Access a Gmail Account in Windows Live Mail Using IMAP
To set up Gmail as an IMAP account in Windows Live Mail:
- Make sure IMAP access is enabled in Gmail.
- Go to Mail under Shortcuts in Windows Live Mail.
- Click Add an e-mail account at the bottom of the list.
- Type your Gmail address under E-mail address:.
- Type your Gmail password under Password:.
- Enter your name under Display Name:.
- Make sure Automatically determine my login ID is checked. (You can verify it is working correctly if the local part, i.e. what comes before the @, in your Gmail address appears under Login ID:.)
- Type your Gmail password under Password:.
- Make sure Manually configure server settings for e-mail account. is checked.
- Click Next.
- Make sure IMAP is selected under My incoming mail server is a ___ server.
- Enter "imap.gmail.com" under Incoming server:.
- Make sure This server requires a secure connection (SSL) is checked under Incoming Server Information.
- Type "smtp.gmail.com" under Outgoing server:.
- Make sure This server requires a secure connection (SSL) is also checked under Outgoing Server Information.
- Also check My outgoing server requires authentication.
- Type "465" for Port: under Outgoing Server Information.
- Click Next.
- Now click Finish.
- Click OK.
- Select Tools | Accounts... from the menu.
- Highlight the Gmail account in the list.
- Click Properties.
- Go to the IMAP tab.
- Enter "[Gmail]#Sent Mail" (not including the quotation marks) under Sent Items path:.
- Type "[Gmail]#Drafts" under Drafts path:.
- Type "[Gmail]#Trash" under Deleted Items path:.
- Enter "[Gmail]#Spam" under Junk path:.
- Click OK.
- Click Close.
- Shut down Windows Live Mail.
- Open Gmail in your browser.
- Select Settings in the top right navigation bar.
- Go to Labels.
- Click Remove followed by OK for the "[Imap]/Deleted Items", "[Imap]/Drafts", "Junk E-mail" and "Sent Items" labels.
- Open your Windows Live Mail folder in Windows.
- Go to the Gmail (user name) sub-folder.
- Open Notepad.
- Drag and drop the account{***}.oeaccount (where "***" represents a long random string) file from the imap.gmail.com onto Notepad to open it.
- Look for the '#' in "[Gmail]#Sent Items", "[Gmail]#Drafts", "[Gmail]#Trash" and "[Gmail]#Spam" and replace it with '/' (always excluding the quotation marks).
- After editing, "[Gmail]#Sent Items" should read "[Gmail]/Sent Items", for example.
- Close Notepad saving the file.
- Start Windows Live Mail.
- Select Tools | IMAP Folders... from the menu.
- Choose the Gmail account under Account(s):.
- Click Reset List.
- Now click OK.
- Choose the desired synchronization settings for your folders:
- Click on each folder in succession with the right mouse button in the folder list and choose the desired setting under Synchronization settings in the menu that pops up.
- Do not enable synchronization for [Gmail]/All Mail unless you want Windows Live Mail to download all messages in your Gmail account.
- You can safely turn off synchronization for the Spam and Trash folders.
- Select Tools | Options... from the menu.
- Go to the Advanced tab.
- Make sure Use the 'Deleted Items' folder with IMAP accounts is checked under IMAP.
- Click OK.
Now that you've set up Gmail in Windows Live Mail, it's time to start using it. You can also import existing emails into Gmail.
Access a Gmail Account in Windows Live Mail Using POP
To set up access to a Gmail account in Windows Live Mail:
- Make sure POP access is turned on for your Gmail account.
- Go to Mail under Shortcuts in Windows Live Mail.
- Click Add an e-mail account at the bottom of the list.
- Type your Gmail address under E-mail address:.
- Type your Gmail password under Password:.
- Enter your name under Display Name:.
- Make sure Manually configure server settings for e-mail account. is not checked.
- Click Next.
- Click Finish.
- Click Send/receive in the Windows Live Mail toolbar.
That's it. By now, a Gmail account should have appeared in the folder pane, and if you had any mail waiting in Gmail, it is now in its Inbox.
