Mac – How to configure Gmail in Mail.app to sync the mail messages with multiple clients

emailmac

I want all my mails to stay on Google server (as I read them from multiple clients and from the web), being able to delete then from the client (deleting them on the server as well) and do not retrieve all 3GB of them when first configuring the program.

When trying to add a new Gmail account, Mail doesn't ask how to configure it, so it’s not the Exchange configuration I'm after.

How do I configure Mac Mail app so that it works with Gmail like iOS's mail application does when configured with Exchange server?

Best Answer

You can configure Gmail as IMAP account type. That will sync your mail messages between multiple mail clients.

That leaves open your request to not retrieve all 3Gb of mail when first configuring the program. There I haven't got an answer only a possible workaround. Many mail clients limit their download sizes when they are on low bandwidth connections. You could try to limit your bandwidth, for exmample to 8 kbps, with these terminal commands when having Gmail configured to use secure imap:

$ sudo ipfw pipe 1 config bw 8kbit/s #create reduced bandwidth pipe
$ sudo ipfw add pipe 1 src-port imaps #sent traffic from imaps thru pipe

As Gmail is not offering an Exchange server, only ActiveSync compatible, you will never get an exact similar experience with Gmail.

Related Question