Gmail not syncing with .Mac

Question

Hi,
I am having an issue with Gmail and Mail that I can't find a solution to anywhere and I am hoping that someone here can provide some insight.
I use Mail.app on a G5 and an iBook and use .Mac to keep mail, calendar and addresses in-sync b/w the two. I have 4 email accounts set up in Mail.app: DotMac, Gmail, Qwest.net and another POP account. All of them work sync fine b/w the two machines except for Gmail. I can receive Gmail on either machine without any problem. The trouble begins when I receive Gmail on one machine, sync with .Mac, and then go to the other machine and sync with .Mac there. The Gmail email that I received on the first machine and already read doesn't show up on the new machine. However, the other email addresses all do this just fine. Does it have something to do with the way Gmail's POP service works? I have Gmail set to archive emails. Does that matter?
I would greatly appreciate any help. This has been killing me!
Thnx!
Brian
G5   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Hi Brian.
First of all, .Mac doesn’t synchronize locally stored mail between computers. Only mail stored on the server can be synchronized, and you don’t need .Mac for that; any IMAP account would do. If you can see mail received on your POP accounts on both computers, it’s because they’re both downloading it from the server, not because of any .Mac synchronization.
Moreover, Gmail POP access doesn’t work as a normal POP mail server would. Here are some of its idiosyncrasies:
1. Messages downloaded by any conventional POP mail client are marked as downloaded at the server (but not as read on the web), and no longer available to either the same or any other POP mail client.
2. To make already downloaded Gmail messages available for POP access again, you must log into your Gmail account with a web browser and re-enable POP downloading for all your messages, which will cause everything (and I mean everything) still there to be downloaded again.
3. Any Mail > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > Remove copy from server settings have absolutely no effect on the messages stored on Gmail’s server. The reason is that, after being downloaded, those messages are no longer available to any mail client, not even to the same client that has just downloaded them, not even for deleting them or checking whether they are still there.
4. Messages created and sent using the web interface will be downloaded by your POP mail client as if they were incoming messages. You can set up a rule in Mail to automatically route those messages to the appropriate Sent mailbox (or to any other mailbox for that matter) if that's what you want. Although this may seem weird, it's good because it allows archiving all messages locally in Mail, regardless of how they were sent -- as long as you don't access the same Gmail account with more than one POP mail client, that is.
5. Messages created and sent using a POP mail client such as Mail are also treated as if they were incoming messages for POP purposes, just as in 4. What prevents them from being downloaded is that Gmail marks them as already downloaded immediately. They would, however, be downloaded if Gmail settings were changed as described in 2 above.
6. As a particular case of 5, messages sent to yourself will appear in your Inbox on the web, but cannot be downloaded by either the same or any other POP mail client.