Please explain to me how the Gmail app sync settings work!

[JohnJSal]

Hi all. This is something that has confused me for quite a while, and I've never gotten an answer yet. I'm hoping someone can explain this to me. The sync options in the Gmail app simply don't seem to work the way I would think they would based on their worded descriptions. I'll break it down into smaller questions:

1. From Gmail > Settings > email address, there is a setting called "Days of mail to sync." What does this do and affect? I would think it means it would only show you mail from the set time period, but it seems to do the opposite. The Gmail help file suggests that this is for downloading email *offline*, which I have no interest in doing. But there is no option to turn this off.

2. From Gmail > Settings > email address > Manage labels, you can set the sync options for each individual label/inbox (Primary, Social, etc.). But the "Sent" label doesn't have an option for "None" like the other labels do, so that confuses me too. Again, if you choose the number of days option, is that just for downloading offline?

I said the sync settings don't seem to work as described because often when I set it to "sync all," it usually just has a loading icon indefinitely until I stop it. However, when I set it to "30 days," it seems to sync everything EXCEPT the last 30 days. When I set them to "sync none," it shows everything!

Also, in Settings > Accounts > Google, Gmail is showing to be constantly syncing. How do I stop this? It's using up my battery and making my phone hot! What could it be constantly syncing?

Finally, while I have the settings set to give a notification (with sound) for new mail in my Primary inbox, this doesn't work. It doesn't notify me at all and I have to manually refresh the inbox to see it.

So please, for my sanity, someone explain these settings! All I want is to get a notification when a new email arrives!

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

1. From Gmail > Settings > email address, there is a setting called "Days of mail to sync." What does this do and affect? I would think it means it would only show you mail from the set time period, but it seems to do the opposite. The Gmail help file suggests that this is for downloading email *offline*, which I have no interest in doing. But there is no option to turn this off.

If you set it to, say, 5, it will sync email for the past 5 days.

2. From Gmail > Settings > email address > Manage labels, you can set the sync options for each individual label/inbox (Primary, Social, etc.). But the "Sent" label doesn't have an option for "None" like the other labels do, so that confuses me too. Again, if you choose the number of days option, is that just for downloading offline?

Sent is what you send, you can't sync that to anything but itself (which would be foolish).

When I set them to "sync none," it shows everything!

Sync none is push - as the server gets an email, it pushes it to the phone.

Also, in Settings > Accounts > Google, Gmail is showing to be constantly syncing. How do I stop this? It's using up my battery and making my phone hot! What could it be constantly syncing?

That usually happens when there's a problem on the server.

 

[JohnJSal]

If you set it to, say, 5, it will sync email for the past 5 days.

But what do you mean by this? What exactly does "sync" mean here? Because when I set the "All Mail" label to sync for X days, it shows all my mail UP TO that number of days, but then stops. ie, if set for 30 days, it shows my emails up to Sept 27, but no more.

Sync none is push - as the server gets an email, it pushes it to the phone.

Huh? But if I set my labels to none, this removes my notification options. Why can't I still receive notifications in this case if the emails are still getting pushed?

Also, if I have it set for X days, does that mean I'm not getting push email? That's not how it seemed to work on my other phone. I still got mail pretty much instantly even when I had a number of days set.

 

[Percy Veer]

Hi JohnJSal

I realize yours is an old post but did you ever resolve this issue.?

I am experiencing exactly the same operation of my phone and I am completely confused by the settings and what sync actually does.

It seems that if the Sync Gmail is checked, and the Days to Sync is set to 1, it does fetch messages when the Gmail App is started but not sure after that.

Its so confusing. I have not been able to find any helpful guidance on this on any forum or google help page

 

[JohnJSal]

Hi JohnJSal

I realize yours is an old post but did you ever resolve this issue.?

I am experiencing exactly the same operation of my phone and I am completely confused by the settings and what sync actually does.

It seems that if the Sync Gmail is checked, and the Days to Sync is set to 1, it does fetch messages when the Gmail App is started but not sure after that.

Its so confusing. I have not been able to find any helpful guidance on this on any forum or google help page

Unfortunately, no. I have yet to hear anyone explain the syncing options in any meaningful way. I find it very confusing and in some cases counter-intuitive. :-(

 

[Percy Veer]

OK John, thanks for your reply.

Before I found your post I posted an enquiry about this sync issue but have not yet had any response.

If I manage to find anything I will let you know.

 

[Percy Veer]

I have added a reply to my own post Android Gmail App Sync Settings - Advice Please (I don't yet know how to cross refer to that) and that info outlines my understanding of what's happening but it is still confusing and as you say counter intuitive