Q: Apple mail does not sync with gMail

I’m not a very sophisticated Mail user, but a long-time dependent on it. Thank you all for posting the latest on what you know. Before this morning, I was confident I was seeing all my new email in my Inbox. For the past 3 hours, a chunk of emails sitting in Archives didn't don’t show up in my Inbox. I restarted the program and requested all new email, but the missing emails in Archives did not show up in my Inbox - all involve gmail accounts. Just now all those missing emails started to appear in my inbox - 3 hours late. My Mail activity window now shows an inordinate amount of activity all of a sudden.

Long and short - I need a way right now to be sure I’m getting all my email. Is keeping three web mail windows open on my desktop at all times for my three gmail accounts a good stop-gap measure? Is there one place (other than this thread) where I can keep on top of any suggested fixes or changes in this situation? Downloading and using a new mail program would be an overwhelming chore for me right now.

BTW - I know of one long-time expert who is exploring alternatives to keeping his gmail addresses but running them through his iCloud account, which he doesn’t give out and keeps 'pristine’. He hopes to find a way to reply to gmail emails so that they look like they are being sent from the gmail account and not from the cloud. I think he is exploring aliases? If this makes sense, can you point me to new information about this potentially permanent workaround? Or quash it cold as unfeasible?

I appreciate the information on alternative programs. In more than 20 years of using Apple’s products, I’ve never experienced such bad treatment from Apple. For the first time, my confidence in using Apple products is very shaken.

There are definitely smarter people than me in regard to how email works.  I use gmail with two accounts.  Essentially, all the mail resides in gmail on-line, so I can lauch Mail, Airmail, or Mail Pilot (the latter two clients I have been experimenting with) and get all of my mail.  They draw what is on-line, so there is no issue running any particular one.  So far, I have been using Airmail. I say this to imply that downloading a new client for me is no issue - nothing to do buy lauch it and add the accounts.

Others may know better places than here for updates (e.g. macrumours).

Excess activity in window?

I also have the problem that Mail erratically synches with gmail inbox. I have only one IMAP account for gmail. Here's a hint at the problem. Looking at Mail/Window/Activity [or option/command/zero] I sometimes notice much, continuing activity interchanging information between my Mac Mail client and the gmail server. I can continue for many minutes, changing labels, updating caches, etc. This may be somehow interfering with synching Mail/gmail. In any event, it is a waste of bandwidth. Stopping and restarting Mail doesn't stop this activity; it restarts. Also, strangely, I usually have to click Mail/Window/Activity twice [or Command/Option/zero twice] to display the activity window.

Me too. Hopefully Apple will fix this soon.

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1703273

Shouldn't be too long, we hope.

Pete

Andrew, I gave Postbox another whirl and ended up buying it. It's working perfectly and I'm extremely satisfied with it. I am able to format it on the screen the way I want, and it does not have Thunderbird's irritating properties of non-loading of images and strange search results. I may well stick with this even if they ever do fix Mail. Thanks for the suggestion!

You're welcome!  I figure there are email programs out there that'll fit just about anyone's preferences; it's simply a matter of finding the right one.  Macworld published an article last year about alternatives to Mail that gave capsule reviews of most of the programs out there at the time.  Those reviews are out-of-date (for example, it appears Airmail has improved since then and Inky has developed issues, and Mail Pilot is now out of beta) but they give an overview of how each program is designed, and I found it helpful:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2058525/ditch-maverickss-mail-other-email-apps-y ou-can-try.html

As good as Apple is, it is not the only quality software developer out there.  I also feel that no one email program will be able to satisfy everyone because we all have different approaches to email and different priorities.  I stopped using Apple's Mail about 4-5 years ago because I found products that better suited my needs.  Some of these products are free, some cost very little (Airmail costs $2, Postbox costs $5), some are a bit more (Unibox is $10, Mail Pilot is on an introductory offer at $10).  It may be worth investigating your options, even if or when Apple fixes Mail's problems.

I, like many others, have been following your discussions with great interest and admiration for the respectful comments and support most people are giving.

I wanted to add something I may have missed in all the posts. My iMac mail account seems to be the "Papa Bear" - whatever I do there translates out to ALL my other devices -- If I read a message on my iMac desktop, for example, All my other iPhone, iPad, MBAir and older iMac desktop show it read. Here's the glitch. If I read an email on my iPad, it will show it read only on my iPhone. All computers are running Mavericks, and all are up to date.

MBAir:  Now, if I DELETE a message from my MBAir, It will delete the message on the iMac desktop. It will NOT show messages read, though.

iPhone:  Same goes for the iPhone -- If I DELETE messages, they get deleted from all. But if I READ messages, nothing changes and neither of the computers shows "read" except the iPhone and the iPad.

iPad:  The iPad and the iPhone seem to be synced  -- it's so very strange!

Thanks for all the chatter about this!

Hmm.  I don't have that issue on my Mavericks MacBook Pro, and although I mostly use Mailbox on my iPad and iPhone, I do occasionaly use iOX Mail.  Since I haven't used Apple Mail in years, I can't compare directly.  I can tell you that occasionally I'd notice either a lag in synchronization, or no sych at all, when I was using Sparrow as my email client, but since I've been using Airmail that issue hasn't surfaced.

Maybe try a free or low-cost email client other than Mavericks Mail and see if the same issue crops up?  That'd be the surest way to localize the problem, I think.

Thanks for the suggestion, Andrew. I am giving postbox a shot and so far I like it – except for one thing: I don't like the conversation view. I prefer the "old-style" view of Mac mail with each email listed individually. Is there a way to make it display this way? I have poked around in the menus but can't figure it out. Thanks in advance.

I like the conversation messages listed separately, also. I've just finished poking around the preferences myself looking for this option, but I don't see it anywhere. If you figure out a way, let me know.

Thanks, Donnie.

Found it—go to the View menu / Threads / De-select "Organize by Thread".

Thanks so much, Donnie! One other thing – when I installed it, it downloaded a bunch of messages into my inbox – all the way back from 2011. All of these messages are messages that I either deleted or put in a named folder back when I received them so I don't know why they are appearing in my inbox. I could just go through and delete them all in Postbox but I'm afraid that would screw something up. Anyone know what gives?