GMail with Outlook 2007 – How to Setup and Configure IMAP Access?

To set up your Microsoft Outlook 2007 client to work with Gmail, follow the instructions below, thanks to Google Help. if you are a Google Apps user, please follow the default instructions unless otherwise noted, replacing ‘your_domain.com’ with your actual domain name.

To set up your Outlook 2007 client to work with Gmail:

1. Enable IMAP in Gmail.
   1. To enable IMAP in Gmail, sign in to Gmail.
   2. Click Settings at the top of any Gmail page.
   3. Click Forwarding and POP/IMAP.
   4. Select Enable IMAP.
   5. Click Save Changes when done.
2. Open Outlook.
3. For new setups, select Do not upgrade.
4. Click Yes.
5. Enter your display name, email address (including ‘@gmail.com’), and password. Google Apps users, enter your full email address, e.g. ‘username@your_domain.com.’
6. Select the ‘Manually configure server settings or additional server types‘ checkbox.
7. Select Internet E-mail.
8. Settings: name, full email address (including ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@your_domain.com’)
   1. In the Account Type dropdown menu, select IMAP; enter the incoming and outgoing server names shown below.
   2. In the ‘User Name’ field, give your full Gmail address, including ‘@gmail.com’ or ‘@your_domain.com.’
   3. After creating these settings, clicking Next takes you to the end of the setup.
9. In the Tools menu, select Options then Mail Setup. Under ‘Email Accounts,’ click E-mail Accounts.
10. Select an account, and click Change above the list of accounts. Click More Settings, then the Advanced tab.
    1. Incoming server must be 993, and must use SSL encryption.
    2. Outgoing server can use 587, TLS encryption.
11. Click the Outgoing Server tab. Make sure that ‘My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication‘ is selected. The radio button ‘Use same settings as my incoming mail server‘ should also be selected.
12. Click OK > Next > Finish > Close > OK.
13. Check recommended client settings, given below, and adjust your client’s settings as needed.

Recommended IMAP Client Settings

All IMAP clients differ, and you can configure your mail client’s settings to best suit your needs. However, to work optimally with Gmail,  certain settings are recommended. Click on your client below to view the recommended configuration.

As a general rule,  the following settings are suggested:

Sending:

• Do NOT save sent messages on the server. If your client is sending mail through Gmail’s SMTP server, your sent messages will be automatically copied to the [Gmail]/Sent Mail folder.
• DO save draft messages on the server. If you want your drafts in your mail client to sync correctly with Gmail’s web interface, set your client to save drafts to the [Gmail]/Drafts folder.

Deleting:

• Do NOT save deleted messages on the server. Messages that are deleted from an IMAP folder (except for those in [Gmail]/Spam or [Gmail]/Trash) only have that label removed and still exist in All Mail. Hence, your client doesn’t need to store an extra copy of a deleted message.
• Do NOT save deleted messages to your [Gmail]/Trash folder because this will delete a message in all folders.
• Do NOT save deleted messages to your [Gmail]/All Mail folder as some clients will try to empty this folder and ultimately fail. This can lead to delayed mail access or excessive battery consumption on a mobile device.

Junk mail and spam:

• Do NOT enable your client’s junk mail filters. Gmail’s spam filters also work in your IMAP client. It is recommended  turning off any additional anti-spam or junk mail filters within your client. Your client’s filter will attempt to download and classify all of your existing messages, which may slow down your client until the process is complete.