Need help with automatic backup of gMail to Mac Mail with Apple Script

[Elijah M]

Hello everyone,

Long time blog reader, first time poster here. I use Gmail’s web interface as my primary mail client, and I back it up to Mac Mail at home using iMap. Currently, I do this by manually running the mail application and then quitting it after it’s downloaded all mail. I tried setting up an Apple Script that would do this for me at start up, but I’m a bit wet behind the ears in that area, and I haven’t been able to make it work.

I would prefer that I could make Mail download all my messages every time I shut the computer down (since CPU and Internet bandwidth are otherwise unused at that point), but at startup is fine too.

Any help (or additional advice regarding peripheral issues you may have experienced with a similar task) is much appreciated. Thanks!

[hayne]

Note that to run an app (e.g. Mail) at login, you just add it to the Login Items list in the Accounts Preferences.
Then you can just quit Mail whenever you want (or leave it running).

[Elijah M]

Quote: Originally Posted by hayne Note that to run an app (e.g. Mail) at login, you just add it to the Login Items list in the Accounts Preferences. Then you can just quit Mail whenever you want (or leave it running).

Is there any way I could get it to quit automatically as soon as it’s done downloading mail(I know that’s a minor point, but anyway…); or better yet, to do this at shutdown rather than startup? Possibly by creating a script that downloads all iMap mail and then shuts down the computer? Like I said, I’m with behind the ears with regard to Apple Script, so bear with me.

Previously, I tried creating an Apple Script that downloaded all mail and then quit. I then added the script to Login Items, but it didn’t work. I don’t know whether that’s because I created a non-workable script, or if scripts simply can’t be added to Login Items.