About IMAP and POP clients (2024)

Your users can send and receiveGmail withtheirpreferred third-party emailclient. Depending on the client, they can use IMAP or POP to sync their mail.

What's the difference between IMAP and POP?

IMAP–With IMAP, email messages and attachmentsstay on the mail servereven after you open them on your device, for examplea tablet or phone. To keep messages on the server so you can get them from any of your devices at any time, use IMAP
POP–With POP, email messages and attachments are removed from the mail server after you get them on your device. Oncethe messages are removed from the server, you can't get them from any other device.If you get messages on a single device,and want messages deleted from the server after downloading,use POP.

Sync your account using IMAP or POP

For instructions on how to sync your Gmail account using an IMAP or POP email client, go toIMAPorPOP.

Clients you canuse with Google Workspace

Gmail supports IMAPclients that use IMAP4rev1, including:

Microsoft Outlook
Windows Mail
Apple Mail
Mozilla Thunderbird

You mightbe able to use clients notlisted here.

Note: If IMAP clients use IMAP4rev1 incorrectly, some features might not work as expected. Google doesn't provide technical support for third-party IMAP clients. If you're having issues with your third-party IMAP client, contact support for the client.

Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO)

Microsoft Outlook users can synchronize their mail, contacts, and calendars with Google Workspace using Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook (GWSMO).For details, go toSynchronize Google Workspace with Outlook.

Microsoft Outlook for Mac doesn't support the Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) that GWSMO needs to communicate with Outlook. So, you can't use GWSMO to sync with Outlook for Mac. For sync options you can use with Outlook for Mac, go to Get started syncing Google Workspacedata.