Finally, GMail via IMAP!! Great news… and some comments!

Blogged on October 23, 2007 at 23:11

So GMail is offering IMAP… finally! It’s not out to public yet, but I’ve been one of the lucky ones to get it for testing! Here are my thoughts on my first 20m around it.

First off, IMAP is GREAT!! It’s a great way to keep all your mail and folders (inc. sent, drafts, custom folders, etc…) on the server so that all you have to do with every client you may use (be it Thunderbird, Mail.app, Evolution, KMail, etc…) is enter your account details and you have it all right there. It gives you the mobility of a webmail with the power of a desktop client.

Then GMail came out! It was the first true web-based email that could cope with the his desktop counterparts. Google didn’t even offer POP3 support until later on, focusing their efforts on their web interface (that hasn’t been change since then!). If everyone remembers when it came out, the frenzy around the invitations was the best marketing the web has seen, and since then many have copied it. It introduced the whole concept of “Beta” being something “cool” more than “buggy and not ready”!! Kudos for that.

But with the advent of mail on mobile phones, they had to find a solution past their (nice but limited) phone app. In my opinion, they knew they needed IMAP now.

And so I went to try it on my preferred desktop mail app: Mail.app. I was curious on how they would get “around” the “Labels vs Folders” issue that has been long discussed around the web. And that is what the picture on the right shows: they turn them into folders. Please note that on that picture, I have already set my Drafts, Sent, Trash and Junk to the appropriate folders, so I have them correctly set along with the same folders on my other IMAP accounts. But the Labels into Folders was horrible: Why are they placed as local folders (although they’re not) and not under my Inbox for GMail??? Why is a “[Gmail]” Smartbox created for my GMail, when it should be “under” my Inbox, like any other IMAP account, and just like it appears in the web interface??

I think IMAP is a great feature, but it messed up my Mail.app organization. I need those Lab… err… Folders to be listed inside my Inbox, just like the “All Mail” and “Starred”.

When I tried moving them, the Labels on the web interface where changed to “INBOX\Label_name” implying that it is possible to do it with the necessary arrangements on their folder structure on the servers.

And oh boy, I can’t wait for that!

PS: I know there is at least one major university considering moving to GMail for their institutional mail. If anyone is aware of how the process of moving their current mailboxes and mails goes, and it’s twists and quirks, please mail me so I can inform them on how to proceed. I’m sure IMAP will be a feature they’ll have as a pre-requisite… and now they can have it!!!

PS2: I’m having some problems with Firefox and Wordpress… The link dialog is not showing up on the editor and I don’t have time to manually enter links. I’ll put some appropriate links tomorrow!