Setting Up Gmail POP Account

Question

Level 1

13 points

Setting Up Gmail POP Account

I recently changed my Google password and forgot that it also deactivates the Mail app password-DOH!

After deleting accounts and re-adding them I still don't have Mail app doing what it used to do: downloading emails I have archived in Gmail.

I run a few websites and send all their email through Gmail for filtering. I then download only emails I need on my mac with the Mail app.

Right now, it's just on IMAP which is not what I want regardless of the increased security of it. I don't want to display Gmail mailboxes on my mac.

I only want to be able to check gmail with a browser, delete all the crap and archive the emails I want and need on my mac.

I'm sure this question has been posed before but I've tried several times and I must not be using the right keywords.

I have created a POP Gmail account on the Mail app but the settings must not be right because it's still trying to download ALL the messages out there. Even when I've let it finish this process it still is not behaving correctly so right now the POP account is not enabled.

Any help to get the Mail app working as I need it to would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thank you,

Jeff

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.6

Posted on May 15, 2024 12:54 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,142 points

May 17, 2024 6:53 AM in response to gronesy

The only way to get to a POP setup is enter bogus info in username and password. It will then ask if you want to set up manually. I don't know how that will work with Gmail's 2-factor authentication protocol.

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Answer 2

gronesy Author

Level 1

13 points

May 17, 2024 11:18 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hi Barney,

I've been able to set up a POP account on Gmail using the app password I had to recreate after I changed my Google password.

I'm thinking there is something in "Mailbox behavior" that is not right because it's not acting like it was before I changed the Google password, had to delete the previous POP account and had to recreate the wheel.

As I mentioned earlier, I need to be able to check gmail on a browser, get rid of all the trash, archive the messages I want to save on my mac and then use Mail to download them.

I do NOT just want to have my gmail account displayed on my mac.

Jeff

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,142 points

May 17, 2024 12:03 PM in response to gronesy

gronesy wrote:

Hi Barney,

I've been able to set up a POP account on Gmail using the app password I had to recreate after I changed my Google password.

I'm thinking there is something in "Mailbox behavior" that is not right because it's not acting like it was before I changed the Google password, had to delete the previous POP account and had to recreate the wheel.

As I mentioned earlier, I need to be able to check gmail on a browser, get rid of all the trash, archive the messages I want to save on my mac and then use Mail to download them.

I do NOT just want to have my gmail account displayed on my mac.

Jeff

I don’t understand what you want. I just told you how you can trick Mail into allowing you to manually set up the Gmail account giving you the ability to change it to POP.

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Answer 4

gronesy Author

Level 1

13 points

May 18, 2024 8:04 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hey Barney,

Thanks for your response. Maybe a quick rundown of my workflow would help.

I have a number of websites that have email forwarders sending to my Gmail account for spam filtering and review. After I remove the junk I just want to be able to use POP to download the messages I have archived in Gmail to my Mac Mail app. That way, I have a local copy of the emails I need which are then backed up by Time Machine.

When I changed my Google password (at the suggestion of Equifax) it de-authorized my Mac Mail app password. After working with Gmail support, I was able to create a new one. When I tried to set up the POP account it only downloads a limited number of Ebay emails for some unknown reason. I'm assuming this is the "mailbox behaviors" settings that are not correct. I need to know what the correct settings are.

I have no interest in using IMAP which it is currently. It only keeps a live connection between my Gmail account and my Mac mail app. I want the inbox for the Mac Mail app to only have emails I've downloaded from Gmail and need to act on.

Does this make sense? I know IMAP is more secure but I don't want IMAP behavior for my local Mail mailboxes.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,142 points

May 18, 2024 10:15 AM in response to gronesy

When I tried to set up the POP account it only downloads a limited number of Ebay emails for some unknown reason.

That's how POP works. Once you download the messages from the server, they are gone. It will only download the new messages.

I'm assuming this is the "mailbox behaviors" settings that are not correct. I need to know what the correct settings are.

I don't use POP so I don't know how they should be set. They wouldn't make much sense for POP as they set whether to store messages on the Server or Locally. POP doesn't store messages on the server. There was a setting to not erase from the server, but I don't know where that is, now.

I have no interest in using IMAP which it is currently.

I understand that is what you want. I have explained how you set up POP on Mail. You cannot change from IMAP to POP. You have to remove the IMAP account and manually set it up again.

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Answer 6

gronesy Author

Level 1

13 points

May 18, 2024 12:32 PM in response to Barney-15E

Hey Barney,

I can't figure out what's going on here!

I've deleted the POP and IMAP accounts on Mail and re-added the POP account. It verifies and connects but when I try to get new mail it's downloading the exact same 438 ebay messages ONLY. I can't see anywhere in the settings either on Mail or Gmail that's telling it to do this.

When I go to the Google settings to set up the POP it says it's already enabled. If I try to make any changes to that setting it gives me an ERROR Saving Settings message-UGH!

Jeff

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Answer 7

May 18, 2024 1:09 PM in response to gronesy

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding the issue. If you have been using a POP account, when you access the email account the emails are downloaded to the device accessing the POP account. So if you then access the POP account again, or from a different device, only newly received emails will be available on the server for download to the device accessing the account.

FWIW, I am not understanding why anyone would use the older POP protocol rather than IMAP. You can create local folders to retain IMAP emails if that is your goal.

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Answer 8

Barney-15E

Level 10

113,142 points

May 18, 2024 2:11 PM in response to gronesy

As BobTheFisherman stated, POP doesn't store messages on the server. Once you download them they are removed from the server. Mail will only download the new messages. There is no setting to change that other than what I mentioned about leaving them on the server.

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Answer 9

gronesy Author

Level 1

13 points

May 19, 2024 7:38 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

Hey BobTheFisherman,

Before my Google password change what I used POP for was accessing the archived emails I'd already brought up on Gmail from a browser. I then sorted them into the relevant mailboxes on my Mac.

In other words, I had MY inbox on my mac in Mail and not mirroring Gmails inbox. I have projects that I need to keep front and center until completed. MY inbox was the way I did this.

Plus, every time I've now tried to set up a new POP account (after deleting the old one) it attempts to download EVERY message on the Gmail server. Any attempt in Google to limit the POP activity to only emails from this point on is met with and error so it stays enabled for EVERYTHING.

I know IMAP is more secure but POP before now has allowed me to work as I need to. With IMAP I have to leave all my project emails in the Gmail inbox which is just messy.

Up to this point, I've been able to only download Gmail messages that I've archived or that arrived between checking Gmail in my browser and starting up Mail on the Mac.

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