When we checked Gmail Help database this evening, Gmail had said that they support POP, but not IMAP. Then a few minutes later, that doc was gone, and a stack of IMAP related help docs were up. The new pages explain how to integrate the new mail feature. It's as easy as setting up POP, but with huge benefits.
Why is IMAP integration a good thing for Gmail? POP was a stepping stone, but IMAP pushes Gmails benefits over the top. With IMAP, users can now access their email via a desktop application like Outlook or Thunderbird, read emails, make changes, delete, and have the changes made across platforms. So if you now log into your Gmail account, the message which you read in Thunderbird, will now be marked accordingly. No more wasting time trying to sift through emails that had already been answered.
Take a peek under your Settings in Gmail, and click into your 'Forwarding and POP IMAP' tab to see if you are one of the lucky ones who got IMAP first.
UPDATE: Some users are reporting that if they log out and back into Gmail accounts, IMAP settings are showing up! There is hope!
UPDATE 2: Dont worry if you IMAP isn't appearing in your account, Google will be rolling it out to everyone over the next few days.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
10-23-2007 @ 9:22PM
David Chartier said...
WANT!
Wow I've been begging for this for over a year now. Don't see it in my prefs yet. Cmon Gmail I wuv you!! Hook a geek up, mmk?
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10-23-2007 @ 9:30PM
Rishabh Kumar said...
My super old gmail address (okay not too old but from 2005) has the IMAP option!!! Too bad it's become a spam account :(
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10-23-2007 @ 9:37PM
David Truong said...
Woot I got IMAP.. now i gotta go mark all my messages as read =)
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10-23-2007 @ 9:38PM
Chris Gilmer said...
Why does Google tease people by only releasing these kinds of features randomly?
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10-23-2007 @ 10:08PM
Brent said...
No luck here darn it! I'll now be checking way to often until this feature arrives. I've wanted this for a while now...
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10-23-2007 @ 10:21PM
Kimberly said...
Cool, I have it in my account
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10-23-2007 @ 10:25PM
Michael Rose said...
The Big G has thoughtfully added a setup walkthrough page for iPhone owners:
https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=77702
If you are trying IMAP Gmail on your iPhone, let us know over at TUAW:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/10/23/gmail-flips-the-switch-on-imap-support/
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10-23-2007 @ 10:25PM
michael said...
I don't want to be a downer, but Live Hotmail has already had this feature for a while.
Just saying that Microsoft isn't always behind and the company that always copies everyone. Not in this case.
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10-23-2007 @ 10:26PM
Chris Pereira said...
Just looked, and I've got it. Funny how I get it when I didn't know what IMAP was before checking this story out. XD
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10-23-2007 @ 10:35PM
Steve said...
Cool. About time. Someone already said that Live Hotmail has IMAP, and actually AIM and AOL Mail have had IMAP support for literally years.
Gonna go change my Thunderbird config....
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10-23-2007 @ 10:52PM
David Chartier said...
Google, like many sites, often roll out features slowly like this to ensure a smooth ride for both their servers and the users. You can't always test every angle of software like this and sometimes ya just gotta roll it out slowly and carefully to make sure it sticks right.
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10-23-2007 @ 10:55PM
Pharisee said...
Cool. I got it. Can't wait to start copying all my "before Gmail" email to gmail from outlook. Should be very straight-forward from Outlook.
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10-23-2007 @ 11:17PM
jP said...
I don't have it yet and I have used pop since forever. I also think I was a beta tester, so it has nothing to do with that. I hope to see this new feature by tomorrow!
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10-23-2007 @ 11:19PM
nitish Jha said...
how do u enable IMAP in windows live email ?
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10-23-2007 @ 11:22PM
Robby Valles said...
it worked on my iPhone!
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10-23-2007 @ 11:30PM
dpratt said...
Nooooo!
Who do I email/beg/bribe to get this enabled for my gmail account? I've been waiting for gmail IMAP for years!
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10-23-2007 @ 11:32PM
pons said...
I haven't got the upgrade, but I have some idea on how to enable it for user who don't have the option in their panel.
For someone who's got imap, please put your mail in basic HTML mode (on the bottom of the page) and then go to the settings and select Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
The url should show something like ?v=prfap, but not exactly the same.. That's maybe the point to get it
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10-23-2007 @ 11:43PM
kme said...
Wow. I just checked and I have IMAP access too. It's a 2005 account, I think.
Great...
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10-23-2007 @ 11:50PM
Rudy C said...
I tried the log out relogin and it showed up!!
I did have POP enabled before.
Now time to change settings!
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10-23-2007 @ 11:57PM
Jason H said...
Grr my account isn't enabled yet! Tried logging out and back in. Had POP enabled already. Had the account since 2004. I've been waiting forever for this!!! I can finally dump my clunky forwarding system!
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