Gmail Server Settings: IMAP, SMTP and POP3

Everything needed to connect Gmail to a mail client, in one place — and, just as importantly, the Gmail-specific behaviour that catches people out once it is connected. Gmail does not work quite like other providers over IMAP, and knowing why saves a lot of confusion later.

Gmail server settings

Your username is your full Gmail address. Port 465 with SSL/TLS also works for outgoing mail if your client prefers it.

Before any of it works

Personal Gmail accounts already have IMAP access enabled. Google removed the enable and disable controls in January 2025, so you do not need to switch IMAP on before connecting. Google Workspace administrators can still restrict IMAP for managed accounts.

For authentication, choose “Sign in with Google” whenever your mail client offers it. Google no longer supports applications that require you to share your ordinary Google Account password. Older software that cannot use Google sign-in may require an app password, which needs 2-Step Verification and is not available on every account.

IMAP or POP3?

Choose IMAP unless you have a specific reason not to.

IMAP synchronises. Your mail stays on Google's servers and every device sees the same mailbox — read something on your phone and it shows as read on your laptop, file it and it moves everywhere.

POP3 downloads messages to a single computer and does not synchronise changes between devices. Gmail lets you decide what happens to its server copy after a message is downloaded: keep it in the inbox, mark it as read, archive it or delete it. POP can therefore remove messages from Gmail, but only when that option has been selected.

If you do use POP, Gmail lets you choose whether messages are kept, archived or deleted after download, and whether to fetch everything or only mail arriving from now on. Set that deliberately rather than accepting the default.

How Gmail behaves over IMAP

This is the part generic guides skip, and it explains most of the odd behaviour people report after connecting a client.

Labels are folders

Gmail does not have folders. It has labels, and a message can carry several at once. Your mail client only understands folders, so Gmail presents each label as one — which means a single message can appear in several folders simultaneously. It has not been copied. It is one message wearing several labels.

Moving a message between folders in your client therefore changes its labels rather than relocating it. Usually that is what you wanted; occasionally it produces results that feel wrong.

All Mail contains everything

Gmail exposes a folder called All Mail holding every message in your account — including everything already in your inbox. Clients that synchronise it show your entire mail twice, which is the single most common "why are there duplicates?" complaint.

The fix is to exclude All Mail from synchronising. Most clients let you choose which folders to sync; unticking All Mail resolves the duplication without losing anything, since the messages are still present under their own labels.

Deleting may not delete

Gmail’s All Mail label contains almost every message in the account, including messages that also carry the Inbox or another label. Because mail clients display Gmail labels as folders, the same message may appear under both Inbox and All Mail. These are usually two views of one message rather than separate copies using twice the storage.

Some mail clients let you hide or unsubscribe from the All Mail folder if its repeated appearance is confusing. Remember that archived messages live in All Mail, so hiding it can make archived mail harder to browse from that client.

Map the special folders

Sent, Drafts, Trash and Spam exist on both sides, and if your client does not map its own to Gmail's, you get the classic symptoms: sent messages appearing twice, or drafts that vanish when you switch device. Most clients have these settings under account or folder options. Check the mapping once, at setup, rather than wondering about it for months.

Matching ports to encryption

Ports and encryption travel in pairs, and mixing them is the most common reason a correct-looking configuration refuses to connect. Port 993 expects SSL/TLS. Port 995 expects SSL/TLS. Port 587 expects STARTTLS, while port 465 expects SSL/TLS for the same outgoing job.

Take a port from one pairing and encryption from another, and the connection fails with an error that usually blames the network or your credentials — sending you looking in entirely the wrong place.

Never configure without encryption. An unencrypted connection sends your credentials in a form anyone on the same network can read, and Google refuses such connections anyway.

If it still will not connect

• For personal Gmail accounts, do not look for an IMAP enable switch—it no longer exists because IMAP is always enabled. If you use a work or school account, check whether its Google Workspace administrator has restricted IMAP access.

• Check how the client authenticates. A compatible client opens Google’s own sign-in page. If the software only asks for a password inside the application, update it or use an app password if your account is eligible.

• Check the port and encryption pairing against the table above.

• Try a mobile hotspot if sending fails. Many networks block outbound mail ports, and a message that sends on mobile data confirms the network rather than your settings.

If mail connects but does not arrive, that is a different problem — our troubleshooting guide covers storage, filters and forwarding, which account for most cases of missing mail.