New Outlook Not Syncing Read Status for Gmail

Thanks RobertCrick1. Just to confirm that this works but only for multiple messages. To recap for people having this issue in new Outlook (as of Sep 24, 2023), read/unread status will sync with Gmail only if you select more than one message. To replicate the issue on a PC:

• Open New Outlook, and open Gmail in Chrome.
• View a couple or more Gmail messages in the New Outlook. They will become read in Outlook but when you check Gmail in Chrome, they are still unread.
• Go back to Outlook, and select those same messages that did not sync. (You are selecting multiple messages by clicking the radio button on the left of the message heading in the message list pane. The radio button shows up when you hover the mouse over the sender's initials).
• Right-click on one of the selected message for the menu, click to 'Mark as unread' first, then click to 'Mark as read'. (This action will apply to all the messages selected).
• Go to Gmail in Chrome and those messages will now be marked as read.
• Note that only the action to 'Mark as read/unread' works when selected from the right-click menu. It does not work when you select multiple messages and change their status by clicking the envelope icons on those selected messages.

So it looks like the new Outlook is actually able to sync read/unread status with Gmail, which means that some aspect of the IMAP protocol works, but only when multiple messages are selected and when the status is changed only through the right-click menu.

Does it even need to be said that this is embarrassing for Microsoft. This level of inconsistency of programming in a major app for email is below the level of a mediocre computer science student. Even if this issue has to do with something on Gmail's end, the Outlook programmers should have figured it out.

Urm, did you actually read my post before asking those questions? I've done this on several PCs, which is the equivalent of resetting the gmail sync, so it's not that.

If IMAP wasn't enabled, it wouldn't be syncing at all. The email syncs, just not the read status (and yes, IMAP is enabled).

Windows updates are enabled, and all updates are applied.

The new outlook supports 2FA fine - as above, it wouldn't be syncing my email if it wasn't.

The new outlook client doesn't use IMAP or SMTP to sync with the microsoft cloud, so there are no SMTP or IMAP setting to check in the client.

Folders are enabled - again, this wouldn't affect read status either way.

I'm having the same sync issue. It's a new Outlook problem - I can't solve it on my own. You provided excellent detail and you certainly understand the setup. BTW, I think the person responding to you is AI generated. I hope the Outlook dev team solves the new email sync issue soon. I may go back to the previous Outlook in the meantime.

Thanks - note that, as I said in my original post, this is the new outlook, not classic. Those settings don't exist in the new outlook.

Rich

If you clear the blue unread status by clicking the email or by clearing the small envelope icon on the email, it will NOT clear unread status on the gmail account. However, if you select one or more emails then select "mark as unread" then select "mark as read" in the X items selected panel to the right, it will clear unread status in the gmail account. A bit of a pain but a way to get by until they fix this.