Gmail Gets Free IMAP Support

By Greg McNevin

October 25, 2007: Google has quietly slipped out significant upgrade to its Gmail service this week, adding IMAP capabilities to the popular online email application.

The service has just been launched and is completely free, unlike similar services such as Microsoft’s Hotmail. Hotmail was one of the first online email providers to offer IMAP support, however, due to apparent misuse the service is now only available to paid subscribers.

“Sync your inbox across devices instantly and automatically. Whether you read or write your email on your phone or on your desktop, changes you make to Gmail will be seen from anywhere you access your inbox,” writes Google on the official Gmail homepage. “Don't fret if you don't see "IMAP Access" yet under the Settings menu. We're rolling it out to everyone over the next few days.”

The greatest benefit IMAP access brings Gmail users is consistency across platforms. Respond to an email via your phone and the response will be reflected in Thunderbird next time you fire it up. If you create a draft in Outlook and have to run, you can simply log in to your account via any browser later to proof it and fire it off. No need to sync devices all the time, and no more detective work to see what has been responded to and what hasn’t.

The addition is a serious benefit for those already using Google’s office productivity suite, and could easily sway many who were toying with the idea of making the switch now that the firm has a suitably powerful email client in its stable.

Gmail now supports Microsoft Outlook Express, 2003 and 2007, Apple Mail, Windows Mail and Thunderbird 2.0, as well as mobile phones such as Apple’s much gushed about iPhone and a range of other mobile devices.

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