Gmail's IMAP, Leopard

I know I have stated before that Gmail's IMAP didn't work very well with Tiger's Mail 2, but now I would like to update you on Leopard's Mail 3 and its use of Gmail's IMAP.

It works.

As I hoped, it works similarly as the iPhone Mail application. It updates appropriately and makes adjustments on my iMac when it checks for new mail. Now I don't have emails waiting for me at home that I have already seen and archived with my iPhone.

Upgraded to Leopard

It is going well so far. I have successfully upgrade my iMac, PowerBook and MacBook to Apple Mac OS X Leopard. I like Leopard a lot. Safari 3 seems to be faster in Leopard than in Tiger. I like the new desktop features--a new-looking dock and especially Stacks. Also, Quick Look in Finder is a very helpful deal. Time Machine has successfully backed up all three computers and my information is protected on a 1 TB Time Capsule. Mail seems to be doing just fine. I was having difficulties with Gmail's IMAP with Mail 2 in Tiger, but Mail 3 in Leopard seems to have it down good. It is still early on; there is plenty of time to find frustrations with this system. But overall it is going well and I am enjoying the upgrade.

Ready to Switch to Leopard

I am ready to switch to Apple's latest operating software, OS X Leopard. I would love to be able to do it right now, but I need to wait due to funding.

I am looking forward to a better Spotlight, from which I can launch applications and will no longer need Quicksilver, a third-party application. I am looking forward to the cool iChat and Mail features for viewing chat sessions and emails. I am looking forward to Quick Look. I am looking forward to a lot of stuff in Leopard, but most of all, I am looking forward to doing a trial run with Mail and Google Mail's IMAP.

So far, in Tiger, as I already reported, I am having issues with Mail and Gmail's IMAP. Mail does not update correctly. I will look at an email in my inbox on my iPhone, and the IMAP should show the email as already read, but when I get home, Mail has not updated and the message appears unread. A minor issue, but a pesky one still. I am hoping that Leopard will operate similarly as the iPhone, so that I won't give up on Mail altogether.

The 300+ features that come with Leopard will be nice. But most of all I am looking forward to testing out Mail and Gmail.

Goodbye, Mail, Hello, Gmail Notifier

I relented and decided to give up using Apple Mail in order to strictly use the browser-based Gmail.

The decision was based on the frustrating inconsistency of Apple Mail's handling of IMAP for Gmail. I have three places that I receive email--my PowerBook, iMac, and iPhone. They all check the same IMAP Gmail account. The reason why I use IMAP is so that I do not have to read a message as "unread" on all three mail viewers. Well, the iPhone use is perfect, but the Apple Mail's use on the PowerBook and iMac is far from it. They inconsistently update the connection with the Gmail server so that the emails are not synced. With Gmail Notifier I no longer have this problem, and I can use Gmail as my default email program.

Sorry, Apple. Until you can figure out how to get a better system working with Gmail's IMAP, I won't be using Mail. Perhaps you did fix the issue in Leopard, but I do not have that system yet. Bummer.