How to Enable or Disable IMAP in Gmail

Quick and easy-to-follow guide for Gmail users

What is IMAP

  • You can access your email wherever you are, from any device with IMAP.
  • When you read an email message using IMAP, you don’t download or store it on your device – you just read it from the email service.
  • IMAP only downloads a message when you click on it – except for attachments, which don’t get downloaded automatically.
  • This way, you can check your messages faster than with POP, and you can do it on any device.

When to enable or disable IMAP

  • Enable it when you want to add your Gmail account to other services, such as Outlook.
  • Disable it to prevent third-party applications from using IMAP to access your account.

IMAP settings you can manage

When it comes to IMAP settings, you can:

  • Enable or disable IMAP access to your Gmail account
  • Set up folder size limits for IMAP clients
  • Choose what happens to emails deleted via IMAP

How to manage your IMAP settings in Gmail step-by-step with images

Step 1

How To Enable Or Disable IMAP In Gmail - Step 1

Open Gmail https://gmail.com and click the Settings gear icon in the top right.

Step 2

How To Enable Or Disable IMAP In Gmail - Step 2

Select See all settings.

Step 3

How To Enable Or Disable IMAP In Gmail - Step 3

Select Forwarding and POP/IMAP.

Step 4

How To Enable Or Disable IMAP In Gmail - Step 4
  • Status: lets you enable or disable IMAP.

  • When I mark a message in IMAP as deleted:

    • Immediately update the server (recommended)
    • Wait for the client to update the server (may cause delays and differences between the original mailbox and the IMAP client)
  • When a message is marked as deleted and expunged from the last visible IMAP folder: lets you choose what happens to emails you delete from all visible IMAP folders in the IMAP client – you can:

    • Archive emails
    • Move emails to Trash
    • Delete emails permanently
  • Folder size limits lets you limit the number of emails that you can sync to a single folder in IMAP.

    Syncing too many folders in IMAP can cause slowness in Gmail and cause you to hit the bandwidth limits. If you notice this happening, you should set a limit – otherwise, keep the default setting.

Next to IMAP access, there are four settings. Make sure to click the Save Changes button at the bottom after any updates.

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