Postbox Help/Postbox Help/Advanced Configuration

Using Gmail with Postbox 3

Postbox Support
posted this on December 03, 2009 05:59 pm

Introduction

Postbox 3 and Gmail work beautifully together, a match made in heaven. But there are some important differences between Gmail's webmail interface and Postbox that you should know about. Read on!

Gmail Labels

Postbox 3 now supports Gmail labels, including messages labeled "Important."  

There's nothing to setup, it all just works as it should, but there are a couple of things to note:

  • Label indicators for Gmail labels are square, Topic indicators are rounded (pill shaped)
  • Multiple labels will mean multiple copies of a message will exist across those folders
  • The shortcut key for assigning a Gmail Label is "L"
  • You can change the color associated with a label by right clicking on the label in the folder pane and choosing Label Color from the context menu. Gmail labels must contain at least one color, and there is no current way to change the color for multiple labels at once.

Note:  In order to keep labels in sync, Postbox will check all Gmail folders for new messages.  To prevent Postbox from checking all Gmail folders for new messages, use the Postbox Config Editor and set the hidden mail.check_all_gmail_imap_folders_for_new pref to false.

Important Label

Gmail marks messages it determines as important with the "Important" label.  This happens on Gmail's servers.
If you would like to hide the Important Label, including the important icon that appears in the message list pane to the left of the subject, you can unsubscribe from your Important folder by:
  1. Following these steps: http://postbox.zendesk.com/entries/484524-subscribing-to-imap-folders
  2. Restart Postbox after unsubscribing from the Important folder and you should no longer see the Gmail Important icon appear in the message list pane and the message envelope.
  3. Next, you'll need to make sure that you go to Options or Preferences / Accounts / [your Gmail account] / Advanced Button and then make sure that "Show only subscribed folders" is checked.

Gmail's All Mail Folder

In Postbox you will find within the "[Gmail]" folder "All Mail" and "Starred." All Mail contains a copy of every message in your Gmail account, so this folder can be quite large.

If a message in Gmail has a label, then a copy of that message is created in Postbox. For example, a message in Gmail's Inbox will be found within the Inbox and All Mail folders in Postbox. If a message in Gmail's Inbox contains the label "Holiday," then a copy of that message will be found the Inbox, Holiday, and All Mail folders in Postbox.

Postbox Tips for Better Performance:

If you do not wish to view or download messages within All Mail, you can unsubscribe from this folder, or limit the number of messages that display in the All Mail Folder. Please see this Knowledge Base article for details: http://support.postbox-inc.com/entries/20039357-how-to-use-postbox-with-a-large-gmail-all-mail-folder

Getting Folders Correctly Mapped 

Trash Folder

In Preferences or Options / Accounts / YourGmailAccount / Account Settings, towards the bottom of this panel is a setting for deleting a message.

Make sure that "Move it to this folder" is selected.

Note: Beginning in Postbox 3.0.3 and beyond, you will not be able to select a custom folder, as Gmail doesn't perform well when other folders are specified for Trash


Sent Folder

In Preferences or Options / Accounts / YourGmailAccount / Copies & Folders, make sure that "Place a copy in…" is not checked. Gmail will automatically add sent messages to the sent folder on the server side.


Drafts Folder

In Preferences or Options / Accounts / YourGmailAccount / Copies & Folders, select "Other" button, and make sure that the Drafts folder is being mapped to:
your Gmail account / [Gmail] / Drafts


Templates Folder

In Preferences or Options / Accounts / YourGmailAccount / Copies & Folders, select the "Templates" button, and select your Gmail account.


Archive

In Preferences or Options / Accounts / YourGmailAccount / Copies & Folders, select "Other" button, and make sure that the Archive folder is being mapped to:
your Gmail account / [Gmail] / All Mail


Junk Folder

In Preferences or Options / Accounts / YourGmailAccount / Junk Settings, check "Move new junk messages to" and then select "Other" button, and make sure that the Junk folder is being mapped to:
your Gmail account / [Gmail] / Spam

Next, go to Preferences or Options / Privacy / Junk and check "When I mark messages as junk" and select "Move them to the accounts 'Junk' folder"


Removing [Gmail] from the folder list

If you wish to remove [Gmail] from the folder list, please follow these instructions.  

Note: this will change the name of your labels in Gmail on the web from "labelName" to "[Gmail]/labelName".

  1. Drag and drop all folders you've created on the IMAP server into the [Gmail] subfolder.
  2. Go to Preferences or Options / Accounts / your Gmail account / and click the Advanced Button… 
  3. For IMAP Server Directory, enter: [Gmail]
  4. Close the panel
  5. Restart Postbox

Trouble-shooting:

  • If upon restart you see double folders for Spam, Trash, etc., simply restart again and the problem should clear up.
  • If your Sent Mail folder is placed amongst your labels, restart yet again and the problem should clear up.

Delete Behavior in Postbox 3

Postbox is Gmail aware and does different things based on the folder you are in:

  1. Within a label/folder, deleting removes the message from the current label/folder only, and the message remains in other labels/folders.  To make deleting remove all labels/folders, go to Preferences / Advanced / General / Config Editor and search for "pb.gmail.label_delete.useAllMail". You'll want to double-click this preferences to change it to False.  This change does not impact special labels/folders such as the Inbox, Archive or Sent.
  2. Within a special folder like the Inbox, deleting moves the messages to Gmail/Trash, causing it to be removed from all other labels/folders. 

For more detailed information on delete behavior, please see: 

http://support.postbox-inc.com/entries/21527148-changing-the-delete-behavior-for-gmail-accounts

Working with Spam

When you mark a message as "Junk" in Postbox, it is moved to Gmail's "Spam" folder. However, emptying the Spam folder in Postbox does not empty the Spam folder in Gmail.  Gmail on the web will automatically delete messages that have been in the Spam folder for more than 30 days.

Gmail Starred Mail and Postbox To-Dos

Email messages contain a hidden keyword called a "flag," and different email clients have different names and symbols for flagged messages. In Gmail, they are called "Starred" messages, in Apple Mail they are "Flagged" messages, and in Outlook they are called "To-Dos." Postbox also associates flagged messages as To-Dos.

In short, Starred Messages in Gmail = To-Dos in Postbox.

 

Control IMAP Folder Size Limits 

Gmail (and Google Apps) users have the opportunity to put a limit on how many messages will sync per folder. To use this feature, go to Mail Settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP and find the Folder Size Limits option at the bottom. Choices range from 1,000 to 10,000.

 

Folder_Size_Limits.jpg

More resources

Helpful links at Google
 
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