In today's multi-device, always-connected world, one has to wonder how loud the call for Gmail to do IMAP has to get before Google pulls their head out of their
ass server room and flips the switch. Our
trick for using Gmail over IMAP might not be an easy 1-2 setup but it definitely works well. If you're looking for an easier method to simply allow multiple email clients to download your Gmail, however,
UneasySilence has highlighted an unsung Gmail feature that should do the trick. Simply adding a 'recent:' prefix to your login credentials (i.e. - recent:user@gmail.com) in any of your secondary POP clients will allow that client to download up to the last 30 days of mail, regardless of whether you've already downloaded it. For those who would like to check their Gmail on a mobile device in addition to a desktop client, this is definitely a great trick to have, but it certainly isn't a replacement for IMAP as UneasySilence seems to be indirectly stating. For example: when checking messages over IMAP, you can use Client A (for the sake of discussion) to read a few messages, delete a few, maybe move some into folders or tag them using the plug-ins
we mentioned. Across all your other email clients - including mobile phones - those messages will appear as read, deleted or filed away, with no further effort on your part. This is the beauty of IMAP and one of the many reasons why so many Gmail enthusiasts - widely known to be early adopters and power users - are clamoring for Google to join the rest of us in the 21st century by providing IMAP in addition to POP. Heck, even a nominal fee for IMAP wouldn't be out of the question.
So how about it Google? While spending all that time trying to make it easier to find and manage information, are you listening to how your customers would like to be able to manage their mail?
Tags: gmail, IMAP, POP, UneasySilence
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Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsZachs GreeneJul 31st 2007 2:04PM
It doesn't look like IMAP will ever happen with Gmail. It seems that Google are pushing their pseudo-client and gave up on any other protocol (as we all know even their POP implementation lacks and is pretty non-standard).
It was amazing to read over the past 1/2 year+ the thousands of posts and petitions/signature, while nothing ever changed on G's side.
Oh well. There's always Yahoo/Live/AOL as an alternative
JamesJul 31st 2007 5:35PM
Google is supplying Gears so that you can read your Gmail offline. With that in place, the only shortcoming I can see between an IMAP client and Offline Gmail is that if you have a platform not supported by Gears (I assume most mobile devices will not support it), you lose offline capability. Is that pretty much the problem?
Since I don't have a mobile device that I need offline Gmail from, I guess I stick to the Gmail web client ;-)
David ChartierJul 31st 2007 6:16PM
Using an OS-integrated IMAP client offers far, far, far more capabilities and time-saving features than simply reading email that could easily disappear if your browser crashes. Being able to select 20 pictures in a photo organization app and clicking one button to create downsized JPG copies of those images and attaching them to a new blank email can't be down with javascript and a Firefox add-on. Having all my eBay customers automatically imported into Address Book through a desktop-based auction app and automatically emailed when I leave feedback or ship an item can't be done via webmail or other kinds of scripting trickery.
I can understand if some webmail users out there simply don't need or care about features like this, but IMAP isn't just about being able to read your email while offline. A true desktop-based email client opens the doors to all the other data and applications that a browser and some little javascript simply can't integrate with.