Macbook Pro (Yosemite OP) Mail programme

libra10

I have had my Macbook a while now, and have found that Gmail never works as well as when I was using a PC with Windows Live Mail programme.

Last week I updated Safari, and the Mail programme seems to be working worse than before.

When I delete emails sometimes they go to the Trash folder, but they occasionally disappear from the Inbox and then return there, not deleting at all.

I like to keep the folders clear and delete as I go, saving some emails in couple of separate folders. But at present this is quite difficult to do. The only sure way of deleting all emails seems to be at the Gmail webpage.

Is anyone finding similar, or is there anything I can do?

Any help appreciated.

Mr_Toad

libra10 wrote: »

I have had my Macbook a while now, and have found that Gmail never works as well as when I was using a PC with Windows Live Mail programme.

Last week I updated Safari, and the Mail programme seems to be working worse than before.

When I delete emails sometimes they go to the Trash folder, but they occasionally disappear from the Inbox and then return there, not deleting at all.

I like to keep the folders clear and delete as I go, saving some emails in couple of separate folders. But at present this is quite difficult to do. The only sure way of deleting all emails seems to be at the Gmail webpage.

Is anyone finding similar, or is there anything I can do?

Any help appreciated.

Where to begin.

First off I'm a Mac user too, have been for years.

Apple and Google have a bit of a history for not playing nicely together.

My preference would be to use the Apple Mail program, why replace something you already have? But I have given up for the same reasons you have experienced since using Gmail rather than my ISP.

What you have to remember is that Gmail doesn't use folders. What you see as folders are just labels, one of the reasons Mail doesn't work properly

I have Microsoft Office on my Mac and used Outlook for a long time and it works really well, however, it's not worth getting MS Office just for that.

My preferred email client at the moment is Postbox 3. It's what Apple Mail should have been but sadly isn't. It isn't free but it does work really well.

It's based on Thunderbird and plays perfectly with Gmail.

http://www.postbox-inc.com/

I hesitate to recommend one because email is such a personal thing. What I would recommend is that you download as many as you can find and try them, even the paid for clients usually have a 30 day trial, then pick the one you like the best.

libra10

Thanks Mr_Toad for your very informative and helpful reply.

I had heard about Apple and Google's past history and realised that this might contribute to the problem.

I use Microsoft Office 2011 on my Macbook but hadn't realised that it contained Outlook, although when I look at the dock Outlook is clearly displayed! I might look into using Outlook although would prefer to keep Apple's Mail programme.

You would expect that Apple with their world domination would be able to create a simple email programme which would work well with several email clients. If Microsoft can do it ..............

Thanks very much for the information, much appreciated.

buglawton

For Gmail I use Thinderbird on Windows to make a backup on disk of all incoming and outgoing mail. It works very well in imap mode and I even have a Yahoo account added for good measure.

Thunderbird seems to be equally available for Mac.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/installing-thunderbird-on-mac

There was a bit of fiddling around to get Tbird working on Windows with Gmail not due to Windows but due to Gmail having some extra special security measure in place if you want to use imap outside of a mobile device. There might be a similar issue on a Mac but it's worth considering.

Mr_Toad

buglawton wrote: »

For Gmail I use Thinderbird on Windows to make a backup on disk of all incoming and outgoing mail. It works very well in imap mode and I even have a Yahoo account added for good measure.

Thunderbird seems to be equally available for Mac.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/installing-thunderbird-on-mac

There was a bit of fiddling around to get Tbird working on Windows with Gmail not due to Windows but due to Gmail having some extra special security measure in place if you want to use imap outside of a mobile device. There might be a similar issue on a Mac but it's worth considering.

Postbox 3, that I mentioned in my earlier post is Thunderbird based and fixes the Gmail issues.

For me it was worth the $9.95 asking price and it comes in both Windows and OS X versions.

libra10

Thanks very much for your replies and information.

It looks like I will have to try a new email programme, not sure whether to try Outlook (which I already have), Postbox or Thunderbird.

Will have a look later, and not being techie minded, will probably go for the easiest option. As long as it works

Much appreciated.