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Very slow receiving Gmail mails in Apple mail

Since Mail and Gmail do not work well together in Mavericks ( fine in Mountain Lion), I keep both my mail account and my webmail on.

Using Gmail both with Gmail apps for the company, as for private through Gmail.

Now I notice that it takes several minutes (can be 5 or more) before mails that I see in my webmail and that arrive to my Iphone are coming to my Mac's Mail.

Anybody noticed this as well and found a solution?

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 2:08 AM

Reply
36 replies

Oct 26, 2013 12:45 PM in response to yvesleon3105

Hi yvesleon3105,


Thanks for visiting Apple Support Communities.


You may want to check the setting, found in the Mail preferences, that determines how often it will check for new messages from a mail server or service such a Gmail.


Lion Mail: Check for new messages

http://support.apple.com/kb/PH4835

To automatically check for new messages, choose Mail > Preferences, click General, and then select a frequency from the “Check for new messages” pop-up menu. You can also select a sound to play when new messages arrive.

Best,


Jeremy

Nov 11, 2013 5:41 PM in response to yvesleon3105

I have this problem as well, since updating to Mavericks, and also doing the recent Mavericks update which was supposed to improve gmail interoperability.


For example, earlier today I was expecting an email and it did not appear in Apple Mail, after manually clicking Get All New Mail. I had the activity window open and watched it complete the progress bar for checking new messages. However the mail did not appear, even though I could see it sitting right in my Google inbox.


I decided to test again a couple hours later in case it was a peak traffic time. Right now, I can see four new messages in my gmail webmail app (using Google Apps) in my web browser. All of them arrived in gmail more than 30 minutes ago. In Apple Mail, I manually select Get All New Mail several times, and they still don't appear in Apple Mail.


Again, I watched the progress bars complete in the activity window. Still, they do not appear in Mail.


Jeremy, this is not related to the automatic "check for new messages" setting, as I am manually checking them repeatedly.


EDIT: All the missing messages did appear after a quit and relaunch of Mail

Dec 17, 2013 4:21 AM in response to yvesleon3105

I have also been having this problem - my phone alerts me that mail has arrived in my gmail account but it doesn't show up anytime soon in the mail app on my mac - not within a few minutes anyway. Changing the frequency of checks for new mail in preferences makes no difference, nor will manually initiating a check for new mail. The only thing that seems to work reliably is using the Mailbox/synchronize command. Can that be done automatically with a script? Anyone that could provide one would be my hero!


Workarounds I have used are


(1) Use Gmail web interface - gets the mail as fast as my phone but clumsy because I work across several accounts and search/move in mail.app as though they were one unified account

(2) Bought and installed airmail - works perfectly in terms of mail retrieval but lacks some sorting and organising features that I rely on

(3) Listen out for a new mail notification on my phone to prompt me to manually initiate a mailbox sync on the mac - sounds ridiculous but actually the best of the three workarounds for me.


email is something I use all day everyday and this problem has had a massive impact on my professional response time. from a quality point of view I need to stop using my mac, however the set up time in migrating to a MS office has stopped me from doing that yet

Dec 19, 2013 9:46 PM in response to yvesleon3105

Email is around for how many years? Yet, Apple cannot, or don't want to give us a usable email software for how many years? The new version, under the equally troubling new OS, is simply unacceptable! Slow, not working, unpredictable, not working, slow, cannot quit, cannot send out email with attachment, etc... What's going on Apple? You guys need someone who can run bring back the quality and common sense!

Jan 6, 2014 2:05 PM in response to NotSoCool

The new version, mavericks, is making me doubt why I spent so much money on a computer that was supposed to be good quality. Nothing works. How is it possible that I cannot use my Mail app (because it's too slow and receives my e-mails thousands of times) nor the one that I used before (for the same reasons)? I am going to reset my OS to the previous one, this is worst than the worst windows.

Feb 4, 2014 8:31 PM in response to yvesleon3105

I am having the same issue. Mavericks Mail application is very slow at retreiving Gmail messages, even after manually clicking on Get Mail. This was never an issue with the previous version of OSX I've used (Leopard, Snow Loepard, Lion, Mountain Lion). I have sent Apple feedback on this issue. After so many months, Apple has not yet resolved this issue. 😠

Feb 5, 2014 9:30 AM in response to yvesleon3105

I'm having the same problem. Jeremy's solution doesn't work. I have the setting on automatic already and it doesn't make a difference. The only thing that works is to quit mail and reload it. Often the mail program won't quit however and I have to force quit it so there must be something up with that. The delays are long and troublesome so I find myself shutting the program down often. After being a hard Apple patron for years I am finding myself migrating to Google products specifically for these reasons. As an independent contractor I have to be very focused on my professional appearance and increasingly apple products are making me look bad vis a vis my clients. Not responding to a client's email for 30 minutes because you don't know an email came in isn't working in my favor.

Very slow receiving Gmail mails in Apple mail

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