Gmail POP Trouble

Question

Hello,
I usually integrate my POP Gmail account(s) with Mail. Recently I created a new administrator account on my iMac, moved my files over, and attempted to setup a new Gmail POP account in Mail on the new user. I entered all of the information correctly, however Mail simply refuses to display any new messages whatsoever, including test messages I've sent to myself. The inbox on Gmail.com works fine, so it isn't a server-side issue.
POP is enabled on my account, the ports are 465 and 995 respectively, and I simply cannot think of what the problem may be.
Furthermore, I remembered I had changed some of the permissions of the Macintosh HD folders (Library, etc) from "system" to my new user account specifically, but unfortunately changing them back did nothing to resolve the problem, even after a reboot. I even tried removing them from my old username's Mail.
Could anyone please help me? Thanks!

Answer 1

Hello Takeshi.
It could be that what you’re observing is actually expected behavior. 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.