Some people are reporting that gmail now has IMAP. I just checked and I don't have it. So I guess its being rolled out slowly as usual.

Download squad is reporting this with links to actual documentation the gmail site:
downloadsquad.com/2007/10/23/g ...

It's not available for me yet.... I really want this for my iPhone!

Here is a link to help files from google on how to enable IMAP mail.google.com/support/bin/an ...

I logged out of my accounts and logged back in again, and then I had the IMAP settings. Give that a go if you don't see it.

I tried the logout/login technique and still no good. I guess I'll just have to be patient.

I saw an article about this tonight on another site: tuaw.com/2007/10/23/gmail-flip ...

The logout/Login trick doesn't seem to work for me either so maybe it is being rolled out a few million accounts at a time.

I wonder if this will be announced officially on Friday Oct 26th when Apple's new OS comes out. Their mail.app application is supposed to have almost a seamless setup for getting Gmail and Yahoo to work with it.

Getting Started with IMAP for Gmail:
   mail.google.com/support/bin/an ...

[Moved from "IMAP support added in GMail" – Tony]

They are rolling out the feature now..some accounts have it already, others not (mine not right now :( )

mail.google.com/support/bin/an ...

i've got it now

great feature – tested it out today morning. works really great – no time-lag or other problems. labels are easily shown as folders. if your label has a "/" in the name, it will have sub-folders.

Does anyone know if IMAP also synchronizes the "Sent" mail folder? I find it annoying with POP when Gmail downloads all your sent items into your inbox – very inconvenient. If it does sync, then I can finally use Apple Mail.

Yes, but you need to set the Sent mail folder as [Gmail]/Sent Mail in you email client's settings.

Official Gmail Blog post:

gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10 ...

Also on the What's New page with a video demoing it on the iPhone:

+ Show video

I recon programmes such as Thunderbird could see an increase in usage because of this, I know the reason I don't use it is because Gmail only had POP (which is useless).

I think the big move will come from people with Windows Mobile phones. It's painful to run Java apps on them but the email client is native. IMAP will make GMail on your WinMo phone much less painful.

Will also provide a painfree way for Outlook users to start migrating.

<< I know the reason I don't use it is because Gmail only had POP (which is useless). >>

The only reason I moved my domain to Google Apps was *because* it had POP. I was pretty impressed to find that when I send an email from Outlook, it appears in my Gmail Sent Items. (And was equally pleased it sent me a copy if I sent an email from the web; a quick filter dumps them in my Sent Items folder too.)

I'm quite interested to see how IMAP will improve things though.

i have a question

with imap activated in google apps will it be possible to add that imap account in my default general gmail ?

so that i can manage my google apps mail account from my gmail account itself. right now i am using a pop 3 to retrive the mails from google apps to gmail

>> I'm quite interested to see how IMAP will improve things though.

IMAP supports labels as folders though meaning that all email will be sorted as they are online. Seeing as a lot of mail is caught by Gmail filters and automatically labelled, the local version will also have the correct folders.

IMAP support is much more useful because it resembles what is available through the web interface.

<< with imap activated in google apps will it be possible to add that imap account in my default general gmail ? >>

I don't think Gmail works as an IMAP client does it? It only works as a POP3 client using Mail Fetcher.

<< IMAP supports labels as folders though meaning that all email will be sorted as they are online. Seeing as a lot of mail is caught by Gmail filters and automatically labelled, the local version will also have the correct folders. >>

If you use lots of filters, I guess that's useful. I have some old rules setup in Outlook that sorts my POP mail but I tend to search for mail in Gmail rather than label it. (After creating about 30-50 labels I realised they were pretty useless.)

Got it.

If gMail gives a mail message TWO labels, where does the IMAP then put the message? Does it end up in TWO folders?

Thats what I was wondering Phil.
I always thought that was why Gmail didn't have IMAP.

Also lifehacker.com/software/gmail/ ...
Gives details on how to set up Archiving on iPhone/iPodtouch

EDIT: Above actually for all IMAP clients

Any plans for implementing IMAP for loading mail into GMail?

At least one of my Google Apps acounts have it and at least 3 don't.

I didn't want to drive everybody crazy to check their accounts.

Is there anyway to easily and painlessly switch outlook from POP to IMAP withouth going insane?

Michael: I hope they do that some time, too. It would free up one of the POP3 retrievals... Better yet, how about upping the five-account limit? ;)

Hey Guys,

I am from the UK and still dont have the IMAP feature,

Why not :(

Nothing here yet either (Germany).

Extremely useful when you have multiple Email accounts. I look forward to including Gmail to my Thunderbird.

Funny how this feature got fast-tracked once bunches of Googlers bought iPhones :).

Here's an overlooked benefit of Google introducing IMAP...

zoliblog.com/2007/10/24/simpli ...

At last! You can now easily *import* email into your Gmail or Google Apps account. So, if you switched from Gmail to Google Apps, or from an ISP account to Gmail, you can now import ALL your old email into one of your Gmail accounts!

Of course, that's assuming you have IMAP enabled on that account... ;-)

(BTW, I have seen it enabled on two of the six Gmail accounts I've got access to. It seems to be random again, although the account which has it is usually one of the first to get new features. It also got the Mail Fetcher before any of the others.)

Gosh. The idea of getting all my various mail backups going back decades and sticking them all into GMail... That's actually a little scary. Think I'll start by importing them into an 'archive' email address on my GAfyD.

Now when will gmail mail fetcher support IMAP?

Wondering if anyone can verify this:

I've got over 5 gmail/google hosted emails, only the most recently created accounts have IMAP enabled. Just to test this, I've just created a new gmail (blogoscoped.josue.rgmail) and it didn't appear, probably not soon enough. Maybe IMAP is only enabled per email server machine, one at a time.

Anyone care to check their new vs. old gmail/google hosted accounts to see if this is true?

PS.. Google, please hit the master button labeled "Enable IMAP For All Now" and stop teasing me already.They say "patience is a virtual" but my emails need extra attention, urgently. Thanks Google Almighty.

Josue R.

I have quite a number of Google App accounts. I personally use 3 of them while my other employees use the rest. The one account that had IMAP activated was one that was created quite a while ago – before one of the ones that don't have it. However I looked around a drop and I noticed that any account I checked that was created after May 1st had IMAP while the others (save for my one) didn't. However I only checked like a total of 7-8 accounts – so don't sell your theory!

For every new created account you have imap. So you can try

I still haven't received IMAP! Hurry up, I need it!

I have it in both Gmail and Google Apps. I tried it out on my Nokia N73 but definitely prefer the Gmail Mobile interface to the native app one that comes with phone. I may consider using it with Outlook or Thunderbird though rather than POP3.

YAY!!!! Me too!

Found a full length article on it here: blog.codesignstudios.com/2007/ ...

All in all, not too bad but not too good either. I'm still waiting for mine to get activated so I can see it for myself.

In India, I'm seeing it on my Google Apps accounts but not on gmail.

All Gmail users using English (US) should have IMAP now.

gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/10 ...

Looks like my account is near the end of Google's line. I only got it this morning. Come to think of it, I didn't get Mail Fetcher for a while, either. Whenever Google announces new features, I have to wait a week and a half to get them? Eh?