gmail to Thunderbird

[whiskeryron]

I am trying to set up my googlemail acc to work through Thunderbird. I have downloaded an excellent 7 page tutorial from Googlemail which explains how to do this,unfortunately I have arrived at a stumbling block. When I get to instruction 5,( page 3 of 7) ''Select the type of incoming server you are using'' I am requested to enter ''pop.gmail.com' however when I do this & click next, I receive the instruction ''Please enter a valid host name'' I have tried all sorts of combinations but am getting nowhere. Please can someone help with this? also can you explain what POP & IMAP means. I have also done a complete virus scan on my pc & also deleted & reinstalled Thunderbird in case the problem lay in those directions, all to no avail.TIA, Ron.

[scaniavabis]

incoming server should be imap.googlemail.com. I have taken this from

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?a nswer=77662

I don't use Thunderbird but it looks as though it uses imap not pop from what I've seen on the link above

[scaniavabis]

and in complete contradiction to the above, I've just found this

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?a nswer=86399

which states that it is pop and you should use pop.googlemail.com

Is the problem perhaps that you put gmail instead of googlemail in your attempt?

Sorry Ron, working in the dark a little here

[fo3nix]

Choose IMAP, not POP.

In Thunderbird, make sure you're choosing IMAP and not POP at the start.

POP: older technology. Messages are sent to the email server you use (Gmail for instance), and stored until you log in with your own PC. When you do, the email is transferred to your PC. It is no longer on the server.

IMAP: Messages are stored on the server as POP. But when you check your email, it simply goes to the server and looks to see what's there. All email stays on server. Can be copied (light bulb icon bottom-left in Thunderbird) to your own PC, which is a good practice to get into for backup.

With IMAP, you can use several computers to check your email, and they all stay in sync, because they all just access mail on the server. So you can check email with the web interface as usual, then use Thunderbird, then go away on holiday and check email, and all will be up to date.

[fo3nix]

(The first link above is the correct one to use for setting up IMAP.)

[whiskeryron]

Thanks scaniavabi & fo3nix. I think with your help I have almost cracked it. Just one more glich to go:- when I open Thunderbird & I see a gmail waiting to be opened, when I click on it I get a message thus:- Alert mail server imap.gmail.com is not an imap 4 server.Ron.

[scaniavabis]

Hey Ron, you know that gesture people do with their hand when they wave it above their head to indicte that things are flying straight over?

Well I'm waving mate!

[fo3nix]

I assume you're using latest Thunderbird?

What address did you put in for the imap address? imap.google.com?

[whiskeryron]

yep imap.google.com

[scaniavabis]

Address shoud be imap.googlemail.com, not imap.google.com. It has to be letter and puctuation perfect, anything less won't work.

Don't suppose it's that simple though