Gmail – My replies are missing from Gmail threads when using 3rd party mail clients

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When using gmail in 3rd party email clients (iOS Mail, Sparrow for Mac and Airmail for Mac), my replies are missing from threaded conversations. Take the following example;

  • Bill emails Jon, Sue and me.
  • Jon replies to everyone.
  • I reply to everyone.
  • Sue replies to everyone.
  • I reply to everyone.

In the above scenario, when I use Gmail in the browser, I correctly see all 5 emails in a single conversation thread. Unfortunately, when I use Mail on my iPhone or Sparrow on my Mac, my replies are missing and I only see 3 emails in the conversation thread. I have to go to my Sent Items folder to see them.

I have also noticed that certain peoples replies always show as single emails rather than in a conversation thread.

This seems like a recent problem. Is there a fix or setting I can change to make 3rd part apps behave like Gmail in the browser?

Note: My Gmail is from a Google Apps account. In iOS it's setup via Exchange. In Sparrow, it is setup with my Google account username and password.

Best Answer

(Asker apparently found the solution and added it as a comment. Copied here.)

As I now understand it, gmail implements IMAP in a non standard way and also groups emails using the subject line. This allows gmail to show messages from my Sent folder in a thread when I'm viewing my Inbox folder. Other 3rd party apps including iOS Mail do not do this. For anyone interested, Airmail for Mac includes a Group by subject setting, so it behaves like gmail in the browser. Shame iOS Mail doesn't have the same setting although I understand it's a non standard implementation of IMAP.

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