please help me understand IMAP gmail and MobileMe

[psywzrd]

I am currently forwarding my pop gmail to my ".me" email address so that my gmail is pushed to my iphone. I also have it set up so that my outgoing mail server is set to smtp.gmail.com so that when I respond to emails from my iphone, the responses come from my gmail email address.

Anyway, I am thinking about switching over to IMAP gmail but I'm not sure how it would work with MobileMe. The main reason I'm considering IMAP is because if I send a message from my iphone, I'd like it to show up in my sent items on my laptop(s) as well; however, I can see running into problems when deleting messages on my iphone. Under my current setup, I can delete emails from my iphone without worrying about those emails being deleted from the server and my laptops. This makes sense because I have a limited amount of storage space on my iphone so I frequently delete messages off of it. If I switch over to IMAP, when I delete messages from my iphone they will also be deleted from the server, right? While I do like the idea of having a message marked as read if I've already read it on my iphone, I don't like the idea of messages getting deleted just because I deleted them on my iphone. Is there a way to delete messages on the iphone completely while having those messages remain on the server in a Trash or Deleted Items folder?

How do you guys deal with this problem?

 

[TLewis]

If I switch over to IMAP, when I delete messages from my iphone they will also be deleted from the server, right?

Generally, the deleted mail gets put into some trash folder.

While I do like the idea of having a message marked as read if I've already read it on my iphone, I don't like the idea of messages getting deleted just because I deleted them on my iphone. Is there a way to delete messages on the iphone completely while having those messages remain on the server in a Trash or Deleted Items folder?

You have at least three choices:

1. Use the trash folder, as you mentioned. Aside from the fact that this is ugly, you'll have multiple trash folders to dig through. It seems that each mail client has a different idea of where the trash/deleted items folder should be, and so you'll have to dig around until you find the one that the iPhone is using. You'll also have to be careful about trash deletion times. Some clients delete trash older than a month, but I think others will delete them after only 7 days.
2. Move mail to folders. Once you've finished reading mail, just move the mail to a folder.
3. Use the gmail web interface on the iPhone. Google has a decent phone-optimized web page for gmail, and so you can just archive your old gmail.

 

[psywzrd]

[*]Move mail to folders. Once you've finished reading mail, just move the mail to a folder.

I guess this is where I'm confused. In my Mail app on my Mac right now I have the following mail folders:

Inbox
Outbox
Sent
Deleted
Personal

(the names may be slightly different but that doesn't really matter right now)

Other than Outbox, those folders all have a ton of messages in them, especially the Deleted folder. If I set up gmail to use IMAP (fowarding to my ".me" address for push on my iphone), won't those folders get huge on my iphone?

 

[TLewis]

If I set up gmail to use IMAP (fowarding to my ".me" address for push on my iphone), won't those folders get huge on my iphone?

I'm not positive, but I think the iPhone only downloads a few messages at a time (50?). As long as you don't download a lot of messages, you'll be fine. Also note that attachments aren't downloaded unless you look at them, and so messages with big attachments shouldn't be a problem.

Alternatively, just use the gmail mobile web interface. It has a lot more features than the minimally-featured mail app on the iPhone.

 

[d21mike]

I guess this is where I'm confused. In my Mail app on my Mac right now I have the following mail folders:

Inbox
Outbox
Sent
Deleted
Personal

(the names may be slightly different but that doesn't really matter right now)

Other than Outbox, those folders all have a ton of messages in them, especially the Deleted folder. If I set up gmail to use IMAP (fowarding to my ".me" address for push on my iphone), won't those folders get huge on my iphone?

I think the assumption was that you would not be using MobileMe for GMAIL. You would just define GMAIL to your iPhone and NOT forward your mail to MobileMe. I.E. No Push Email.

I do agree with you about the problem with deleting on the iPhone and not deleting on the server (whether it be MM or GMAIL-IMAP). The BlackBerry has the option of only deleting on the iPhone and not on the server. My hope is that Apple adds this feature to MM/iPhone. Not really sure if this is a standard IMAP Feature or not. Maybe someone else will know.

This is why I am forwarding a copy of my mail to MM (not using GMAIL but other POP Account). Then I just clearn up my MM Account from done with the mail. My laptop/desktop maintain my mail history.

 

[psywzrd]

I think the assumption was that you would not be using MobileMe for GMAIL. You would just define GMAIL to your iPhone and NOT forward your mail to MobileMe. I.E. No Push Email.

I do agree with you about the problem with deleting on the iPhone and not deleting on the server (whether it be MM or GMAIL-IMAP). The BlackBerry has the option of only deleting on the iPhone and not on the server. My hope is that Apple adds this feature to MM/iPhone. Not really sure if this is a standard IMAP Feature or not. Maybe someone else will know.

This is why I am forwarding a copy of my mail to MM (not using GMAIL but other POP Account). Then I just clearn up my MM Account from done with the mail. My laptop/desktop maintain my mail history.

I guess POP is still the best solution for me then. Unless I have the option to delete messages on the iphone without having them deleted from the server, I don't think IMAP will work for me.

I also like to keep my email history on my laptops so I'm not really comfortable with deleting email on my iphone and losing those messages altogether. I do like the idea of sending a message from my iphone and having it show up in my Sent items on my laptop. I also like that I could read a message on my iphone and then have it show up as Read on my laptop; however, the lack of push and the ability to keep messages that I delete on my iphone will probably keep me using POP for now.