Gmail Adds IMAP

Google's Web-based GMail service has just added IMAP capabilities, enabling serious email users to keep their messages synced across a gamut of devices.

Google’s free Gmail service has been lauded for its massive storage capabilities, streamlined interface, and functionality, but many email power users have never considered using Gmail for their primary email address because they can’t easily keep Gmail synchronized across their desktop computer, their notebook computer, their smartphone or PDA, and the occasional Web-based email session from someone else’s machine or at an Internet cafe. Now, many email power-users will rejoice, as Gmail is adding IMAP capability to every Gmail account.

IMAP is not a new technology—it’s been around for over a decade, and its widely supported in modern email clients, even those built into mobile devices. IMAP is based on almost the reverse idea of POP-based mail: instead of downloading mail to your device and deleting it from the server like traditional POP mail, with IMAP users leave their mail on the server, and the server keeps track of what messages you’ve already seen, which messages are new, and how you filed the messages. Users still have local copies of messages on their computers or other devices, but if (say) they move a message to a special folder using their smartphone, that message will be in that folder when they check mail at home that evening using (say) Thunderbird.

The new IMAP feature is free, and can be activated within Gmail in the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab in Gmail settings. It may take Google a day or two to roll the new capability out to all Gmail accounts, but every Gmail account we’ve checked (so far) already has IMAP available.