Configuring GMail's IMAP in Microsoft e-mail applications

Hello the lucky few who got GMail IMAP activated.

When you follow GMail configuration steps outlined in Supported IMAP Client List
you would be able to use IMAP in your Microsoft e-mail applications ,
But the experience won't be smooth,

You will encounter following problems.

• Headers with Full message will be downloaded by default in all folders,
  
• Sent Items folder won't contain the mails that you sent in past in GMail.
• Deleted Items folder won't have the mails that you deleted in GMail.
• Long folder tree
  

What this boils to down to is

• Inefficient Bandwidth Usage (When you have huge amounts of mail)
• Lesser integration

We will now see how to optimally configure Microsoft e-mail applications to access GMail's IMAP.

First configure GMail's IMAP in Microsoft e-mail clients as per the Google instructions outlined in Supported IMAP Client List

Next -> Right click All Mail, Spam, Starred folders and choose Synchronization settings -> "Don't Synchronize".

Next -> Right click All Mail, Spam, Starred folders and choose "Hide"

Now comes the important step.

Click Tools -> Accounts and Choose the IMAP account and click "Properties"
Go to IMAP Tab
Under the "Special Folders" remove the tick near "Store special folders on IMAP server"
Click OK.

Now remove the "Sent Items" "Deleted Items" and "Junk e-mails" folders by right-clicking on them and choose "Delete"
A dialog box will pop up asking you to confirm the action. Click "Yes"
You might receive an error, don't worry.

Thats it,

From now on

• Your e-mail client won't be wasting your Bandwidth and Time downloading mails from All Mails, Spam, Trash, folders.
• There won't be any duplicated folders in different names,
  
• Tighter integration

Note : This guide was written for Windows Live Mail, The steps mention here may slightly differ in other Microsoft e-mail applications,