec 2012 05:35:21 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16940 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16315 Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:38:48 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16315 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16314 Fri, 26 Oct 2012 06:29:56 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16314
Joe]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16313 Fri, 26 Oct 2012 06:18:39 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16313
Any ideas? I have everything set up as you recommend.

Many thanks.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16213 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 06:06:56 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16213
The book will be a new, fourth edition of this one (yes, ebook), in something like 2 or 3 weeks.

http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/iphone-mail

Joe]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16212 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 05:59:05 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16212
2. I suppose you could, but I don't think you'd be happy with the results, because it would mean Mail would move the Junk mailbox to a different location. In my opinion, best to leave things as they are.

3. Up to you, but just remember, you shouldn't be thinking of "trash" and "archive" as being at all similar.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16211 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 04:52:52 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16211
I have set up Mail to permanently erase deleted messages when one week old (gives me a little time to save a message if I make a mistake).

And on the server, I have set Auto-Expunge off, and selected "Immediately delete the message forever". I tried "Move the message" to the trash under this option, but realised that unless the Mail client on all my devices (iMac, MBA, iPad) had permanently deleted messages in the trash, then the server would keep downloading trash messages back to the clients.

I look forward to your iOS 6 book - presumably available as an e-book?

Thanks again. Emil]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16210 Wed, 17 Oct 2012 04:46:44 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16210 1. On the spam/junk point, it seems like when you report a message as spam in Gmail, it gets moved into the junk folder on Mail. But it does not get "marked' as junk - you have to go in and do that manually.
2 Couldn't you switch off filtering on Mail, but still have Gmail send SPAM to a folder on the client? That way you could still scan for false positives, but you don't have two sets of filtering going on. But maybe I'm trying to fix a problem that doesn't exist - I can be a bit OCD like that.
3. I've set up Archive in Mail. My thinking is that I will use this as my main "trash" button (i.e. get this message out of my inbox). And I will only use delete for messages I absolutely know I don't want. Then combine settings on client / server so that these are auto-deleted. That way, I get rid of the many incomplete drafts that come from syncing drafts to server. (See next comment)]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16193 Tue, 16 Oct 2012 05:17:43 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16193
2. The consequence of doing this is that you'll have to go to the Gmail site to check for false positives. I get a few of these per week, and I like being able to scan my Junk folder in Mail to catch them. It's way easier.

3. Archive in Mail ≠ Archive in Gmail. As you say, Mail simply applies a label called "Archive." You can use the feature if you want, just remember it's not the same thing as archiving in Gmail.

4. The iPad works great. I have a whole book about Mail in iOS, which will be updated very soon to cover iOS 6.

Joe]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_16179 Mon, 15 Oct 2012 17:30:59 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_16179 1. Are you saying that a msg that gets through the GMail spam filter, but is picked up by Mail junk filtering (or manually marked as junk on the client by me) will then register as spam for purposes of spam "learning" by GMail? If so, that's cool.
2. What happens if I switch off junk filtering on Mail, and only keep junk / spam on server?
3. Can I use the new Archive button in OS X.8 Mail? As far as I can tell, it just creates a new label in GMail, but don't want to confuse things.
4. What about Ipad? Thanks!]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15845 Fri, 28 Sep 2012 03:49:15 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15845 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15844 Fri, 28 Sep 2012 02:35:42 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15844 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15541 Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:53:00 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15541
You need to Authorize Access to your Google Account by generating an application-specific password.

Here is a link:

http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=185833

Hope this is helpful to anyone else with the same problem.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15540 Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:40:47 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15540
I keep getting and error message:

There may be a problem with the mail server or network. Verify the settings for account “Gmail” or try again.

The server returned the error: Application-specific password required: http://support.google.com/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=185833 (Failure)

I was getting the same error message in the beginning stages of trying to add the gmail account to the mail account.

Any suggestions?]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15477 Sun, 26 Aug 2012 09:18:48 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15477
Could you please comment on: (1) Mail in different units(OS) and combinations (different gmail accounts) imap/pop, (2) above, but when different machines have different rules (although identical gm filters), and (3) work around getting messages one read in one machine and MARK AS READ, but will not show in another machine even when checked through the web mail interface]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15457 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 05:00:56 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15457 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_15453 Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:25:57 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_15453 I don’t use Google Apps, just a standard Gmail account. Anyway, all went according to plan beside point 17 (tell Mail to use Gmail's Sent Mail mailbox as the Sent mailbox for this account); on Gmail Web interface all the sent mail is now in “label:[imap]-sent” rather than Sent Mail.And, all the mail that I’ve been sending since from Apple's Mail client, ended up in both “label:[imap]-sent” and Sent Mail on Gmail Web interface.

Any suggestions?

Thank you.
]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_14290 Tue, 22 May 2012 18:36:16 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_14290 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_13819 Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:40:09 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_13819
How often the connections are made is up to you—you can check out Mail's preferences for that. Getting into the details of data usage compared to POP is more than I can do in a comment.

In most cases, I prefer Gmail filters to Mail rules, because then mail arrives pre-filtered on all my devices, even those (like the iPhone) that have no rules. Mail's rules have more features, but can't operate (obviously) until the messages arrive in Mail.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_13810 Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:11:03 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_13810
A great article and explains the unexplainable very well. I have been using pop to access Gmail via Mail since Tiger release and so have built up a number of emails on my Mac. If or should I say when I change to IMAP - is there a way of moving the emails that are on my Mac to Gmail so I can then refer to filed emails on other devices? I would like to know this before I make the global change. Is this just a case of drag and drop and Mail uploading to Gmail? If so, I presume any mailboxes I have on my Mac would need to be created in Gmail first etc?

The other issue that would be most useful to know is how in IMAP does the data usage differ from Pop and how often are the connections made for new mail - is this similar to how the Pop method works?

Finally, is it best to use filters in Gmail or Rules on Mail client?

Any help on this would be appreciated.]]> http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_13202 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:21:29 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_13202 http://db.tidbits.com/article/10253?rss#comments_13196 Thu, 16 Feb 2012 08:31:20 EDT http://tidbits.com/article/10253#comments_13196