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Imap And Apple's Mail App


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I want to make the switch from POP to IMAP and I currently use Apple's Mail App as my email client. I got it in my head that Gmail was going to be a good solution (mainly because of their labeling feature and search funcionality), so I started forwarding all of my mail to my Gmail account and set up IMAP with Gmail. However, I'm finding that Gmail's conversation approach isn't always ideal, so I'm looking to find another solution and might just stick with the TCH mail servers.

 

My main question is in regards to folders and organizing my email. I currently have a LOT of folders (and sub-folders) set up in Mail App. So much so that I started to get lazy and throw things into a "file later" folder (one of the reasons I wanted to try out Gmail). Anyway, I'm not clear on if I will be able to have my Mail App folder structure mirrored on the TCH IMAP server.

 

Hope someone can help and any general feedback on IMAP & Mail App (Entourage as well) would be great.

 

Thanks,

Scott

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My main question is in regards to folders and organizing my email. I currently have a LOT of folders (and sub-folders) set up in Mail App. So much so that I started to get lazy and throw things into a "file later" folder (one of the reasons I wanted to try out Gmail). Anyway, I'm not clear on if I will be able to have my Mail App folder structure mirrored on the TCH IMAP server.

 

As long as those folders are created under your TCH account in either mail app, they will exist on the TCH server, so you should be fine. I've used both successfully for some time (although now I'm primarily a Thunderbird man).

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As long as those folders are created under your TCH account in either mail app, they will exist on the TCH server, so you should be fine. I've used both successfully for some time (although now I'm primarily a Thunderbird man).

 

Thanks Mike. I've been reading so many negative things lately about IMAP (in practice) that I think I've lost my nerve and am thinking of switching to web mail only (gmail) ... after YEARS of POP access only. I'm so used to working locally and would love to continue to have the option. But it seems like life might be simpler with just doing it all online.

 

--Scott

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Thanks everyone for jumping in on this. I guess my first question is which mail client are you guys using (and I'm assuming you're using IMAP with TCH's servers?)

 

Remember, my original plan was to use Apple's Mail App and Gmail. But I read so many horror stories about this combo that I got gun-shy. I actually started to try to get it set up and it kept hanging on me.

 

I'm also especially concerned about having extensive folders with IMAP.

 

I want to have a perfect mirror or none at all (meaning I will try out a life of email exclusively online ... which I've never done!). It's time to get myself more organized.

 

Sorry if I'm sort of rambling....

Scott

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I use Mozilla Thunderbird as my client both at work and at home and nearly all of my TCH accounts I have now moved to be hosted by GMail - Even my work on my recommendation migrated our mail exchange to GMail.

 

To be honest I don't require or use extensive folders so I can't really help on that front.

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Remember, my original plan was to use Apple's Mail App and Gmail.

 

Ahh... now it makes sense. Yea, I use Google Apps for one of my personal domains (primarily just to help others troubleshoot problems with it). Google has pretty aggressive connection limits that can cause occasional authentication failures (this is the main problem I run into on occasion). Other than that, it's been pretty reasonable. You should have less problems with those kind of things IMAP'ing to your TCH account.

 

And I am using Thunderbird on my Mac. So far it's still my favorite, and I like the ability to run add-ons. Currently I'm using Lightning (calendar that supports Outlook meeting requests), LookOut (tnef decoding... more outlook support), and Mail Redirect (redirect emails in whole... useful if you want to redirect an email and retain the original from, instead of forwarding it).

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I use Mozilla Thunderbird as my client both at work and at home and nearly all of my TCH accounts I have now moved to be hosted by GMail - Even my work on my recommendation migrated our mail exchange to GMail.

 

To be honest I don't require or use extensive folders so I can't really help on that front.

 

I was thinking of doing that (the MX to Gmail switch, as a friend is loving it), but realized it would cause me another problem. I use DadaMail to send newsletters for both of my TCH hosted domains. So, now I set up forwards for my TCH hosted email accounts to go to Gmail. And I've added those TCH-based addresses as addition "send mail as" addresses in Gmail. This is my workaround.

 

So, that's what I have set up for the Webmail side of things and wanted a local side (IMAP) as well. Maybe I should try out Thunderbird then ... perhaps it will behave better than Mail App? I'm a bit of a folder nut (now becoming a label nut in Gmail), so it's important to me that if I use IMAP that it doesn't mean giving up my ability to organize messages.

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Ahh... now it makes sense. Yea, I use Google Apps for one of my personal domains (primarily just to help others troubleshoot problems with it). Google has pretty aggressive connection limits that can cause occasional authentication failures (this is the main problem I run into on occasion). Other than that, it's been pretty reasonable. You should have less problems with those kind of things IMAP'ing to your TCH account.

 

And I am using Thunderbird on my Mac. So far it's still my favorite, and I like the ability to run add-ons. Currently I'm using Lightning (calendar that supports Outlook meeting requests), LookOut (tnef decoding... more outlook support), and Mail Redirect (redirect emails in whole... useful if you want to redirect an email and retain the original from, instead of forwarding it).

 

Maybe I should consider using the TCH server for IMAP then. The thing is, I'm not crazy about those webmail interfaces. And I'm getting more and more used to Gmail's "conversation" format by the minute.

 

Good to hear you're on a Mac as well.

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  • 1 month later...

Hello all. I'm finally getting back to this issue. I was traveling for a month and decided to try a life of webmail only and had everything forwarded to Gmail. I've decided I really don't like it, for a bunch of reasons. I'll try not to be repetitive with this post, but should probably summarize a bit.

 

I want to go back to using a mail client (webmail only for emergencies or when away from my laptop). And I plan to get IMAP going to try it out finally. I have two TCH domains - one personal, one biz. I don't want to have to log into more than 2 webmail accounts when those times arise. So, I plan to forward all email to my two TCH accounts and have both of them set up as IMAP.

 

I guess I'm going to have to figure out what to do with all those messages which are currently in Gmail.

 

Also, still trying to decide between Mail.app and Entourage.

 

Hope this post wasn't too vague. I know you guys have already addressed some of these issues, but now I'm having to backtrack a bit and wanted some feedback.

 

Thanks,

Scott

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