Apple Mail not working with Gmail IMAP

Question

Level 1

58 points

Apple Mail not working with Gmail IMAP

This is a slight re-working of a post of 27 March as I am being driven nuts having to use web mail.

I have used Mail with gMail for years. Last week I was abroad and I could only use the web interface as when I logged in from my MacBook via Mail the message pane was fine (and up to date though it did not open by default as usual) but if I opened any message all I got was 'Loading' followed by the spinning beach ball. I tried this for several days and always got the same result and assumed it was an (atypical) result of being abroad.

When I got home I found I had exactly the same problem on my iMac which was fine before I left home and as with my MB I have to force quit to get out of Mail.

I then when out and after a restart (not the first since the problem) that my MB was OK - but only briefly. My iMac is still stuffed as far as Mail is concerned.

Mail itself does not seem completely broken, for instance I can look at Previous recipients, I can send from Mail and it arrives back (but then I can’t open it). I can drag messages to the Bin, but they don’t seem to stay there. Oddly I have sent a lot of mail from the gMail interface today, but none of them show up in Apple Mail, tho earlier days do.

I do have a lot of messages in sent mail, nearly 6,000, and while I can understand it progressively slowing things down I don’t see that it would cause both machines to fail simultaneously and anyway I don’t want to delete them.

Any ideas? There are no error messages, Connection Doctor shows me as logged in, and I have not found anything via a Google search or in their discussions.

Cheers, Colin

iMac Core 2 Extreme 2.8GHz, 3Gb, 24"; 15" MBP 2.4GHz, 3Gb, Mac OS X (10.5.8), MBP (2007} & iBook G4 on its last legs but needed for legacy Classic files

Posted on Apr 1, 2010 1:38 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 1, 2010 6:07 PM in response to Colin Cohen

Please confirm that IMAP access remains Enabled in the setting for POP/IMAP you administrate via the browser?

No problems with Gmail IMAP here.

Ernie

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Answer 2

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 2:32 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Yup, IMAP still enabled. I notice that POP3 is not disabled (and presumably never has been) tho I have not used it.

Intuitively one would expect the problem to be with gMail as it effects my account on both machines, but I can't see how a problem with gMail would make Mail hang in virtually everything except sending new messaged which I can then only open on the web. But Apple Mail is giving no error messages. I am totally befuddled!

Cheers, Colin

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Answer 3

Apr 2, 2010 3:32 AM in response to Colin Cohen

What does Connection Doctor report -- Window in menubar, and choose?

Ernie

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Answer 4

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 3:51 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Thanks Eric, now there's a thing, here are the results:
gMail in
Connection and login to server succeeded.
smtp.gmail.com
Connection and login to server succeeded*
smtp.ox.ac.uk
Connection to server succeeded, no login required.
relay.plus.net
Connection to server succeeded, no login required.
relay.plus.net:xxxx
Connection and login to server succeeded.
smtp.wanadoo.fr
Connection to server succeeded, no login required.

The two gMail a/c came up fine, but my ISP (who I don't actually use for mail) is usually slow to come up but came up first. ox.ac.uk is a surprise as I can't use it unless I am on University premises and wanadoo is even more of a surprise: it is a random French ISP I once selected when I was somewhere a year or two back and gMail did not seem to accept the SMTP connection.

Cheers, Colin

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Answer 5

Apr 2, 2010 7:32 AM in response to Colin Cohen

Did you add the asterik after resultant for the smtp.gmail.com?

If in Mail Preferences/Accounts/Account Information you click on the arrows beside the name of any SMTP, and choose Edit Server List, you can find and remove the Wanadoo. Probably best to do this if no account actually uses that SMTP, as Mail 4 will periodically check all SMTP that remain from ever entering.

Any SMTP that reports no login required will likely only be usable when connected at the venue of that provider, because it means no separate Authentication of the SMTP, which requires it to be presented on Port 25, which other ISPs generally block for third party SMTP. Does not necessarily impact Incoming servers however.

Why is there a SMTP reference to relay.plus.net?

Ernie

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Answer 6

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 7:54 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Opps, the * was an OCR error from the screen dump I did not notice.

plus.net is my ISP, but I don't use them for mail normally but I suspect once-upon-a-time I may have had a problem connecting with gMail's SMTP server, so set that up.

I'm actually running Mail 3 (I think the latest version for Leopard, incidentally gmail help is only up to v 2).

Rather than delete the other servers I have set it to only use smtp.gmail, but it still hangs on opening a message pane. Oddly even tho I get the beech ball I can still open prefs.

