Add an email account

If you haven't already set up an email account in Mail, you might be prompted to add one when you open the app. If you're not prompted, or you just want to add another account, follow these steps:

Gmail Emails To Mac Desktop

In Mac Mail you need to set up 'other mail' with the correct gmail address and a deliberately WRONG PASSWORD. Only then does Mail offer you the possibility to choose account type 'POP'. Below enter server 'pop.gmail.com' and 'smtp.gmail.com' as provided by Gmail. Jul 06, 2020 Gmail and Apple Mail. The concept of creating a Gmail account in Apple Mail is simple enough. Gmail makes use of standard mail protocols, and Apple Mail supports the methods of communicating with the Gmail servers. You can add a Gmail account the same way you'd add any POP or IMAP account you currently use. Sign-in to your Gmail account within Outlook for Mac. This is for users who are on Build 0902 and higher. Have you already added your Gmail account to Outlook then see, Improved auth for existing Gmail users.

Gmail vs Apple Mail and iCloud: The Basics. Let’s start by explaining what Apple Mail is, and how it compares to Gmail at a high level. Officially, Apple Mail (usually an app simply called “Mail” on Apple devices) is an email client intended for devices with iOS operating systems. It relies on SMTP servers for sending messages, POP3, Exchange, and IMAP for message retrieving, and S/MIME. Add Gmail as a new mail account within the Apple Mail app. And this time, choose the “Other Mail Account” option instead of selecting “Google”. This means you need to enable your Gmail account to IMAP forwarding and enter the incoming and outgoing servers.

1. From the menu bar in Mail, choose Mail > Add Account.
2. Select your email provider from the list, then click Continue.
3. Some accounts, such as Google, might ask that you click Open Browser to complete authentication in your web browser.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions to enter account details, such as your name, email address, and password. If you're not sure what information to enter, please contact your email provider for help.

Use the Inbox for each account

The Inbox gathers together the messages for every email account you added. If you added more than one account, you can click the disclosure triangle next to Inbox in the sidebar, then select a mailbox to see only the messages for that account.

Optional: Turn on other account features

If your account includes support for contacts, calendars, notes, or other features in addition to email, you can turn those features on or off:

1. Choose Apple menu  > System Preferences, then click Internet Accounts.
2. Select your account in the sidebar.
3. Select the features you want to use with your account.
   

Gmail seems to be the main email provider and no wonder – it is free and it has the best spam filtering and protection. But the Gmail web interface is a bit clunky so it is nice to be able to use Gmail with the built in Apple mail program. Here’s how to set up Apple mail to work with Gmail.

1. Make sure you have a Gmail account.

You need to know your Gmail address (e.g. wayne@gmail.com) and password because you will need to enter them into Apple mail. If you don’t have a Gmail account here is how to sign up

– Go to gmail.com and click on “Sign Up”

– Fill in the details – you’ll need to pick a gmail email address and a password. After this is done you will get a verification page that says something like this at the bottom:

2. Enter your Gmail address into Apple mail.

– Open Apple mail, and go to the “Mail’ menubar at the top of the screen and then select ‘Preferences’ from the menu.

– Select the ‘Accounts’ tab. From here you can manage your mail accounts.

– Press the ‘+’ button – this means add a new account.

You will be asked which email provider – select Google.

-You will be prompted for your Google login details:.

– You will be taken back to the Apple Mail preferences screen. There are some settings you should change here.

1. Click on the mailbox behaviours tab.

If there are problems in Apple mail with Gmail this is where they seem to be caused – multiple drafts appearing, deleted emails reappearing etc. It can take a bit of trial and error getting these settings right but these settings below have been working for me for over a year so this should give you a great head start. In these drop-down menus you will find a long list of folders. Some of them are folders in your Gmail account and some of them are folders on your home computer.

Here are the settings I suggest:

My recommended settings for mailbox behaviours when using Gmail in Apple mail. Junk is the Gmail junk folder. The only local folder is ‘Drafts’.

Notes on Mailbox Behaviours

Select the local ‘On My Mac’ Drafts folder not the Gmail Drafts folder. This means that any drafts I begin to type on my home computer will not be available from my iOS devices. The other option is that you select the Gmail ‘Drafts’ folder. You should save draft messages on Gmail if you want your drafts to show when you open Gmail on the web. But the problem with this is Apple mail makes a backup copy of your draft email every few minutes as you are typing it. All these draft emails made by Apple mail will get stored in your gmail Drafts folder and you end up multiple versions of the same mail message.

You need to select the [Gmail] /Sent Mail folder because Gmail automatically keeps a copy of your sent messages and puts them in its ‘send mail folder.’ This tells Apple mail where to find those sent emails which is useful if you want to se your sent emails from different computers. You only need this option checked if your email provider doesn’t keep a copy of your sent emails automatically.

You don’t need to select a trash mailbox at all because Google automatically keeps a copy of your trashed mail. The “Trash” option is for email providers who don’t keep a copy of all your deleted emails. If you select a mailbox here Apple mail will save all your deleted items to this trash folder in case you want to undo the delete. This will result in multiple copies of all your trashed emails because Google already keeps a copy.

You want the Google “junk” option ticked not the local On My Mac one because Gmail automatically takes care of junk mail – you don’t want the Apple mail program deleting it. Don’t turn on the Apple junk mail filters. Gmail automatically sorts spam before it reaches your computer.

– That’s it.

– You can close the preferences window. (Click save if it prompts you to save the new settings).

– There should be some welcome messages from Gmail waiting for you in your Apple mail.

EXPLANATION OF GMAIL FOLDERS

On the left-hand side of your mail app there should be a little folder called [Gmail] that looks like this:

The All Mail folder contains every mail you have sent or received and even the emails you have deleted. This is where you go if you want to find an old email that you have deleted.

Gmail Emails To Mac Os

The drafts folder will be empty all the time because you are not storing your draft emails on the gmail server.

Sent mail will contain all the emails you have sent.

Trash will be empty. All your deleted emails are kept in the All Mail folder – you don’t need another copy in the trash.