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Forums / General / Knowledge Base
Using Postbox with Gmail
Scott MacGregor
posted this on Dec 03, 2009 17:59
Introduction
Postbox 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 and Postbox Folders
Gmail labels will appear as folders in Postbox. If a message in Gmail contains multiple labels, then multiple copies of that message will be found in each corresponding folder in Postbox.
Creating a new label in Gmail will appear as a new folder in Postbox under the same name, and creating a new folder in Postbox will create a corresponding Gmail label.
Simply remember, Gmail labels = Postbox folders.
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.
If you do not wish to view or download messages within All Mail, you can unsubscribe from this folder by selecting Subscribe... from the File menu, then select your Gmail account from the pulldown at the top (if it is not already selected), select the "All Mail" folder under "[Gmail]," and then press the Unsubscribe button.
Using Archive
When you Archive a message within Gmail's web interface, the "Inbox" label is removed from the message, but you can find the message again by selecting All Mail. Essentially, Gmail's All Mail selection operates like an Archive.
When you use the Archive function in Postbox for the first time, an Archive folder will be created automatically for you, and all archived messages will be placed in this folder. In Gmail, this folder will appear as a label named "[Imap]/Archive." (This label cannot be changed to "Archive" as this is a reserved system name for Gmail.)
By default, Postbox's Archive function files email to Gmail's All Mail folder.
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 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.
Gmail Labels and Postbox Topics
Although they seem similar, Gmail Labels and Postbox Topics are NOT the same thing. Postbox (and all other desktop email clients) interpret Gmail labels as folders. Assigning a Topic in Postbox will not cause a Gmail label to be applied to that message, even if they share the same name.
Will Postbox Topics ever be the same as Gmail Labels? Perhaps someday. It's something that the Postbox team is thinking about, but we have nothing to announce at this time.