Strange Behavior with Gmail & Two Macs

dc19991 (apparently) - 03:20pm Apr 24, 2008 PST
via email

I've now been using Gmail IMAP for a few days and thought it was the
answer to a seemingly endless chain of problems with cox.net. One of
the basic reasons for using Gmail was to synchronize the mail
received/deleted on two computers.

Now, it appears that despite being set up on two Mac computers here
at home (one in our "office", the other in our kitchen 50 feet away,
connected by a wireless network), Gmail is only receiving most Email
on one Mac, the iMac Intel. Four active lists appear only on this
iMac. I want the mail to go to both computers, and Mail.app always
did that with every other account ever set up. This seems to be true
when I take the MacBookPro to my office 6 miles away, where it is
hooked to the Internet via an AT&T landline DSL connection.

I found that the box "Automatically synchronize changed mailboxes"
was unchecked, so I've checked that, and noted that SSL is checked in
the advanced tab along with port 993. Have no idea what these mean,
but maybe they will solve the problem.

Mail.app preferences are also set to synch using .Mac, and that's how
the gmail account got onto this iMac at home.

Does anyone have any explanation for this really odd behavior and how
to fix it?

I will see if this message goes to both computers.

Another issue with Gmail IMAP. Mail.app on the iMac 20" has NOT set
up a sent folder for Gmail (and I cannot seem to do it manually), but
the same program on this MacBookPro has. I am running 10.4.11 on
both. So, the message I sent from the iMac (repeated below) cannot
be found on the iMac, but is here on the MacBookPro in the Sent mailbox.

I have now UNchecked the preference in Mail.app "Store sent messages
on the server," so maybe that will help.

In addition, the message below was sent almost 30 minutes ago, with a
bcc to myself at the gmail account, and neither has been received.
My other accounts' messages to myself -- for all their faults --
typically never took more than a minute of two to arrive. Am also
sending a bcc to one of my other accounts, and I'll bet it arrives
well before the Gmail.

Dave

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David Clark - Apr 24, 2008 3:24 pm (#1 Total: 4)

Guest User

Posts: 1

Re: Strange Behavior with Gmail & Two Macs

On WednesdayApr 23, 2008, at 7:14 AM, Clark David wrote:

I have now UNchecked the preference in Mail.app "Store sent messages on the server," so maybe that will help.

This is really crazy. Now, the Sent mailbox for Gmail on this MacBookPro has simply disappeared after unchecking the "Store sent messages on the server" in Mail.app preferences.

And neither Gmail bcc to myself has arrived at either machine, but the one message sent via bcc to cox.net arrived within a minute.

johnbaxterlists (apparently) - Apr 25, 2008 4:58 am (#2 Total: 4)

via email

Posts: 574

Re: Strange Behavior with Gmail & Two Macs

On Apr 24, 2008, at 3:24 PM, Clark David wrote:

> n addition, the message below was sent almost 30 minutes ago, with a
> bcc to myself at the gmail account, and neither has been received.
> My other accounts' messages to myself -- for all their faults --
> typically never took more than a minute of two to arrive. Am also
> sending a bcc to one of my other accounts, and I'll bet it arrives
> well before the Gmail.

The usual reason why mailing list posts don't make it back to the
poster if posted from GMail is that GMail "helpfully" notices that it
has seen the message before and therefore obviously you don't want it.

It's not clear how GMail would manage that given that WebCrossing
strips the original MessageId: header and substitutes its own, and
calls itself the Sender:. But it appears that GMail may achieve that.

-John

Dave Scocca (apparently) - Apr 26, 2008 9:29 am (#3 Total: 4)

via email

Posts: 94

Re: Strange Behavior with Gmail & Two Macs

--On 4/25/08 4:58 AM -0700 johnbaxterlists

mac.com wrote:

> The usual reason why mailing list posts don't make it back to the
> poster if posted from GMail is that GMail "helpfully" notices that it
> has seen the message before and therefore obviously you don't want it.
>
> It's not clear how GMail would manage that given that WebCrossing
> strips the original MessageId: header and substitutes its own, and
> calls itself the Sender:. But it appears that GMail may achieve that.

It seems GMail does a lot of content-based filtering to decide what/how to
display to you.

For example, I find that when I'm using my GMail account to get notifications
for updates to blog comment--where all updates for comments to the same blog
posting are essentially the same message--once it's past the first one GMail
hides the entire content of the new unread message unless/until I click on
"Show quoted text".

Now--as far as I can tell, the text that's being hidden is not "quoted" in any
recognizable sense. However, because it appears verbatim in an earlier message
with the same subject line, GMail refuses to display it by default.

To be honest, while GMail's storage capacity is impressive, the quality of the
email interface seems to be worth what you pay for it.

Dave Scocca

dc19991 (apparently) - Apr 26, 2008 9:29 am (#4 Total: 4)

via email

Posts: 8

Re: Strange Behavior with Gmail & Two Macs

On FridayApr 25, 2008, at 4:58 AM, johnbaxterlists

mac.com wrote:
>
> On Apr 24, 2008, at 3:24 PM, Clark David wrote:
>
>> n addition, the message below was sent almost 30 minutes ago, with a
>> bcc to myself at the gmail account, and neither has been received.
>> My other accounts' messages to myself -- for all their faults --
>> typically never took more than a minute of two to arrive. Am also
>> sending a bcc to one of my other accounts, and I'll bet it arrives
>> well before the Gmail.
>
> The usual reason why mailing list posts don't make it back to the
> poster if posted from GMail is that GMail "helpfully" notices that it
> has seen the message before and therefore obviously you don't want it.
>
> It's not clear how GMail would manage that given that WebCrossing
> strips the original MessageId: header and substitutes its own, and
> calls itself the Sender:. But it appears that GMail may achieve that.
>
> -John
>

I looked at Google's forum discussion on this issue, and Gmail is
apparently programmed to NOT send [love that split infinitive!!] the
user a bcc for the reasons you note. It's a duplicate from your send
file, which of course Apple's Mail.app has by default. Well, I
actually liked having my own messages in the Inbox for a time so I
could look through them and the other people's messages on the same
subject, particularly when it's a business issue necessitating
consideration of numbers of people's views (typically lawyers -- who
always have opinions on everything). Google's efforts, however, are
Microsoft-ish in that the Gmail program is telling the user what the
user wants, even if the user has other ideas.

Just my 2-cents worth.

Dave

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