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G Suite (gmail) folders present but not updating

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  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu Toad-Hall

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Hi all,

I just migrated to G Suite from a website hosting email server. I have my own domain (stellaprod.com) and I think this is messing with Thunderbird.

My problem is that, while the folder structure has synced, the emails within them are dated before I migrated. I cannot get the emails to sync.

From what I've found, Google instructs that the servers should simply be my domain, which works for the outgoing server - I can send emails. However, I can't receive new emails and moving an already existing email from folder to another does not reflect in Thunderbird. I've tried changing the incoming server to gmail.com and imap.gmail.com with no success. I've enabled IMAP in my gmail settings.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance! Andrew

Hi all, I just migrated to G Suite from a website hosting email server. I have my own domain (stellaprod.com) and I think this is messing with Thunderbird. My problem is that, while the folder structure has synced, the emails within them are dated before I migrated. I cannot get the emails to sync. From what I've found, Google instructs that the servers should simply be my domain, which works for the outgoing server - I can send emails. However, I can't receive new emails and moving an already existing email from folder to another does not reflect in Thunderbird. I've tried changing the incoming server to gmail.com and imap.gmail.com with no success. I've enabled IMAP in my gmail settings. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks in advance! Andrew

All Replies (3)

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And I've enabled Less Secure apps within Gmail

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Please note: If you had an imap account pointing to your domain with webhost, then emails would be stored on webhost server. If you use same email address and imap account and then change the server settings to a new server which does not contain those emails and synchronisation occurs, then all emails will disappear because they do not exist on server and imap account can only show what is on the server to which it is connecting.

Usually, before you lose access to the webhost account, you synchronise all folders to download full copies of emails and then in offline mode, get copies of all emails into 'Local Folders' mail account, so you have a copy that is independent of the server.

Assuming you have already made copies that are independent of the webhost server then you modify the server settings for same email address/mail account to point to the new server. You may find you have not as yet created all the same folder structure on the new server, so those folders cannot synchronise with something that does not exist on server.

Perhaps you have transfered from webhost to Google domain ? Good info with additional helpful links : https://support.google.com/domains/answer/9003139?hl=en-GB


Gmail imap accounts prefer to use Connection Security: 'OAuth2' for incoming and smtp outgoing server settings. The first time you connect to server, gmail will ask you to confirm you really are you and then a token is created and stored in Thunderbird - same place as the normal passwords. From then onwards the connection to server will use the Oauth token instead of the password. The setting 'use less secure apps' is really only for those who do not want to use OAuth, but you will find gmail will periodically deliberately block the account and force you use webmail to enable it again. So OAuth is the better option.

But have you already set up G suit to use imap or pop ? https://support.google.com/a/answer/9003945

Please note: In Thunderbird, you cannot swap the server settings of a pop account to use imap server settings nor vis versa. If you used imap before and want to use Pop now (or vis versa) then you need to create a new existing mail account and set up pop or imap accordingly.

Account type: IMAP. Incoming mail server: imap.gmail.com. Outgoing mail server (SMTP): smtp.gmail.com. User Name: Your G Suite Gmail address. I have included images showing server settings for gmail.

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Additional useful link: https://support.google.com/domains/answer/6069257?hl=en&ref_topic=9142939

Located some info: quote To use Gmail with G Suite, you set up your domain (MX records) to direct your mail flow to the Google mail servers. It's like registering your new address with the post office so that post is delivered to your new location. Once the MX records change takes effect (up to 72 hours), you can start receiving/sending emails through your G Suite account. Until then, you'll receive/send your emails through your old email system.