GMail opens up IMAP Support

This just in — Google Mail (GMail) is now officially supporting IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol. And people thought Google would not give in to the popular demand.

The GMail Help Center publishes a support page outlining usage of IMAP for GMail.

IMAP, or Internet Message Access Protocol, lets you download messages from Gmail’s servers onto your computer so you can access your mail with a program like Microsoft Outlook Express or Apple Mail, even when you aren’t connected to the Internet.

IMAP creates a constant connection between mail clients (desktop and/or mobile) and Gmail.

That’s on top of the POP service. Some speculated that Google would not support IMAP for GMail because it does not provide any avenue for subscribers to land on a Google web property or view and ad (which is basically their bread and butter).

Surprising so see IMAP support this soon. To enable IMAP in your Gmail account:

1. Log in to your Gmail account.
2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
4. Select Enable IMAP.
5. Configure your IMAP client* and click Save Changes.

Here’s the configuration instruction if you want your GMail Account on IMAP with an email client like ThunderBird or Outlook. On IMAP, all custom labels on GMail will end up as a folder.