Gmail IMAP access troubleshooting: separate account policy from folder scope

Define the decision

Personal Gmail now keeps IMAP access available without the old enable/disable setting. Managed Workspace policy is a separate concern. A working SMTP connection also does not establish that the application can authenticate to IMAP.

Work through the procedure

1. Identify personal Gmail versus a managed Workspace mailbox.
2. Verify the supported authentication method and IMAP endpoint.
3. For Workspace, ask the administrator about mail-access restrictions.
4. Test a controlled reply that remains in INBOX and inspect the application sync result.

Worked example

The following is a synthetic example for this procedure, not a customer result or performance benchmark.

SMTP sends successfully
IMAP authentication fails
Account: managed Workspace
Investigation: mail access authorization and administrator restrictions
Different case: IMAP works but reply is archived → inspect folder scope

Read the result

The branching diagnosis avoids changing unrelated settings. Zintara’s current reply sync selects INBOX, so successful access does not mean every Gmail label or archived message is imported.

Check before moving on

1. Use the full sanitized IMAP error.
2. Confirm the controlled reply is in the connected account, not a forwarded destination.

Limits and next action

Do not follow old instructions to enable less-secure username/password access. Use the account’s currently supported connection method.

Source: Google: Gmail access through another email client