After some recent struggles to get my email working the way I want on my new Cingular 8525, I have at last achieved victory over this small handheld device and its settings.
First, a bit about my workflow, and why this has been an issue. I bought the device so I could read my mail on the bus, then handle any remaining items (those I can’t do from my 8525) at home in desktop Outlook (hereafter, “dO”). My account is with Gmail, but I read and respond to messages via Outlook, which works very well for me. Gmail has excellent POP support, so I was eager to use it with my Windows Mobile device (hereafter referred to as WMD {hehe}).
The problem is that the Gmail inbox in Outlook Mobile is separate from the Outlook Inbox. If that last sentence makes no sense to you, good - there’s only one inbox in my desktop Outlook, so I don’t know why I have to have two on my WinMob device. What’s worse, you can’t copy mail from one inbox to the other. So, anything in the Gmail inbox on the WMD never ends up anywhere else, other than “All Mail” in Gmail. Any messages I downloaded on the mobile device would never get downloaded by desktop Outlook, since Gmail marks them as already downloaded when the 8525 downloads them. (You can also view messages in the phone Java applet Gmail Mobile, which will also prevent dO from downloading them, unless you use the trick I described in my last post). You can specify whether Gmail should archive these downloaded-to-WMD items, but this is of little relevance since desktop Outlook won’t download them, and dO is where I need them.
The steps that follow explain how to set up Gmail in WM5 Messaging, so you can use it like any other WM5 inbox to send and receive messages. With this technique, they will not be marked as downloaded or read, so you can still view them in Gmail, Gmail Mobile, or dO.
Via evq.003 in this forum post (with a few edits for clarity):
First you need to enable POP in Gmail from a regular PC.
Log into your Gmail account and click on “Settingsâ€.
In the Settings box, click on the “Forwarding and POP†tab.
Under “POP Downloadâ€, select “Enable POP for all mail (even mail that’s already been downloaded)†or select “Enable POP only for mail that arrives from now on”.
I recommend the latter if you have a lot of mail. Be sure to click “Save Changes”.
Next you need to setup Gmail on your Pocket PC.
Go to the “Messaging†app, and tap “Menu†> “Tools†> “New Accountâ€.
In the textbox enter your full Gmail address. (ex. name@gmail.com) and then tap “Nextâ€.
Your PPC will now attempt to automatically configure your settings.
When the “Status†bar reads “Completed†tap “Nextâ€.
In the “Your Name†textbox, enter the display name you would like others to see when they receive email from you; (ex. Smith, John T) or some other alias.
In the “User Name†textbox enter your Gmail username, and your Gmail password in the “Password†textbox. Mark the checkbox “Save password” so that you are not prompted for your password every time you check your email.
For “Account typeâ€, select “POP3†and in the “Name†textbox type in an account name (Default is “Gmailâ€). Tap “Nextâ€.
The following textboxes may be populated automatically. For the “Incoming mail†textbox, enter “pop.gmail.com†and for the “Outgoing mail†textbox enter “smtp.gmail.comâ€. You may leave the “Domain†textbox empty as it is not required or you can enter “gmail.comâ€; both have worked.
NOTE: Do not tap “Finishâ€.
Tap “Optionsâ€. The “check messages interval†option and “connection type†is your choice. I selected “Internet†for my connection. Tap “Nextâ€. The checkboxes “Require SSL connection†and “Outgoing mail requires authentication†must be checked. The “Check mail from ‘x’ number of days†option is your preference. Tap “Nextâ€. When you come to the page with the “message header” option, select “Get message headers only” and check “Include ‘x’ kb of the message body” and enter “999kb” in the textbox. Tap “Finish”. link
It works, much like my other trick works; the difference is that you get to use Windows Mobile Messaging rather than Gmail Mobile, which is more geared toward cell phones than smart phones and WM5 devices. It’s hard to get to GMM on my phone (Start -> Midlet Manager -> Gmail -> Yes, Allow Connection), and a lot of the special keys that make the 8525 great don’t work, since Gmail Mobile doesn’t expect you to have them.
That, combined with Gmail Mobile (for when I do want to mark things as read and keep desktop Outlook from ever downloading them), will do it for now, but it’s still far from ideal. What I want to do is:
1. Download mail via WMD. This archives it in my Gmail account, and prevents dO from downloading it.
2. Read mail on WMD, flagging for follow-up, marking as unread, deleting, etc. as I see fit.
3. Synch with desktop computer, copying messages and their status (flagged, unread, read, replies, etc.) into dO.
I can’t do this because:
- There are two inboxes in WM Messaging, and the Gmail inbox doesn’t get synched with Outlook
- Outlook Mobile doesn’t have a “flag for follow-up” feature
Grrr. Someone please write a hack that will fix this.
I understand your frustration, I experience it everyday, as I support data devices for cingular (now the new at&t). I usually recommend that people don’t sync their email from outlook to their device, rather setting it up as you have done in messaging. A static copy of what you have in email on desktop Outlook, might be necessary for some but I find it needlessly confusing because if you respond to any of those messages, they don’t actually send until you sync. if you have any questions feel free to email me at the address I used when leaving this comment
I have a T-Mobile Dash with Windows Mobile 6. I have it set up pretty much as you described except for the very last bit:
If I set Message Download Limit to Headers Only, there’s no text box for including 999kb of the message. I have to choose ‘Entire Message’ in that select box if I want that. No big deal, because it generally works.
My major problem, and one I can’t seem to find a way to fix, is that each an every time my Dash checks email, it wipes out everything in my Gmail inbox, whether read or unread, and then only downloads new messages. And when I say ‘wipes out’ I mean completely. They do not end up in Deleted Items. They’re totally gone.
Eric-
I think there’s an options button that should let you specify how much of the message to include - but I don’t have a Dash, so I’m not sure.
The mail should still be there, in All Mail. It gets archived, not deleted. Unless, of course, you have Gmail set to delete items when they’re downloaded via POP (which I’m not sure is even possible).
Well, this is interesting. I followed similar instructions from the link to the forum post and now I am able to receive all of my gmail (from “All Mail”, not just Inbox), though whenever I send an email to myself from my WMD, I can’t seem to download it in dO. Very strange because it shows up fine in gmail, but if I were to write the same email from the gmail web interface, I’ll download the message in dO and WMD. Crazy stuff.
Shak - I’ve noticed that too - I can’t see messages I’ve sent from the WMD in Gmail, though they appear to go through.
Hi,
I have a big problem, I try to set my WMD messaging service for gmail and everything works BUT password: when I put my password, as I go to the following step and come back to username+password settings, password has changed, with something long as ************** (my password has only 9 chars). So, can’t connect cause password does not match!!
What can I do?…
Thanks a lot