Binks Is Here

Commentary on the World

About Damn Time

Well, just last night I realized it…

Gmail has IMAP SUPPORT!

About damn time… people have been requesting that since Gmail first came onto the scene as an invite-only affair.

The official Gmail blog has a post on it - but it’s awfully scant on details about HOW it’ll actually work (I haven’t had time to monkey with it yet).

For those who don’t know, IMAP is a method of synchronizing your online inbox with other clients - so your Gmail account can link to your Outlook account. What makes IMAP rox0r people’s box0rz is that, unlike POP (which Gmail has had for forever), IMAP maintains synchronization.

Let’s look at a quick scenario.

I’ve got Gmail online, a blackberry (no, I don’t…), a laptop with Outlook, and a desktop with Outlook. I could have, in the past, had all three of those devices use POP to access my Gmail account - but, when I got a new message, it would pop up as a new message in 4 places, and I would have to check and deal with that message 4 times.

With IMAP, no matter what device I’m on, if I check a message, it’s read everywhere. If I delete a message, it’s deleted everywhere, and if I file a message away, it’s filed away everywhere.

What I’m unsure of is how Gmail’s labels work with Outlook’s folders (a message can have many labels, but a message can only be in one folder at a time…)

If anyone actually goes about doing it in the next week or so, let me know how things go. About a week from now my life gets MUCH less interesting, so I’ll probably try it out then.