Yes, use IMAP in both. My recommendation for GMail settings is to leave Auto-expunge turned on.
But if we do leave Auto-expunge on then we have to each remember not to delete something the other person might want to see. Yes that’s a reasonable expectation, but human error being what it is would it not be better to leave it in place on the server? Then periodically go to the server website and empty everything? Is there a downside to that?
If you delete it, it should be there in the Trash on both computers, no?
But auto-expunge is not really the same as delete. It deals with how the server holds the email until the client instructs it what to do with the deleted message. eM Client does not have a manual expunge command, so turning auto-expunge off the email will remain as labeled in All Mail and not be deleted from the server.
With auto-expunge on, the email will go to the Bin (Trash folder in eM Client), and be automatically deleted after 30 days on GMail.
So if I understand correctly, if auto-expunge is on in Gmail and my wife deletes an email in Em Client it goes to “trash” on the Gmail server and the Bin (trash) in Em Client.
But what happens if I go to my “Mail” client on my Mac an hour later? I won’t see it in my Inbox, correct? I assume it would be in the “Trash” folder? But I would have to check the trash folder in Mail to see it, correct? Not too convenient as a fail safe for my wife’s human error (or mine when the tables are turned). Many of our emails are of joint interest. That’s with auto-expunge on on the server.
If auto-expunge is off then will the email stay in the inbox on the Gmail server if my wife deletes it in Em Client? And in that case would I see it later in my Inbox in “Mail” or just in the All Mail folder in Gmail?
And unfortunately when I just went to Hotmail there is an option to allow POP and set whether to keep or delete the email on the server. But there does not seem to be an auto-expunge on/off choice for IMAP in Hotmail. Am I missing something there?
BTW: Sorry to be so slow in understanding all this. But I appreciate your excellent efforts on my behalf and am learning a lot here.
With auto-expunge on, if your wife deletes an email it will go to Trash in eM Client, and Bin in GMail. 
When you go to your Mail app, it should be in the Trash folder. If auto-expunge is off the email will not stay in the Inbox.
I think you need to live with the inconvenience of checking the Trash, or get separate accounts.
After my last post I came to the same conclusion pending whatever you came back with. And you’ve confirmed it. Not that inconvenient if you make it a habit to check trash for recent emails once a day. Or even once a week.
Thank you so much for all the help.
‘Sorry. POP was and is already enabled on Gmail. So is IMAP. So again is the best solution to turn off automatic deletion for IMAP within Gmail and use IMAP for the Em Client accounts?’
I sympathize. It’s very confusing. I think of it along the lines of 'POP just downloads from the inbox of an account. Nothing more. ‘IMAP’ allows the client email program to manipulate the source email account on the (GMail) server including how it is organised with folders/sub folders. And even rules. And perhaps, most important, what is deleted on your email client is also deleted on the server account. (But. Not deleted ‘forever’). I can see the point of it if you access your email account from different devices. (Which I don’t). And the Google browser online mail interface is nowhere near as user friendly as, for instance, eM Client.
Best to separate you wife’s and your email account.
You could both use the forwarding facility in GMail so that each email is transferred to the other. But the source accounts are basically separate.
You could both use the forwarding facility in GMail so that each email is transferred to the other. But the source accounts are basically separate.
I agree Clap. And GMail is clever enough that it will not end up in an eternal loop.
Gary. Do you work for eM Mail??
I ask because in setting up a new account the ‘Mail>Other’ choice doesn’t specifically mention ‘POP account’ until you ‘get there’. And it seems to me to be important enough to be ‘promoted’ more for the inexperienced user.
Just a suggestion. Have a great day.
The trend is to use IMAP, what with everyone now syncing their phones and desktop emails. So for a general user that is the route that the setup of accounts takes. The IMAP option also includes other useful things like syncing calendars and contacts, google settings and google chat. It is a nice all-in-one package, especially for novice users. It is brilliant software, aimed at a niche market.
But what about other options? I don’t think that eM Client developers have recognized POP3 for it’s usefulness, and so it has become buried somewhere in the setup. Someone recently said that just because developers don’t include a feature, does not mean we should accept it as unimportant. I fear that following this trend, before long POP3 may be removed completely the same way that ActiveSync and others have gone.
No, I do not work for eM Client, but you can add your ideas on this forum , under ideas rather than questions. I am sure that eM Client will consider your request, and I will surely vote for POP3 being more visible in the setup of accounts.
Thanks to both of you for you help and comments. The only problem with setting up separate IMAP based accounts for each of us in both Gmail and Hotmail with forwarding to our respective accounts is that one of us has to then have all of our contacts for Gmail and Hotmail notified to change over to a new account. Neither of us has a such list or group defined. Sort of a hassle it would seem. And then all of our many mutual contacts will start sending to both of us so that if we forward we will get duplicates of those.
I would use POP for each of us except that at least Gmail only allows one email client to use POP.
So for now I think I will continue with POP for my email client and my wife will use IMAP with auto-expunge “on” for both Gmail and Hotmail (or whatever Hotmail’s equivalent of auto-expunge is). I will just have to check my email client’s trash folder before Gmail or Hotmail empties the trash in 30 days. Likely just make a quick check once a day on each along with the inboxes.
Thanks again.
Henry - ‘I would use POP for each of us except that at least Gmail only allows one email client to use POP.’
I think that you can use different devices to download your mail. I download mail using eM Client and an android phone.
The difference as I see it between POP and IMAP is that when using IMAP, you have full synchronizing. If you delete a folder/Label using your IMAP client, the folder/label will be deleted from the server and any other user accessing the same account with IMAP, will see that the folder/label has been deleted. In fact, I think that full IMAP synchronising will delete the folder/label on all devices accessing the email account without asking user permission.
Gary - ‘No, I do not work for eM Client, but you can add your ideas on this forum , under ideas rather than questions’.
I do have some ideas but couldn’t find an ‘Ideas page’ on eM forums.
Choose Idea instead of Question.
One more question if you are still following this. I’m now thinking of moving to separate email accounts for both my wife and myself which is what you, Gary, initially suggested as the best alternative. We can send notices re the change to our respective contacts. But we may miss some in doing so. And furthermore there are some (family and friends mostly) who we would want to continue to send emails to both of us. They might be less likely to do so with separate accounts, at least initially. Is it possible to maintain the shared email account for a while and have all mail to that shared account forwarded to our individual accounts? For Hotmail as well as Gmail?
Your shared account is on GMail right? You can forward all incoming email to your new accounts by use of a filter, the setup of which is through the GMail web interface. Just google for create a filter to forward gmail to multiple accounts
Thanks, Gary. We have a shared account in Gmail and another in Outlook/Hotmail. Will the latter work the same way? I assume from what you say that we can forward all emails from the shared account to both of our new separate accounts in Gmail, correct? And would the same be true for Hotmail as well?
Yes, you can automatically forward all your incoming email from your shared GMail account to your new separate accounts. The same with Outlook.com.