How to synch sent e-mails in Mail using Gmail

[hamsterburger]

Hi I’m using Mail as my e-mail client with a Gmail address on a MacBook pro running OS X 10.7 Lion.

When I send emails from my address on another computer it does not show up in the sent folder in Mail on my MacBook Pro, however all emails to my inn boxes show up both places. How can I make my Sent folder behave just like my inn box, i.e. make sure that my sent folder is identical whether I access it in Mail or using google.com on another computer?

Also, some time ago for some reason all my sent emails older than a year were downloaded to the sent folder on my mac, so I no longer have them available on line. This is particularly problematic when I need to check older sent emails and am not on my MacBook. How can I upload these downloaded emails to my online Gmail account?

All these mails are fairly small size. There are no big attachments so it should not be a size issue.

Any help on this issue would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Waterbabies]

What I do is use file sharing, and just import the sent items mailboxes into the Mail on the other computer. eg, I have an ibook and a mac mini. File sharing is switched on on both. If I want to have a copy of the messages I have sent from the mac mini, on the ibook, I just do an import into the ibook mail (and vice versa. ( I usually do this every week or so on both computers) Then I move the sent mail messages from the import into the correct mailbox at the top. Seems to work OK for me, and although it isn't a true sync, as you have to remember to do it, it does mean that you have at least a fairly up to date record of what you've sent.

There's probably a simpler way, but I'm not a whizz kid - I just get by!

EDITING!

Sorry! That's wrong! That's what I tried initially, but it doesn't work with Lion, because the library is hidden. What I do with the ones on the Mac Mini, (Lion) is copy the mailboxes V2 folder onto an external hard drive, and then import them onto then ibook from that. I have 10.5.8 in the ibook, so it works fine that way. I just put the mailbox folder into file sharing on that, so I can do it the first way.

 

[grapes911]

Are you using Exchange, IMAP, or POP?

 

[hamsterburger]

Hi. Thanks for replying

The account info in Mail says Google IMAP.

@waterbabies: Sorry if I did not make my self clear. I only have one computer. What I am asking abut is how to make sure my sent messages in Mail on that computer will be the same as the sent messages on my Google account when I access it via browser on any computer.

Any Ideas?

 

[grapes911]

I'm not on my Mac, so I can't test this. With Exchange you can set which folder is you send items folder. I assume it might also be the case with IMAP. I'm guessing your Mac is using one folder for sent items and GMail (from the browser) is using another.

Try this (or something close to this):
1. Click and highlight the folder for your account that GMail using for set items. You may need to expand all folders and find it in the folder tree.
2. Click the "Mailbox" menu
3. Choose "Use This Mailbox For"
4. Choose "Sent"

 

[hamsterburger]

Thanks, but no dice. When i highlight my inbox or sendt mail box, those choices are grayed out.

I think my problem might be similar to what is described here:

http://apple.stackexchange.com/ques...essages-folder-to-an-imap-servers-sent-mail-f

Any clue?

 

[waynep]

Check this out.

http://5thirtyone.com/apple/how-to-proper-gmail-imap-for-iphone-apple-mail/

 

[hamsterburger]

Ok...

Thanks, none of the options on the last link were different from the settings I already had.

I have tried checking and unchecking the "store sent messages on the server" tab in advanced options on my mac.

The result is that every single sendt e-mail has now been deleted from my gmail online and downloaded to my computer. Damn!

How can I get these up on my gmail server again? Please help

 

[djjonnyd]

I'm having the same problem!!!

I want to know how to import all my "sent" email from my Gmail account (I can see them online!) to the Mail app on my MacBook Pro.
Ex. I need the emails from before July 2010 (when I got this comp) to be in my "Sent" folder.
Any knowledge on this?!?
thanks

 

[Weaselboy]

I want to know how to import all my "sent" email from my Gmail account (I can see them online!) to the Mail app on my MacBook Pro.
Ex. I need the emails from before July 2010 (when I got this comp) to be in my "Sent" folder.
Any knowledge on this?!?
thanks

If you set up the Mail app account as IMAP with GMail then follow the instructions in post #5 above, it will do what you want.

 

[djjonnyd]

been there, done that...

If you set up the Mail app account as IMAP with GMail then follow the instructions in post #5 above, it will do what you want.

Already completed before I even found this thread! All is does is sync current sent emails from here on out. It doesn't import old emails from the server.
Am I doing something wrong?
I would call apple, but they usually say "this is not supported because it's a Google issue"...

 

[Weaselboy]

Already completed before I even found this thread! All is does is sync current sent emails from here on out. It doesn't import old emails from the server.
Am I doing something wrong?
I would call apple, but they usually say "this is not supported because it's a Google issue"...

Look in the Mailbox Behaviors section of Mail account prefs and make sure you have it checked on to save sent mail on the server.

Also on gmail.com look in the settings and there is an area where you can check which IMAP folders you want to show in the Mail client. Make sure you have the sent folder checked in there also.

As an aside... in the same gmail.com screen uncheck the "All Mail" share in IMAP folder as that creates double downloads (and space usage) for every message in Mail app.

 

[hamsterburger]

Hi again. Thought that I would try sorting this out once more. I have added a screen shot of mail.

My regular sent messages (called "Sendt" in Norwegian) only contains the mails sent from this computer in that app, but the gmail folder in the bottom (called "Sendt e-post) has all sent emails from. How can i get mail to use the upper "Sendt" folder instead?

Thanks

 

[Weaselboy]

Try selecting the mail folder you want to use for sent then use the below menu option to choose that mail box for sent messages.

 

[hamsterburger]

Hi again. Thanks for replying.

The choice to use the standard sent folder is grayed out.

Can anyone who uses gmail and the OSX mail client post a screen shot of how it looks like to you? Are you able to use the standard sent folder like I assume one can with other mail clients than gmail?

 

[tony.b]

Hi again. Thanks for replying.
The choice to use the standard sent folder is grayed out.

Hi,

Gmail automatically stores all your Sent emails on server.
in your Mac mail client:
1. Turn-off "Store sent messages on the server"


2. Select (gmail's) "Sent" folder


3. from menu choose -> Mailbox -> Use this mailbox for -> Sent
(read the important notice below before making this step!)


Important notice:

step 3 will delete your Local Sent folder and Create a new one which is a duplicate of Gmail's Sent folder, and which will be Synced with your Mail Client sent emails and emails sent using Gmail/web/iphone..etc.

in case you have important emails in your local sent folder which were not copied/synced to gmail, you better take another step and simply drag&drop a copy to gmail's sent folder before doing step 4.

Hope that helps,

Tony