GMAIL ON APPLE MAIL AND IPHONE - IMAP VS. POP

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GMAIL ON APPLE MAIL AND IPHONE - IMAP VS. POP

I used to have an email with my internet service provider. I switched to Verizon FiOs and needed to switch every website and contact to the new email. Its a pain. I decided to just get a Gmail account so I don't ever have to switch again.
Anyway, with the Cox account, I used to check my email on the iPhone or on my iMac. I could get an email, delete it, and then check my email on the computer hours later and it downloaded again (for editing word documents, etc.).
When I switched to Gmail, I configured Apple Mail by letting it automatically configure the account. On the iPhone, I used the Gmail automatic setup in Settings>Mail. I sent a couple of emails to the address to test it. Most all of them came to the iPhone but only some were there later on the iMac. I read online about the IMAP and POP settings but I don't really understand the differences or benefits.
Basically, in the end I want to be able to check my email on the go and delete them on my iPhone but later go home and check again to have them all there. Which settings do I need to have on the gmail server, the phone, and the computer to make this happen?

Also, is there any way to delete the annoying extra folders and "All Mail" system on the Gmail server and just use the inbox.

Thanks in advanced

iPhone 3GS, Macbook Pro 13", Intel iMac, Macbook, iPhone OS 3.0, 1 windows xp home computer, mac with OS X 10.5.7

Posted on Aug 2, 2009 4:39 PM

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Answer 1

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Randy Fast

Level 4

1,426 points

Aug 2, 2009 4:45 PM in response to iliv4apl

IMAP = What you do on iPhone or PC will show up on the other.

POP3 = Does not.

Note that by just putting in your address and password into the iPhone email client this is not full IMAP support. Search Google for their step-by-step guide to setup Gmail manually for proper IMAP support.

Edit - Also, IMAP for Gmail is disabled by default, you have to into your settings on your computer and enable IMAP.

Message was edited by: Randy Fast

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Answer 2

iliv4apl Author

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Aug 2, 2009 5:16 PM in response to Randy Fast

So just to clarify:

If I want each device to work independently, I want POP, correct??
If I check on the iPHone, I want to be able to delete it out of the inbox and not have the message download every again, ON THAT DEVICE!!!
If I check in on the Mac, I want to be able to delete it from the inbox and not have the message download again.
I don't want it to matter whether I check one before the other. I need both to check and delete independently.

Which settings do I need?

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Answer 3

Aug 8, 2009 6:17 PM in response to iliv4apl

Use "recent mode" on Gmail for both devices. That solves the problem. Only issue is that will cause all the emails of the past month to re-download to all your devices, so you'll end up re-deleting a huge pile of mail. But once that's done-with, all your devices can all access the mail fresh from now on.

Look for instructions in Gmail help. Basically it means adding the text "recent:" to your POP login info, as in recent:yourgmailusername@gmail.com instead of just yourgmailusername@gmail.com.

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