Mail.app and Gmail

Just curious how well Mail.app works with Gmail in 10.8. I've been using Sparrow for the past couple of years, which I loved, but it's become buggy lately and since Google bought them they don't offer support anymore. The reason I moved to Sparrow in the first place is that Mail.app and Gmail didn't play well together. I'm wondering if that has improved?

Well, it's been at least 2 years since I've been using Sparrow, so maybe Mail.app has improved. But I had issues with the All Mail implementation and a few other things I can't remember, unfortunately. Perhaps it's time to try again.

Weaselboy said:

You may have better luck if you go to gmail.com and in settings then labels uncheck the box that tells it to include All Mail in the IMAP folders. With All Mail checked you are storing two of every email in the OS X Mail client.

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But then I won't be able to search for any mail that I received prior to using Mail.app as the client, right?

Now I'm starting to remember... this is one of the things that bugged me about Mail.app.

Weaselboy said:

Yes, you will. It will be in whatever folder (label) it would be in on gmail.com. So deleted mail will be in the Mail trash folder, send in the Mail sent folder etc. If you setup Mail properly and designate which folders match up with the correct GMail labels, they will all sync up.

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But if I archive most of my mail, and I choose not to sync All Mail as you suggested, wouldn't that mean I can't search mail that I archived prior to starting to use Mail.app? Doesn't archived mail go into All Mail?

Weaselboy said:

There is actually now an Archive feature in OS X Mail, but it has some limitations and changes in the way web gmail.com works. Give this article a look... it talks about archiving toward the bottom.

I have not tried it myself, but there are supposed to be some changes in Mavericks also to address this.

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Thanks, that's very helpful.

So I read through that entire document, and as far as I can tell, it doesn't solve the problem I mentioned above. If I deselect the "Show in IMAP" box for All Mail in Step 4 of his instructions, then I will not be able to search for any emails that were archived before I started using Mail.app.

As you may have noticed, when you archive a message in Apple Mail, it gives it the label ‘Archive.’ I think this is perfect, because if it sent the message to ‘All Mail’ it would not be viewable in Apple Mail since we have hidden that label. You would have to go into Gmail to search for it or view it.

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If I follow these instructions, I'll be able to search for any messages archived using Mail.app's "archive" feature, but I'd have to go to Gmail on the web to search for anything in All Mail (which would be all messages archived prior to starting to use Mail.app).