This tutorial guides you to setup Evolution Mail Client for Gmail via IMAP mode. I do it on Evolution version 3.18 on Linux Mint 18.1. Evolution is a free replacement for Microsoft Outlook and is available on all GNU/Linux distros. If you use GNOME, most likely you will use Evolution as well, and I hope this tutorial helps you to setup it. Happy mailing!
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Why IMAP?
The choice is between POP or IMAP method (as Gmail provides both). For short, IMAP is best when the user has multiple devices to access one same Gmail account. You can think IMAP as Telegram system, where deleting messages in one devices also deletes same messages on another devices.
Enable IMAP on Gmail Web
Drive your web browser to login to Gmail > go to Settings > go to POP/IMAP settings > enable IMAP > Save Settings. After this, start your Evolution.
1. Create New Account
Menu File > New > Mail Account.
2. Enter Email Address
On the Account Wizard, enter your email address and make sure to enable "Look up mail server details...".
3. Looking for IMAP Setup
The option will find you your email provider (in this case, Gmail) settings possible. By default, you will get receiving=imapx and sending=smtp and this is what we need. Press Next button and the wizard finished.
4. Login with Password
Now, Evolution will connect to the internet and ask you to login using your Gmail account.
5. Receive Mails
Once logged in, Evolution can access the whole Gmail mails and folders. You can, however, configure another computers with these 5 steps using the same IMAP mode so you can access same email accounts on different computers. Now you can enjoy accessing (read & write) mails from Gmail.
