The Benefits of GMail IMAP
Google has rolled out a new service for their GMail e-mail service: IMAP. To enable IMAP you have to login to https://mail.google.com and enabled it via Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP. I’m guessing by this point just about everyone should have it, since I have it and I’m usually one of the last to get these new features. After you enabled IMAP you can connect to GMail using your favorite mail client; like Thunderbird.
IMAP is a protocol, much like POP, but way cooler.
Gmail IMAP is sweet; I am mightily impressed! Basically, the best feature of IMAP is when I delete a message off of my local mail client (Thunderbird 2.0) that is hooked into GMail it also deletes it on the GMail’s web application. So, I can use Thunderbird while I’m at home. When I’m at work, school, or abroad I can use the the web application and everything stays in-sync. BRILLIANT! Also at work we use IMAP, so this isn’t a new way to do things, but it’s great that Google is expanding their services.
There are many benefits to using IMAP on Google’s GMail here are a few.
1) No longer tied to just the web browser for mail (or POP yuck!). For those who are not familiar with POP, it basically downloads all your mail from the mail server. Thus, it is hard to keep everything in-sync, which is a necessity now-a-days for people on the go. Isn’t that everybody?
2) Security, security, security. To use Google’s IMAP service you have to connect over IMAP secure, which is port 993. This encrypts all your mail traffic so no one can sniff your mail; keeping all of your passwords and mail safe. Depending on the program you may have to select SSL before you can access IMAP secure (IMAPS); I use Thunderbird 2.0, so I selected SSL when I configured Thunderbird.
3) More security for sending mail. Another great aspect of IMAP is the ability is that you can send mail via Google’s SMTP (Send Mail Transport Protocol) server; this is your outgoing mail. I know that this was available for POP, but it should be mentioned because it uses TLS (Transport Layer Security) so all of your outgoing mail is safe and secure. 
4) Better for sharing devices. You can hook your GMail into your phone, PDA, laptop, desktop, anything and keep all your e-mail up-to-date. This is a great time saver, you can spend your time on more important things than making sure all your mail is synced.
5) Labels translate into folders. I was worried about how Google was going to handle the transition from their “labels” onto an IMAP client. Don’t be worried all your labels become folders and I think it feels a little more usable in this aspect.
The only problem I have with using the IMAP service with GMail is that all my contacts are on the web application. I don’t think this is specifically a Google problem; they didn’t write the IMAP protocol. Since I have all my e-mails I ever sent or received with my GMail account I can easily rebuild all my contacts.
Google does a nice job of laying out the instructions of various mail clients here.
In Google we trust.
BRENT: Nope, you’re not the last person to find out about this. I just discovered the service – by reading your post!
I have several email accounts and I’m using 3 different readers; this will let me keep up with my accounts from one site. Thanks for the tip!
Haha, yeah and I’m the next last person. POP is infinitely annoying for its out of sync-ness. I mean, it’s true that when I then re-access my mail through my laptop, I get all the same msgs…however, if I SENT a message while on the go, a copy of that stays on the web browser. It gets annoying because I like to keep copies of certain emails for up to a year.
I love all the work google is doing, no wonder their stock is in the 700s and counting.
Chanya: excellent! It is a great service. I have all my e-mail accounts forwarded to my GMail account. It is great, very reliable.
Joanne: I wish I would have bought some Google stock! Talk about ROI.
Give IMAP a try it will make your life easier and more efficient.