Syncing Mail Through IMAP, Changing Your Default Email App, and Choosing a Video Camera :: My First Mac - Help Buying and Getting Started with Your New Mac

Syncing Mail Through IMAP, Changing Your Default Email App, and Choosing a Video Camera

Quick Scan

Using IMAP rather than POP3 for your email service type syncs your account with multiple devices. See if your provider offers it.

To change your default email app, you need to go into Mail Preferences. I know, it's odd.

Apple maintains a list of compatible video cameras for iMovie. Be sure to check it before buying.

iMac Airport Strength, Cellphone Syncing and Using Mail for Gmail

What Email Program or Service Should I Use?

Setting Up Email in Apple Mail

The Simple Guide to Buying a Digital Camera For Your Mac

How Do I Get My iMovies on YouTube?

Syncing Mail Through IMAP, Changing Your Default Email App, and Choosing a Video Camera

By: Chuck Konfrst
Categories: My First Mac Q&A

Welcome to My First Mac's Q&A column. It is said that Macs are easier to use, but they are still complex in their own right. Here are a few questions we have received lately from readers like you. Sometimes we reformat the questions for clarity and presentation.

This week Chuck answers your questions about using Mail with phones, changing your email app default and how to find a camera that works with iMovie.

		I'd love to have my email from Mail sync with my mobile phone. My phone is fully capable of pulling down my Gmail whenever I wish, but I rarely need to do that. However, having all my email, or even just the last 50 or so, that are sitting pretty in my Mail account, on my phone would be very handy. Any ideas?

		The key to this is setting up your mail as an IMAP account. Unfortunately, most email providers only offer POP accounts. IMAP lets you keep multiple mailboxes in sync. This is exactly how Gmail works. If your email provider offers IMAP, visit their support pages to get the specifics. Then in Mail, set up the account as "IMAP" instead of "POP".

		I use a different email program than Mail. How do I change my default email reader?

		Simply go into the Mail preferences and select your desired application from the "Default Email Reader". Annoyingly Mail forces you to start setting up an account, but you do not have to finish the process. Just fill out enough information until the "Preferences" menu option (under the "Mail" menu) is no longer grayed-out. By the way, Safari has the same preference for selecting your default web browser.

		What camcorder can i use with my new Mac?

		Apple maintains a list of camcorders that have been tested with iMovie here. If a camcorder you are interested in is not listed, do a Google search for "<name of camcorder> iMovie" to see if anyone has that model and have tried using it with iMovie. Just because Apple hasn't listed it yet doesn't mean it will not work or that someone hasn't found a work around.

You can send in your questions via the Contact page or email us at editor[AT]myfirstmac[DOT]com. Because of the volume of email we receive, we can't reply to each and every question personally. We read each question that comes in and reply to the ones that fit the scope of this column. We also save some questions for future columns.

If you need your specific question answered right away, try asking it in the Comments section of a related article or in the MFM Forums.


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Your Comments:

AOL's free email service is IMAP automatically. Gmail is POP unless you dig in to Gmail's settings. Apple's Mail will automatically set up AOL's IMAP settings for you. Gmail's IMAP settings must be manually configured.

THEN, if you do go forward and turn on IMAP for Gmail and manually configure it, you are in for a world of hurt on the Mac because the size of the mail folders will drag on Mail's performance . . . unless you have magically found Google's support document on further configuring Apple Mail's mailbox behaviors for IMAP.

http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=78892#

IMAP is nice, but Gmail is fiddling with it in nonstandard ways. Funny how AOL's free email use of IMAP is cleaner.

Curmudgeon Geographer
01/10/2009 at 11:32 PM