Re: Please help access gmail with IMAP

[Gerardo Ballabio <gerardo ballabio gmail com>]

Thanks for your answer Peter.

In fact, when I checked my mailbox again, I found that Google sent me
a message to inform that they had blocked an attempt to access my
account and if that was really me, there's a configuration switch to
enable access to "less secure applications".

But before I do that, as I don't know to what extent it might weaken
the security of my account, I'll try changing Balsa's settings as you
suggest to see whether that makes it "more secure".

Gerardo

2015-04-06 1:07 GMT+02:00, Peter Bloomfield <peterbloomfield bellsouth net>:
> Hello Gerardo!
>
> On 04/05/2015 06:48:32 PM Sun, Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > I tried to configure Balsa to access my gmail account with IMAP, but
> > failed. Please help.
> > For the moment I'm only interested in reading email, not sending.
> >
> > Gmail instructions say I should first activate IMAP in the Gmail
> > settings. I've done that. Then they say I should set up my email
> > client as follows:
> >
> > Incoming mail server (IMAP), SSL required
> > - imap.gmail.com
> > - port: 993
> > - requires SSL: yes
> >
> > So I opened Balsa, clicked Edit/Preferences/Remote mailbox
> ...
> > I figured that Remote IMAP mailbox might not be the right choice and
> > tried Remote IMAP folder too.
>
> Yes, that's the right choice!
>
> > I filled the fields:
> > - Descriptive name: gmail
> > - Server: imap.gmail.com
> > - User name: gerardo ballabio gmail com
> > - Password: <my gmail password>
> > - Anonymous access: not ticked
> > - Remember password in keyring: ticked
> > - Subscribed folders only: not ticked
> > - Always show INBOX: ticked
> > - Prefix: <blank>
> > - Advanced/Use SSL: ticked
> > - Advanced/Use TLS: If Possible (greyed out)
> > - Advanced/Max number of connections: 20
> > - Advanced/Enable persistent cache: ticked
> > - Advanced/Use IDLE command: not ticked
> > - Advanced/Enable bug workarounds: not ticked
> > - Advanced/Use STATUS for mailbox checking: not ticked
>
> That's a close match to what I use, except that I have ticked "Enable bug
> workarounds" (and "Use STATUS for mailbox checking", but that's probably
> irrelevant). GMail is a quirky IMAP server, and you may really need the
> workarounds.
>
> > This time it seems Balsa doesn't even let me try to open the folder:
> > when I click on it in the left pane, it doesn't move the focus.
>
> If using the bug workarounds doesn't fix the issue, try running Balsa from
> the command line with the "-D" option--you'll see a transcript of the dialog
> with the GMail server on the console, and it may give you a hint as to
> what's going wrong. Don't post the transcript to the list without *very*
> carefully sanitizing it, though.
>
> HTH!
>
> Peter