Access Gmail from two Macs

[Charles Leung]

I would like to access my Gmail account from my PB and iMac. But when
downloading messages from PB, I could not get those ones from iMac. Is
there any way that I can do? Thanks.

Charles Leung
OSX v10.4.3 Entourage 2004 11.2.1

 

[matt neuburg]

I would like to access my Gmail account from my PB and iMac. But when
downloading messages from PB, I could not get those ones from iMac. Is
there any way that I can do?

If you want to check the very same mail from two machines, you should
use webmail or IMAP. Gmail has webmail, so why not use that? Their
server, if you use a mail client program, is POP, so once you've
downloaded, you've deleted. Entourage does give you an option to set the
account not to delete on downloading, though, so you could try that. But
it kind of strains at what POP is supposed to do. m.

 

[Charles Leung]

It's my preference to use email client to access email. Even I keep email
after downloading messages, I still could not get it from the other machine.
I suspect it is controlled by time (as it shows time at pop up / forward
under setting).

 

[matt neuburg]

It's my preference to use email client to access email. Even I keep email
after downloading messages, I still could not get it from the other machine.
I suspect it is controlled by time (as it shows time at pop up / forward
under setting).

When you use POP and don't download, then when you check your messages,
the POP server will keep a record saying that you downloaded (a copy of)
this message, so that you don't just keep downloading (a copy) again and
again every time you check your mail. The POP server doesn't know that
you are now checking from a different machine, so the other machine
can't download either.

You can get more precise control over messages on the server with
Mailsmith. But, as I said before, the real solution is IMAP, which is
made for this very purpose. Dot-Mac is an IMAP server. If being able to
keep mail in synch while checking it from two different machines is
important to you, use IMAP. Or use webmail. It's all very well to say
"it's my preference", but if it's your preference to stand in front of
an oncoming bus, the bus will knock you down. Anyhow, this is not an
Entourage question, so it doesn't belong here. m.

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

When you use POP and don't download, then when you check your messages,
the POP server will keep a record saying that you downloaded (a copy of)
this message, so that you don't just keep downloading (a copy) again and
again every time you check your mail. The POP server doesn't know that
you are now checking from a different machine, so the other machine
can't download either.

You can get more precise control over messages on the server with
Mailsmith. But, as I said before, the real solution is IMAP, which is
made for this very purpose. Dot-Mac is an IMAP server. If being able to
keep mail in synch while checking it from two different machines is
important to you, use IMAP. Or use webmail. It's all very well to say
"it's my preference", but if it's your preference to stand in front of
an oncoming bus, the bus will knock you down. Anyhow, this is not an
Entourage question, so it doesn't belong here. m.

Actually, Entourage allows you to "Leave on server" on one or both or all
computers, and it still downloads correctly to the other computer(s). No
problem at all. If there some problem with this, it would be due due a poor
"POPper" software on the ISP's server - there's nothing much you can do
about that. With a good ISP, there does indeed seem to be some communication
between the server and the email client on each computer (really, this would
apply to multiple email clients on a single computer, too) so it _does_ know
that a message has been already downloaded to one particular machine
(client) and doesn't download again, while still downloading to the other.

With my on POP account (the one I use for mailing lists is POP) I set
Entourage on my laptop to Leave On server but not on my home desktop
computer. (When I used to, my POP mailbox filled up every week, resulting
in bounced messages not reaching me, but I never had any problem with them
not downloading to the second machine. That really indicates a bad POPper.)

Of course this way I don't get all messages on my laptop - I don't need them
all there. For personal and business I use IMAP accounts, as Matt
recommends, and I do too. It's certainly the only way to have Sent messages
on both computers (short of bcc'ing yourself on every POP message you send,
where the messages end up as received mail).

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

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