Gmail now supports IMAP

Yes folks, the team in charge of Google’s Gmail just announced their popular email service will now support the IMAP protocol.

This will allow Gmail users to send and receive mail directly through traditional mail applications, such as Outlook, Apple Mail and Mozilla Thunderbird.

Yes, I know, Gmail already supports POP, so why should you change your local mail application settings to use IMAP? The answer is simple: Unlike POP, IMAP offers bidirectional communications between the local and the remote mail clients, so if you delete a message in Thunderbird, then go on vacation and log in to your Gmail account via a Web browser, the action you accomplished at home will reflect inside the web interface.

Most users do not have access to this new feature yet, but it shouldn’t be very long until it becomes available for everybody.

Getting started with IMAP for Gmail

16 Responses to Gmail now supports IMAP

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Now that's a great news !

Apparently this function is not yet available for google apps for domains yet. Hope this will come soon :)

Now that’s a great news !

Apparently this function is not yet available for google apps for domains yet. Hope this will come soon :)

This is definitely a step in the right direction for GMail. One of the main reasons I have always hosted my own email is that I require IMAP support. This allows me to have the same "view" of my email whether I'm at home, the office or on the road.

This is definitely a step in the right direction for GMail. One of the main reasons I have always hosted my own email is that I require IMAP support. This allows me to have the same “view” of my email whether I’m at home, the office or on the road.

I've been using a portable version of Thunderbird for a long time now and it's really annoying when I forget to grab my thumb drive. I've been eagerly awaiting my account to get IMAP ever since it was announced but still no love here.

I’ve been using a portable version of Thunderbird for a long time now and it’s really annoying when I forget to grab my thumb drive. I’ve been eagerly awaiting my account to get IMAP ever since it was announced but still no love here.