How to configure a Gmail account on the iPhone

The following guide is for those of you who want to configure their email client built into the iPhone and who have a Gmail account. The general assumption is to take advantage of all the possibilites offered by the IMAP protocol.

I assume that you know what the IMAP protocol is. The iPhone includes a built-in automatic configuration wizard for Gmail, but if you choose to use this wizard, the account will not configure correctly. After using this wizard, redundant folders might appear, such as "All Mail”, "[Gmail] Inbox" "[Gmail] Drafts" "[Gmail] Sent Items". Here are a few steps you need to follow.

Log in to your email account at www.gmail.com. Then, in the Settings tab find Forwarding and POP/IMAP (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Tab Forwarding and POP/IMAP.

Enable the IMAP protocol (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. Enable IMAP option in Forwarding and POP/IMAP section.

In order to eliminate the duplication of folders in the mail client of the iPhone, first go to the Labs tab (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3. Labs tab.

You will find an option for the integration of Advanced IMAP controls. (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4. Advanced controls for IMAP in Labs section

With this application, you can freely configure the visibility of folders for IMAP. Please note that this option needs to be approved by pressing the Save Changes button in the lower left corner of the screen. Select the Labels tab (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5. The Labels tab in the Settings section.

In Labels you can exclude certain folders for IMAP. We can disable the view of all folders except the Inbox folder (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6. Disable certain folders from view in the IMAP mail client, such as the iPhone.

The Gmail account configuration is complete on the web page. It is important to log off from your account after completing the above steps in order to enable synchronization.

Now, configure the iPhone. Go to Settings, Mail, Contacts, Calendar (Fig. 7).

Fig. 7. iPhone mail settings.

Then, choose the option Add Account (Fig. 8).

Fig. 8. Adding an account in the iPhone.

Select from a list of suppliers the option at the very bottom i.e. Other (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9. The Other tab is located at the bottom.

Next, click the Add Mail Account option and go to the configuration screen (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10. Add the email account.

In the fields Name, Address, Password and Description enter your account data on the Gmail server. In the Description field you can put any name you want (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11. Configure access to the mailbox.

After clicking Save, another configuration screen appears. Select the IMAP tab (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12. IMAP tab.

It’s important to configure IMAP and SMTP protocols. Enter your access data. First IMAP (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13. Setting IMAP.

Set the SMTP protocol responsible for outgoing mail (Fig. 14).

Fig. 14. Setting SMTP.

After clicking the Save button, the newly added account shows up on the list (Fig. 15).

Fig. 15. The list of accounts, with the recently created account.

Match the folders in the iPhone to the folders on the Gmail server. Select Advanced in the Account options (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16. Account Settings - Advanced.

Find the IMAP path prefix and type [Gmail], so an e-mail program synchronizes folders that have been included previously on Gmail (Fig. 17).

Fig. 17. IMAP path prefix.

The last step is to match every target folder on the server with the folder in the iPhone. This is done in the Advanced options in the Mailbox Behaviors section (Fig. 18).

Fig. 18. Folders view settings.

Open each of the three options and point to the folders on the server as shown in the example below for Drafts (Fig. 19).

Fig. 19. Setting the Drafts folders.

Then, select the folder on the server for the Sent Items (Fig. 20).

Fig. 20. Sent box.

And finally select a folder for Trash (Fig. 21).

Fig. 21. Set the destination folder for Trash.

When you complete the configuration, you should see a folders list as in the example below (Fig. 22).

Fig. 22. Final folder view.

If you had used the automatic server configuration option built into the iPhone, there would have been many redundant folders in the view, most of which are not needed (Fig. 23).

Fig. 23. General view of the built-in e-mail configuration.

The method described above allows a complete personalization of the mailbox view. The built-in wizard, on the other hand, creates a less practical set of folders. What is worse, it sometimes duplicates folders and does not move deleted items and sent items to the appropriate folders. If you stick to the instruction above the items in the Sent Mail folder on the iPhone will correspond to the Sent folder on the website.

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