Stick to Gmail or use Mac's Mail Application?

[Alrescha]

If I use IMAP to connect to Gmail from Mail.app, and have Mail setup to cache complete messages on my hard drive, then I get the best of both worlds; I can read mail offline, take advantage of Mail.app's for the most part superior user interface, and if I need to access my email away from my computer or want to use some feature of Gmail's web interface, my mail is still all on Gmail's server too.

This sums up my opinion perfectly, so I won't type it myself 🙂

A.

 

[RUNYYFan]

new MBP user...I'd like to use Apple mail but I can't get it to send out emails....just receives email. I use Time Warner and a new .Mac account. Anyone willing to help?

This sounds like there is something not right in the account preferences for your .Mac account in Apple Mail.

To check, go into Preferences... | Accounts and highlight the .Mac account. At the bottom of the window, you should see "Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP):" To check the settings, click on the button below labeled "Server Settings..."

In the new window, you should have "smtp.mac.com" for the name of the outgoing mail server. The server port should be "587" and the "Use Secure Socket Layers (SSL)" should be checked.

Authentication should be done by Password. Your user name and password should be entered in the boxes below that.

I hope this helps.

 

[ScottSyrNY]

Thanks for helping....but no luck, still not working

Using your guide, I only needed to change the server port from 25 to your 587. When I activated the .Mac account, the install and settings were all pretty automatic so I'm not sure where the problem is.

For my Time Warner account, the server names are the same as they were on my old Windows machine; so, again, I'm not sure what's wrong.

Of course, having my new MBP 17" h-res and 1TB TC lose their wireless connection throughout the day doesn't help. Not sure where the problem with that is, either.

Overall, I'm unimpressed with my new .Mac experience but I'm steadily working through these issues with an open mind.

Sorry for the mini hijack.....

 

[DaveF]

Can anyone give me the advantages of using the native application for Mail in Mac (Leopard) instead of web-based gmail?

I can think of only this:

Pro

-Mac's Mail App. would allow me to have access to all my old mail without connecting to the net.

-All my contacts would probably be stored

Con

-Mac's Mail App. doesn't sync properly

-Mac's Mail App. would eat up more HD space (correct me if I'm wrong) with all my old e-mails.


(I searched before posting😀)

As a few others suggested, you should use both. Gmail is an exceptional SPAM filter, and is worth using just for that purpose. Mail.app is a good local client -- it also guarantees you have your email stored on your computer and backed up on Time Machine. You don't have to worry about what happens when/if you leave Gmail or if, in the future, you would be unable to get email out of Gmail.

In general, I suggest using both webmail and a local client. Connect your Yahoo! or Gmail or .Mac with you Mail.app or Thunderbird, and you have great SPAM filtering, the high-quality email client of choice, and access to your email from any computer.

 

[chrisbeebops]

Use Apple Mail. I have it start when I login, and automatically checks for new messages. When I want to get to my mail, I click on an icon in the dock and mail comes up immediately -- no waiting for Safari + GMail's web interface to load. Plus, I can view and compose messages offline -- everything gets synced up as soon as I connect to the internet. In addition, my school hosts an LDAP (Directory) Server, so I can quickly search for email contacts not in my Address Book through Mail.

 

[Applepi]

Mail.app intergrated with IMAP Gmail makes my life so much easier. I'd reccomend it to anyone who likes simplicity.