I can't help feeling the problem is with Mail itself (tho why on two machines at once is beyond me) as the normal behaviour is always to open with the Message pane, but it opens without a window; almost as soon as I open the Message pane it updates with gmail and deletes any message I have moved on the web side. So, only partly broken, but broken enough to be useless!

Cheers, Colin

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2010 9:08 AM in response to Colin Cohen

Colin,

Create a New User Account, and as that New User try to set up this one Gmail account. If not familiar with setting up a New User Account, see:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8235.html

This will be a useful test, and is not meant to suggest a permanent switch to the New User Account, but rather a test of the Mail application outside of your normal User Account. If no problem in the New User Account, then we will know what other steps to take.

Sorry to not remember you were posting in the Leopard forum.

Ernie

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Answer 8

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 9:24 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Thank you again Ernie.

I have guest a/c on both my Macs - if I understand you correctly I could use this and then try and access my existing gMail via Apple Mail from that, and switch back to my own Mac a/c after the trial, or should I be setting up a new gMail a/c to test with my Guest a/c.

I am loth to go off and experiment if anything I do might damage gMail data as it is a vital archive to me!

Cheers, Colin

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Answer 9

Apr 2, 2010 9:32 AM in response to Colin Cohen

If an IMAP account, or Gmail, then accessing from multiple devices or User Accounts presents no risk to the messages. Setting the existing Gmail account in the Guest account will do nicely, but I would probably create an entirely New User Account and not have it in the Guest account.

Ernie

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Answer 10

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 9:53 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Thanks, done.

Set up new a/c (incidentally logging out did not get Mail to quit - I always have to Force quit Mail even tho' in Force quit it is not shown as 'Not responding').

Logged on immediately, had to kill processes hastily before I downloaded a gig but message opened just fine.

So, nowt wrong with gMail (clearly everyone would be up in arms if it were broken), and the cop of Mail on my MacBook presumably OK as well, so how do I persuade my main accounts that they are just as healthy?!

Cheers, Colin

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Answer 11

Apr 2, 2010 10:31 AM in response to Colin Cohen

Colin,

Next thing to try is to either move the com.apple.mail.plist file from Home/Library/Preferences.

To purge the com.apple.mail.plist file remove the com.apple.mail.plist file from Home/Library/Preferences. For safety, make a duplicate of the Mail folder (Home/Library/Mail) and drag that copy to your Desktop for temporary backup. Quit Mail, remove the plist file, relaunch Mail and Decline to import anything, instead simply re-enter your account(s) setup info. Mail should then rediscover the existing account folder(s).

Ernie

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Answer 12

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 10:46 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

The job is in hand ...

Copying my Mail folder on MacBook (3.65 Gb tho gMail web interface says I am only using 1.08 Gb) and will then try the next stage. I am not clear how my iMac was OK when i went to France, my MBP went awry and then my iMac caught it, but I guess fixing the one Mac will not fix the other Mac.

I may have to prove it works and then Force quit as I don't want to do the download before midnight as I am capped with capacity out here ...

Thanks again Colin

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Answer 13

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 2, 2010 12:39 PM in response to Colin Cohen

It seems to have worked on my MBP, tho when I tried the same process (deleting plist and b/u my Mail folder) on my iMac I was not prompted to set up a new account, but did so.

However the result is now that it still works on my MBP, but I get the same spinning beech ball when I try to open a message on my iMac.

Hey ho ...

Colin

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Answer 14

Apr 5, 2010 11:58 AM in response to Colin Cohen

I had the same issue with mail.app for few hours now and after reading around, it seems that you just need to unlock the captcha.

Quit mail.app
go to https://www.google.com/accounts/DisplayUnlockCaptcha
unlock the captcha
launch mail
et voila!

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Answer 15

Colin Cohen Author

Level 1

58 points

Apr 5, 2010 1:05 PM in response to redcloud75013

Thanks for that - but sadly whatever my problem is it must be slightly different to yours as this is not the answer - and what impossible Captchas they now have!

I have done as earlier suggested and ended up with no change on my iMac and what looked like a working solution to my MBP, though both originally presented in the same way.

I took my MBP somewhere with decent bandwidth and all seemed to be going well after an unexpected quit by Mil. Then the data transfer slowed to a crawl (5KB/s?) and the Activity monitor stalled. I left it on over night and it cleared and all data was uploaded except the signatures which is a pain.

What I now have is Apple Mail on my MBP functioning in all respects, except that I can send [tho I can move messages to different folders, for instance]. Connection doctor shows I am connected to gMail for IMAP and SMTP, but if I try and send any message or reply after a few moments the message reopens and I get the error 'Cannot send message using the server gMail out The sender address xxx@googlemail.com was rejected by the server smtp.gmail.com'

It all works fine via the web inteface, I am baffled.

Cheers, Colin

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