gmail and thunderbird

User Help for Mozilla Thunderbird
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karenanne
Posts: 630
Joined: September 18th, 2004, 5:16 am

gmail and thunderbird

Post by karenanne »

In the dim past, I sent up a gmail account because my ISP was having email problems. Then the ISP fixed the problems and I ignored the gmail account.

Now the ISP is messing with stuff again, so I am trying to set up thunderbird to read my gmail account. (Since the original events, I installed thunderbird on a new system and did not set it up for the gmail account.)

I think I used the settings that worked before, but although thunderbird can read email sent to that gmail account, it can’t send. The sending process tries for a long time and then a popup appears saying The message could not be sent because connecting to SMTP server smtp.gmail.com failed etc.

Here are my settings, anybody see an error? Thanks.

incoming server: pop.gmail.com 995 for port. SSL

outgoing server: smtp.gmail.com 587 for port. SSL

(I actually have no idea what this is saying.)

Auxiliary question about gmail. I see it is not deleting the messages from the gmail website when I pull them down into thunderbird. I realize this is not a t-bird question, but maybe someone knows how to make that happen?
mgagnonlv
Posts: 848
Joined: February 12th, 2005, 8:33 pm

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by mgagnonlv »

Hello,

1. For your send/receive problem, you need to authorize it in Gmail and set it properly. I don't know if settings are universal, but here is how to do it:

– Using the web interface on a computer, log in your Gmail account.
– Click on the cog (top right), then select "Transfer and POP/IMAP" (note: my menus are in French)
– Make sure that either POP or IMAP is activated. Then click on Configuration instructions to see which ports you should use.
– I haven't used POP in a long time, but I think there is a contradiction in the instructions, in that as SSL is required, you should use port 465.

By the way, I prefer to use IMAP (and it works well). The advantages of IMAP are that:
– your emails remain on the server (a duplicate just in case)
– you can connect with more than one computer or phone and still see everything.

2. In POP, messages remaining on Google even after you downloaded them
This is a setting in the account "Transfer and POP/IMAP" settings page. Number 2:
When using POP... either archive, keep there or remove from server.
Michel Gagnon
Montréal (Québec, Canada)
karenanne
Posts: 630
Joined: September 18th, 2004, 5:16 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by karenanne »

Thank you! Everything works now.
karenanne
Posts: 630
Joined: September 18th, 2004, 5:16 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by karenanne »

I have another question. I see that the email I send from thunderbird is kept in the Sent folder on the gmail system. I would like it not to do that (I keep it on my pc), although it is just a slight nuisance to go up there and delete it. I don't see a way to make gmail not keep Sent email? Thanks.
sfhowes
Posts: 750
Joined: April 1st, 2012, 10:21 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by sfhowes »

Gmail, like Hotmail and some others, will automatically save sent messages to the IMAP Sent folder. You can specify a local Sent folder under Local Folders in Account Settings, Copies & Folders, then unsubscribe from the IMAP Sent folder if desired.
karenanne
Posts: 630
Joined: September 18th, 2004, 5:16 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by karenanne »

sfhowes wrote:Gmail, like Hotmail and some others, will automatically save sent messages to the IMAP Sent folder. You can specify a local Sent folder under Local Folders in Account Settings, Copies & Folders, then unsubscribe from the IMAP Sent folder if desired.
I don't understand what you are saying. I am not using IMAP as far as I know. I am not using Local Folders in thunderbird, my Sent folder is in the thunderbird specific user account and already exists. How do I "unsubscribe from the IMAP Sent folder" if that is somehow pertinent to what I am doing?
sfhowes
Posts: 750
Joined: April 1st, 2012, 10:21 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by sfhowes »

Sorry, I assumed you were using IMAP, as are most users. If you don't want to keep sent messages, uncheck the 'Place a copy in' option in Copies & Folders, although you may still get messages stored there automatically, as happens with IMAP even when that option is not selected.
karenanne
Posts: 630
Joined: September 18th, 2004, 5:16 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by karenanne »

sfhowes wrote:Sorry, I assumed you were using IMAP, as are most users. If you don't want to keep sent messages, uncheck the 'Place a copy in' option in Copies & Folders, although you may still get messages stored there automatically, as happens with IMAP even when that option is not selected.
I had noted to begin with that I was using POP. As to the Sent folder, I think you're talking about thunderbird, not gmail. I want thunderbird to keep sent copies. I said I don't want to have gmail keep sent copies.
sfhowes
Posts: 750
Joined: April 1st, 2012, 10:21 am

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by sfhowes »

If you want TB to save sent messages, check the option 'Place a copy in' under Copies & Folders. I don't see any way to have Gmail not save sent messages; there are only options for what to do when Inbox messages are downloaded from POP accounts, e.g. delete, mark as read, keep.
Adrian Bell
Posts: 948
Joined: September 3rd, 2005, 8:34 am
Location: Darlington, UK
Contact:

Re: gmail and thunderbird

Post by Adrian Bell »

Gmail automatically saves all messages sent through its SMTP server to its webmail "Sent Mail" folder. This is independent of Thunderbird. You can't turn this off but this post suggests that you can set up a filter to delete these:-
https://productforums.google.com/forum/ ... nTPjdAa4IJ
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