G-Mail and Apple Mail problems

Question

I have had tons of problems with my Mail app and Gmail. A window pops open and asks for my password and then does not have any effect on allowing retrieval from the server. Often times I cannot download my mail from gmail at all....have you had similar problems??
OK....
this gmail/mac mail problem caused me a ton of suffering.....but I think I have it figured out....
I think the problem stems from the fact that if you use gmail through a browser and send messages, for example if you are away from your computer, then those sent messages eventually get stored as new conversations. When you return to using your mail app the messages you sent will appear in your inbox as new mail, sent by you.
I am not quite sure how the next step happens but after a lot of fidgeting what I found was that, after erasing my inbox in gmail(this is probably not necessary), after backing up the messages, I went into gmail's preferences and in POP and Forwarding I selected allow POP for all mail. What happened next was unusual....even though the entire mail box on the gmail server was empty.....when Mail started to get the messages it showed that there were over 300 messages to download. The interesting thing was that most of these messages were sent by me to someone else and had an attachment.
After downloading and erasing all these old messages that were causing this case of Mail constipation I went into Mail preferences>>>accounts>>>advanced and clicked the box "remove copy from server after retrieving message" option and then "right away"in the pull down menu. I also clicked the "remove now" button to clear all previously downloaded messages from the server. I noticed on the Mail app that this happened almost immediatly as Mail went about removing all these old messages from the server.
Since this I have not had any problems. I believe that the problem lies somwhere in the way that Gmail creates "conversations". Somehow sent mail gets spirited away in some nook on the server and accumulates, eventually causing a case of constipation. These backed up messages somehow cause the Mail app to not be able to retrieve new messages. If you find this happening do as I have and see what effect it has. Allow your Mail app to down load all the messages it "sees" and keep an eye on what they are(this may take several hours). Often they will be old and previously sent/downloaded mail. Erase them and make sure that they are erased from the server using the advanced option in Mail preferences.
Maybe someone with a more technical background can explain this phenomenon better.
Good Luck.

Answer 1

"A search for Mail AND Gmail in these forums (or a
search for just Gmail restricted to this particular
forum) could have saved you a lot of time and would
have provided you a better understanding of what's
going on (note, it should be "Gmail", not "G-Mail")"
I wonder what the purpose of this reply of yours could be. If it is that something I've said has upset you, I don't know what it could be and I really wouldn't care if it wasn't because your statements could mislead other users into misunderstanding how Gmail actually works. There is nothing in the post that originated this thread that has not already been discussed recently in this forum, except for false assumptions that I'll have to clarify now.
First, choosing a setting in Preferences... > Accounts > Advanced > Remove copy from server after retrieving message has no effect on a Gmail account, absolutely none, no matter whether you choose "Right away", or "After a month" or anything else. Yes, Mail will no longer see those messages, but neither would it had you chosen to leave the messages on the server instead. The messages are simply no longer available there for any POP mail client after having downloaded them. The messages are still on the server, however, and you can read them with a web browser. That's how Gmail works.
Second, clicking Remove now in that same preference pane in Mail has no effect on a Gmail account either, absolutely none. The reason this doesn't work is the same as before. The messages on the server have been hidden by Gmail after downloading them and POP mail clients can no longer see them, nor delete them, nor do anything with them, until you go to the Gmail web site and configure your mail account to make all messages still there available for POP download again.
Third, the only way to get a message deleted from the server with a Gmail account is to log into your account with a web browser. Now, if you want your messages to be deleted immediately after being downloaded by Mail, you can accomplish that by choosing the appropriate setting in the web account settings page -- and you are limited to the options provided there. Mail's own settings will continue to be completely and utterly ignored by Gmail.
Now, had you searched these forums as I suggested or just followed the links I provided in my first reply would certainly have saved both you and me and probably anybody else that chose to read this thread a lot of time.
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