Gmail users can now use IMAP to synchronize e-mail on their iPhones and desktops.

Matthew Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, announced the release of IMAP support in Gmail Wednesday at Interop New York. Glotzbach, a keynote speaker, said Gmail account holders can begin using IMAP immediately.

He held it up as an example of Google’s attempts at continuous [.....]]]> Announced at Interop New York, the e-mail feature synchs with Outlook Express, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, Apple Mail, Windows Mail, and Thunderbird 2.0.

Gmail users can now use IMAP to synchronize e-mail on their iPhones and desktops.

Matthew Glotzbach, product management director for Google Enterprise, announced the release of IMAP support in Gmail Wednesday at Interop New York. Glotzbach, a keynote speaker, said Gmail account holders can begin using IMAP immediately.

He held it up as an example of Google’s attempts at continuous innovation, saying it’s one of many new features Google has added since launching Google Applications in February.

“IMAP isn’t new, but bringing it together is,” he said.

David Murray, associate product manager for Google, wrote about it in a blog posted Wednesday.

“There are two online petitions I’ve signed in my life,” he said. “One was for a ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ movie. The other, which I signed a few months before starting at Google, was for Gmail IMAP… It keeps the same information synched across all devices so that whatever you do in one place shows up everywhere else you might access your e-mail. For example, I can read an e-mail in Gmail, then move it to the ‘Starred’ folder on my iPhone, then archive it by moving it to ‘All Mail’ in Thunderbird, then see all of those changes on my BlackBerry.”

Google has placed a video demonstration on YouTube:

Users must change their settings to enable IMAP in their Gmail accounts and configure their mail client or wireless device to download Gmail messages. You can check out instructions on how to do that through Google.

Once the configuration settings are changed, everything users do through e-mail on their iPhones and desktops will be immediately visible on the other device because the changes have been stored on a server. The feature works for several e-mail applications, including Outlook Express, Outlook 2007, Outlook 2003, Apple Mail, Windows Mail, and Thunderbird 2.0.

IMAP Gmail access will work on a Blackberry, but Google tells Palm users to take note: GMail IMAP access isn’t yet compatible with VersaMail. Users’ clients must support SMTP authentication to send mail using a Gmail address.

Not all Gmail user accounts have been upgraded. Gmail says they will be rolling it out to customers over the next few days.

So as not to ruffle anyone’s feathers, this information is (obviously) from the MIT helpdesk, although the steps are defined by Microsoft and are in the public domain.

So, by default, Outlook 2003 saves sent email locally within the Sent Items Folder. These instructions do not affect this behavior, so you will be saving [.....]]]> The following instructions provide a way to save your sent messages in a folder on the mail server so they can be accessed from multiple machines/clients.

So as not to ruffle anyone’s feathers, this information is (obviously) from the MIT helpdesk, although the steps are defined by Microsoft and are in the public domain.

So, by default, Outlook 2003 saves sent email locally within the Sent Items Folder. These instructions do not affect this behavior, so you will be saving two copies of each sent message (one locally and another on the mail server). If you do not want to keep a saved copy locally, go to Tools>Options. On the Preferences tab, click e-mail options and clear the “Save copies of messages in sent items folder”.

To configure Outlook to save a copy of your sent messages in an IMAP folder on the mail server:

1. In Outlook, go to the Tools menu and select Rules and Alerts.
Result: The Rules and Alerts dialogue opens.

2. Click New Rule…
Note: If you have more than one e-mail account, in the “Apply changes to this folder” list, select the account that you wish to modify with the new rule.

Result: The Rules Wizard appears.

3. Select the Start from a blank rule radio button. In the Step 1 pane, highlight Check messages after sending. Click Next.
Result: The Rules Wizard displays a list of conditions.

4. Check the through the specified account option, and then click specified in Step 2.

Result: The Account dialog box appears, prompting you to select your server.

5. Click OK.
Result: The Rules Wizard reappears. Your server now appears in Step 2. Click Next.
Note: You can find your assigned post office (po) server online.

6. In the Step 1 pane, check the option move a copy to the specified folder and make sure all other options are unchecked.
Result: The Rules Wizard reappears, now with “move a copy to the specified folder” added to the end of the rule in the Step 2 pane.
Click on the word specified in the Step 2 pane.

Result: The Rules and Alerts dialog box appears with your e-mail directory structure.

7. Select the mail folder that stores your Sent mail, then click OK.
Note: If you do not have a Sent Mail folder, create one now by choosing New… and following the steps presented there.

Result: The Rules Wizard reappears, now with “move a copy to the Sent mail folder” added to the end of the rule in the Step 2 pane.

8. Click Next.
Result: You may be prompted with a screen asking if there are any exceptions. Click Next again.
Note: This is an optional step not needed to complete the rule configuration.

Result: The Rules Wizard reappears, preparing to finish the rule setup.

9. Click Finish to complete the procedure.