Copying the Email App In Gmail

[wioneo]

Is it possible to imitate the behavior of the email app with GMail? I'm not sure if it is normal, but clicking the email app on my phone is essentially equivalent to logging into my email from a browser(Georgia Tech college e-mail). If I delete an email on my phone, it is deleted from Tech's server and if I log in through their system it will be gone, and visa versa. I don't think that I've done enough testing just yet, but using "Send mail as:" and "Check mail from other accounts (using POP3):" under Accounts and Import seems to effectively just create a double of my school account instead of working through it like the email app. Also it is not updated instantly.

I am not sure if this is possible, but based on the way that the app works, I expect that i should be able to do this with GMail in a browser. I know that this is not really a phone question...but Google's customer service is...non existant.

 

[doogald]

Is it possible to imitate the behavior of the email app with GMail? I'm not sure if it is normal, but clicking the email app on my phone is essentially equivalent to logging into my email from a browser(Georgia Tech college e-mail). If I delete an email on my phone, it is deleted from Tech's server and if I log in through their system it will be gone, and visa versa. I don't think that I've done enough testing just yet, but using "Send mail as:" and "Check mail from other accounts (using POP3):" under Accounts and Import seems to effectively just create a double of my school account instead of working through it like the email app. Also it is not updated instantly.

I am not sure if this is possible, but based on the way that the app works, I expect that i should be able to do this with GMail in a browser. I know that this is not really a phone question...but Google's customer service is...non existant.

First, Google has some pretty decent online help files that explain the process of fetching external POP3 accounts here: Get mail from other accounts - Gmail Help

Specifically, when you set up the account, you are given a choice to leave a copy of the mail on the server. So long as you uncheck this, it is supposed to remove the mail from the original server, so a copy will be on GMail only. See Leaving a copy of the retrieved message on the server - Gmail Help

I have one account set to leave mail on the server, because it is a mail account that I share with my wife, and I want her also to see all of the messages that are received. I don't want Gmail to delete a message before she has fetched it on her computer. However, that's the setting to uncheck if you do want mail deleted after being fetched by GMail.

You can change that setting after the fact on a PC browser, in Gmail, from the settings, Accounts and Import: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#settings/accounts

It is not updated instantly. The server fetches on a schedule, and "learns" how often you receive mail on the account, and tries to set the fetch schedule to be as efficient as possible. From that original help file:

Once you've set up Mail Fetcher, Google will check your other accounts on a regular basis, and new mail will appear automatically in Gmail. Gmail checks each account at different rates, which are based on previous attempts to fetch new messages; you can't choose the frequency.

However, in Gmail settings, under Labs, there is a lab that exposes a "fetch now" button control in Gmail on a web browser. (It's the lab called "Refresh POP accounts".) I am not sure, though, if that control is exposed in the mobile version of Gmail on a mobile browser.

 

[wioneo]

Thank you for the advice, but that behaviour is not what I was looking for. After testing what you suggested I came to post here.

In addition to the features listed in the first post, the email app also pulls the contact list from my school account (every student/faculty member is accessible by typing their name), and it has full access to my older saved emails, so it is effectively equivalent to logging in and checking my email via a browser. I was surprised by how useful the stock app was, but I guess it spoiled me a bit.