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pendragon · 09:29 AM

I am thinking of creating a GMail/IMAP account. Once this account is created, what are the advantages/disadvantages of linking it Apple Mail?

And for that matter, what are your general impressions of GMail? Any good? Or, am I on a fool's errand?

Chips G · Jan 20, 2008, 09:36 AM

I love it, I have my Mail.app linked to gmail, and it is the best of both worlds: you get the functionality of Mail, and when you are on a diff. computer w/ internet access you can still get to your emails.

0157988944 · Jan 20, 2008, 12:41 PM

Gmail IMAP crashes my Mail a lot after waking from sleep in Leopard. Even with the crashes, though, I like it better than POP.

eblah · Jan 20, 2008, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

Gmail IMAP crashes my Mail a lot after waking from sleep in Leopard. Even with the crashes, though, I like it better than POP.

Eh? I've never had Leopard Mail.app crash with GMail's IMAP.

0157988944 · Jan 20, 2008, 04:40 PM

Maybe its just me then, but it does crash... a lot.

Koralatov · Jan 20, 2008, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

Maybe its just me then, but it does crash... a lot.

You might just be really unlucky; I set it up for a friend on his MB and iPhone, and he hasn't had any problems with it at all. That said, he's hardly what you'd call a heavy-user, so that might be part of why it's been problem-free for him...

hookem2oo7 · Jan 20, 2008, 04:57 PM

Originally Posted by adamfishercox

Maybe its just me then, but it does crash... a lot.

mine crashes at least once every couple of days

eblah · Jan 20, 2008, 05:06 PM

Now that I think about it, it could be because you have it set to download all of the messages and use the junk folder and all. I turned that off, as I didn't want my entire 3,000 message spam folder on my laptop. That may make it where mine doesn't crash. I've never had Apple Mail crash, that I can think of, and I've been using it for about a month now (Leopards, Tigers before that).

I also keep my inbox empty, that could have something else to do with it. I keep all of my mail, but just not in my inbox.

Chuckit · Jan 20, 2008, 05:07 PM

If your Mail is crashing, it stands to reason that something is wrong. You might try rebuilding your mailboxes and, if that doesn't work, deleting the preferences and reimporting everything (though of course the latter takes a bit of doing).

Chips G · Jan 21, 2008, 12:55 AM

You're Mail should never crash. I am a very heavy user, and my inbox is sitting at over 2000 messages and I have absolutely no problems. That said, I just checked my settings and I use POP for gmail, and IMAP for another account that is linked to Mail.

besson3c · Jan 21, 2008, 01:32 AM

Do not store personal or sensitive info in your account. Google data mines GMail accounts, and probably does so the most aggressively out of any free email provider.

pendragon · Jan 21, 2008, 10:09 AM

Many thanks to you all.

This is the first time I have used Mail, and so far, I'm enjoying the ride-

angelmb · Jan 21, 2008, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by besson3c

Do not store personal or sensitive info in your account. Google data mines GMail accounts, and probably does so the most aggressively out of any free email provider.

Any free, Apple's Mail friendly alternatives besides AOL ??

Cold Warrior · Jan 21, 2008, 12:05 PM

Any IMAP and POP services work fine with Mail. My parents use Earthlink, for example, which has only POP and it works fine for them. I have a sibling who uses Mail for his work email (IMAP), and I've used it fine with work email over both IMAP and POP. I prefer Entourage 2008, but I keep 5 accounts (a mix of POP & IMAP) configured in Mail, Thunderbird, and Outlook 2003 in Windows just to play around with alternatives when the mood strikes me.

mpancha · Jan 21, 2008, 01:25 PM

I've gotten Gmail IMAP "successfully" setup on Mail.app, however, since November it has been trying to finish downloading my email (approx 5 gb worth) and has finished downloading from Sep 2004 up to Nov 2007, but still hasn't finished. This with the laptop left on, Mail on, and a working internet connection running.

chances are I'm going to just start over with POP instead of IMAP.

eblah · Jan 21, 2008, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by mpancha

I've gotten Gmail IMAP "successfully" setup on Mail.app, however, since November it has been trying to finish downloading my email (approx 5 gb worth) and has finished downloading from Sep 2004 up to Nov 2007, but still hasn't finished. This with the laptop left on, Mail on, and a working internet connection running.

chances are I'm going to just start over with POP instead of IMAP.

That's why I have mine set to ONLY download messages I read. That's why, as I said before, Mail was downloading my entire spam folder. I turned that off and Junk Mail filtering (as that's a complete waste with GMail), along with moving deleted mail to the "Deleted Mail Folder", as with GMail that's useless. If you want to delete mail with Gmail, you move it to the Trash yourself.

There's more to setting Gmail up in Mail (or Outlook 07, for that matter), because Gmail is a bit different than other IMAP providers.

0157988944 · Jan 21, 2008, 08:43 PM

I found the cause of my crashing: GrowlMail 1.1.2.

The Placid Casual · Jan 21, 2008, 09:26 PM

I get tons of crashes (5+ easy) a day using Gmail IMAP with Apple mail.

I get maybe 200-400 messages daily, so nothing huge volume wise, but the crashes seem to happen when deleting new mail. I get 'sync' errors to the server if I delete to quickly, or multiple messages in one go.

Hoping 10.5.2 will address things.

0157988944 · Jan 21, 2008, 09:59 PM

Yeah, that was happening with me. GrowlMail deletion seems o have worked *knock on wood* though.

besson3c · Jan 21, 2008, 10:35 PM

Oh yeah, GrowlMail is horribly unstable. I've had the same problem... I should have thought of mentioning this before!