Does Mavericks' Gmail IMAP problems mess with Gmail's data, or just the Mac's data?

[minvoyager]

With Mavericks' reputed instability in Mail app even with 10.9.4 when used with Gmail IMAP, my question is whether those alleged bugs actually mess with the data on Gmail's server, or just the data that's on the Mac computer?

I have two Macs both running Mountain Lion which are both ultra stable with Mail app and Gmail IMAP. I'm thinking of testing one of them with an upgrade to Mavericks using a clean install, however, I am wary of continuing sporadic reports of Mavericks' Mail app still being less than rock solid. Hence, I want to know if in a worst case scenario if the Mavericks upgrade does play up with Gmail IMAP, I want to know if it will affect the IMAP on the Mountain Lion computer.

 

[minvoyager]

p/s I'm not sure if people understood my question, so I'll pose it from another angle:

If I run my Gmail IMAP using Mavericks-Mail on one computer, and using the more stable Mountain Lion-Mail on another computer, my question is, if there are glitches in the Mavericks side, is that going to affect the emails which are read on the Mountain Lion computer?

 

[expat42451]

There are a lot more knowledgeable people around here than am I but I will take a shot at this-

In your IMAP account- you are leaving copies on the server I assume, otherwise if you read the mail on the Mavericks computer, then the same e mail would not be on the server if you looked later with the Mountain Lion computer........

I would personally make sure the account settings were the same on both computers i.e. leave a copy on the server..... that way the integrity of the e mail stores (inbox, sent &c) should be preserved on the server irrespective of what either machine does.....that is my take on it.

I used Lion, and then various (release and beta) versions of Mav up until the current 10.9.4. I did not extensively use the Apple mail client however, opting to use Thunderbird because of the Enigmail plugin and what that enables....so I am no expert on the Apple mail client although I did use it for a limited time on gmail. However I have my accounts set to leave copies on the server as well as maintain the complete store on the local machine. This is my experience-

Hope this helps.

Expat.