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bordway

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 2, 2011
37
0
Hello,

I have an iPhone 5, my wife a Samsung GS2 and a MacBook Pro running OSX Lion. We switched from Cox email to Gmail for our joint account. It used to be that on Cox if we got an email, she would get a copy and I would get a copy. Whether anyone deleted it or read it from any of the three devices, it did not affect the other two. How do I get this same functionality on Gmail? If I read and delete it, the other two devices lose that email.

Thanks for your time, let me know if you can help us.
 

BrianBaughn

macrumors G3
Feb 13, 2011
9,616
2,392
Baltimore, Maryland
That's the first time I can remember seeing a valid use for a POP account on multiple devices.

You'd have to enable POP at Gmail and configure the mail to stay in the inbox when checked. Then, you'll have to configure the all the devices not to delete mail from the server when it's download or after it's deleted "locally". However, I'm not sure that can be done...someone else will have to chime in here.
 

bordway

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 2, 2011
37
0
Seems the only valid solution so far is to forward a copy of the emails to my wife's email so she has a copy of it. Doesn't seem like gmail is too pop friendly on her phone.
 

r0k

macrumors 68040
Mar 3, 2008
3,611
75
Detroit
Wait a second. I don't recommend pop even for shared accounts. I recommend IMAP. If one user marks a message read, it will appear read to the other user. That's a tough break but something I could live with. Deletion? No problem. Don't delete messages. Gmail allows tags. Why not create tags called "Read by Him" and "Read by Her" and use those tags to organize messages. Gmail uses tags the way other email providers use folders. This can be a good thing because whenever you search your inbox you are searching everything regardless of its tag.

If you do decide POP is the way to go, remember to deselect "delete mail from server" before allowing a device to connect for the first time or in less than half a second, all the recent email sitting on the server will be deleted the first time a new device tries to connect.
 
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