Sync Google Apps with your Mac

Some users in your organization might need to use a desktop client on their Mac® to keep their mail, calendar, and contacts up to date while they transition to Google Apps. The tools below can help your users sync Google Apps data with desktop clients.

Synchronizing mail

POP3

With POP3, your users can work entirely from their desktop client (such as Mail).

Important: If you set up POP3, folders in a user's desktop client are not preserved as labels in Gmail. Also, existing labels in Gmail are not preserved as folders in the desktop client.

Setup

  1. Verify that POP is enabled for your user's Gmail account.
  2. Configure the user's desktop mail client to retrieve mail from Gmail.

IMAP

Use IMAP when you want to maintain folders/labels in Gmail while still working from a desktop client. This is particularly useful for maintaining organization on the go, when a user may not have regular access to their desktop client and but needs to check their email remotely or with a mobile device. For more information, see Get started with IMAP and POP3.

Setup

  1. Verify that IMAP is enabled for your user's Google Apps mail account.
  2. Configure the user's desktop client to retrieve mail from Gmail.
Synchronizing calendars

Google Calendar supports CalDAV, a protocol for sharing calendar access. With CalDAV, your users can view and edit calendar events from iCal®. For more information, see Sync with Apple iCal. (Please note that CalDAV is considered an experimental feature with limited technical assistance available.)

Synchronizing contacts

Use CardDAV to sync Google Contacts with a Mac. Note: We support CardDAV on Mac OS X 10.7 and later.

Learn more about how to use CardDAV to sync contacts with your Apple device.

Synchronizing mail, contacts, and calendar simultaneously

You can configure mail, contacts, and calendar to sync at the same time using Apple's Mail.

We've noticed that Mail users tend to exceed our IMAP bandwidth limits more often than those who use another desktop client such as Thunderbird® or Sparrow. If you notice similar issues, please try synchronizing your mail using another desktop client.
  1. Open Mail.
  2. Select Google and click Continue.
  3. Enter your name, full email address, and password, and click Set Up.
  4. Select the services you'd like to sync, such as Mail, Contacts, or Calendar, and click Done.
Using third-party tools

Third-party tools are also available from Google Apps partners and in the Google Apps Marketplace.

Need more Mac-specific guidance? See Migrate mail using a Mac.