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Level 1

9 points

Apple Mail not showing any emails in Inbox when using Gmail IMAP.

I am using Mail to check my Gmail which is set up in Google Apps. The problem is that it never seems to synchronize properly with Gmail. Right now, if I click on Inbox in Mail, it is empty. Not one mail. But if I search for something in the search bar, the mails in Inbox appear. This happens on two computers, an iMac and a Macbook Pro, both running Snow Leopard.

I am using about 1.7GB of space on Gmail, so I do have a lot of mail, but for some reason Apple Mail never seems catch up and just run smoothly. Other people on the same domain hosted by Google Apps, also using Apple Mail are fine. Please let me have any ideas.

Operating system: Apple OS X 10.6.1
Program and version you use to access Gmail: Apple Mail 4.1

Macbook, iMac, iPhone, Mac OS X (10.5.5)

Posted on Oct 27, 2009 2:59 AM

24 replies

Rtaxerxes Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 6, 2009 12:29 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Can you expand on what you mean by basic account?

Nov 6, 2009 9:31 AM in response to Rtaxerxes

I mean to simply add the Gmail account into Mail, and let it then pick up whatever folders and messages are on the Gmail server which a normal IMAP account would do without any need to import. I am not clear what has been needed to be imported from Outlook?

Ernie

Rtaxerxes Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 7, 2009 10:36 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

We imported all the historical mail from Outlook onto GMail. Then we create the account as normal in Mail and let it download the folders and mail. However, what seems to happen is that it never caches it all 100%, so when you click on a folder in Mail, it wants to recache the folder.

Nov 8, 2009 8:38 AM in response to Rtaxerxes

Sorry if I am being dense, but when accessing the Gmail account via a browser and web main access, for this "historical mail" is everything there, but with access via use of Mail it is not?

I had earlier thought the Gmail account was already being accessed with Outlook, before attempting to use Mail. I am thinking I had misunderstood that?

Ernie

Rtaxerxes Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 9, 2009 4:29 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Yes, GMail was only a recent add-on. All the historical stuff is on the web interface.

I may have figured it out. On folder the import tool had created was 3rd level folder with an underscore after the name. So it was INBOX/Folder1/folder2/folder3_ and it was all empty. That would be the only folder showing in the list in Mail sometimes. So I deleted that folder in the web interface, deleted the account in Mail and re-created it and it seems to be actually working much better in Mail.

But, it has taken about 3 days to sync everything. I don't have the fastest internet, but at least when you click on a folder now, the messages come up immediately.

I did find this: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=knownissues.cs&kitopic=14973&issue=97920&bucket=14977&hl=en&action=report

I think Mail is choking on the 1959 messages in the Inbox and the 1481 in Sent. So beware.

Nov 9, 2009 4:43 AM in response to Rtaxerxes

I have IMAP folders with many more messages than those numbers, and no choking.

I remain skeptical of any folders properly working when subordinate to the Inbox, unless the typical IMAP Path Prefix methodology is being utilized.

Ernie

Rtaxerxes Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 9, 2009 5:04 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

So how does one have sub-folders in Mail? If I just create a new "Mailbox" then it doesn't list it under the Inbox of Mail, only under the account name lower on the list.

Nov 30, 2009 1:23 PM in response to Rtaxerxes

I accidentally stumbled onto the solution for this one. As it may be a little late, here is what I found.

I just switched out my company's email from hosted Exchange to Google Apps for business. Most of the rollout went with no problems except the email not showing up in the Inbox even though it has already downloaded. And it was only a few machines this was happening on. All running 10.6.2, updated EVERYTHING!! I finally found that the common denominator was that when they were synced using the Google Sync via Parallels Win XP and Outlook 2007 (hey, sometimes to make your job easier, you need to invite evil into your home), there were subfolders of their INBOX. I logged into their accounts from the web, changed the name of the labels to remove the Inbox/ from the label name, restarted Apple Mail, and WOOSH - everything was visible.

Hope that helps (as late as it is)

Kerks28

Level 1

1 points

Dec 16, 2009 2:26 PM in response to Jeff Kunkel Jr.

I had this same issue and I read the last statement and didn't know exactly what Jeff meant so I did what I thought he meant and it worked great for me. In my own words...

After mail told me I had a bandwidth issue and couldn't go online, I updated to 10.6.2 and deleted that imap gmail account under mail. Then I set it up again just like the first time.

Now it worked, but didn't show any of my emails. So, I logged into Gmail on the web. I went to settings in the top right corner. Under settings, I clicked on labels. Under labels I changed my "All Mail" to Show instead of Hide. That did it, now they all show up.

I logged into Gmail a

Apple Mail not showing any emails in Inbox when using Gmail IMAP.