Gmail alerts only pop up when opening Mail app

JohnnyGui · May 3, 2022

I have added my Gmail account to the Windows Mail app.

For some reason, the incoming Gmail mail notifications that appear in the lower right corner only pop up when I open the Mail app itself, which defeats the purpose of notifying me.
This issue is not present with my Hotmail account that I've also added to the Mail app.

Re-adding the Gmail account and reinstalling the Mail app did not resolve this.

Is this a universal issue? How can I fix this?

johnlgalt · May 3, 2022

First, are you saying *only* the Gmail account does not update with unread account, but another account (Outlook, for example) does? Or is the GMail account the only one you have in Mail?

JohnnyGui · May 3, 2022

johnlgalt said:
First, are you saying *only* the Gmail account does not update with unread account, but another account (Outlook, for example) does? Or is the GMail account the only one you have in Mail?

I have both Gmail as well as Outlook accounts in the Mail app. The Outlook account does not have any issues.

johnlgalt · May 3, 2022

Probably need to check the settings in the Mail app for push notifications, then. Just know that this exact issue, for Windows mail not sending notifications specifically for GMail accounts, has been reported going back to Windows 8. No absolutely known fix has worked across the board for everyone, though. Even wen through an 8 page set of posts at the Microsoft community - that was started in 2015, and was on Windows 10.

One thing - when GMail was set up in Windows mail, did it use POP access? If so, that will also be a cause - POP only works when the serve is connected to download mail - and the app won't connect to servers when not running, I think. However, this is 2022, and if the Windows Mail app is trying to use POP for GMail then there is a larger issue lol.

Fabler2 · May 3, 2022

You might need to change this setting in Gmail. Settings - more settings.

2022-05-03 21_44_47-Settings - - Microsoft.png

johnlgalt · May 3, 2022

Fabler2 said:
You might need to change this setting in Gmail. Settings - more settings.

View attachment 28387

If you click the "Learn more " link under Desktop notifications, it takes you here:

Change email notifications - iPhone & iPad - Gmail Help

You can turn on notifications to get alerts on your phone or computer when you get new emails. Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school?

support.google.com

Turn Gmail notifications on or off
You can get email notifications on Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari when you're signed in to Gmail and have it open in your browser.

So, I have a sneaky suspicion that is not it.

Fabler2 · May 3, 2022

johnlgalt said:
If you click the "Learn more " link under Desktop notifications, it takes you here:

Change email notifications - iPhone & iPad - Gmail Help

You can turn on notifications to get alerts on your phone or computer when you get new emails. Want to get more out of Google apps at work or school?

support.google.com

So, I have a sneaky suspicion that is not it.

Your'e most probably right. I have Gmail opened in a tab and the notification popups got annoying so turned it off.

JohnnyGui · May 3, 2022

johnlgalt said:
Probably need to check the settings in the Mail app for push notifications, then. Just know that this exact issue, for Windows mail not sending notifications specifically for GMail accounts, has been reported going back to Windows 8. No absolutely known fix has worked across the board for everyone, though. Even wen through an 8 page set of posts at the Microsoft community - that was started in 2015, and was on Windows 10.

One thing - when GMail was set up in Windows mail, did it use POP access? If so, that will also be a cause - POP only works when the serve is connected to download mail - and the app won't connect to servers when not running, I think. However, this is 2022, and if the Windows Mail app is trying to use POP for GMail then there is a larger issue lol.

The weird thing is that is worked perfectly on Windows 10 so I have no clue what Windows 11 is blocking that causes the issue.

I noticed a POP setting in Gmail settings that I can turn on but after saving the setting resets and the ON checkbox is empty again.

Fabler2 said:
You might need to change this setting in Gmail. Settings - more settings.

View attachment 28387

I think this is indeed a different kind of popup that shows up when you have Gmail open in your browser. I specifically want the Mail app to show incoming Gmail alerts when it is closed.

johnlgalt · May 4, 2022

Yeah. In doing more research on it, it is not OS specific, nor is it specific to any particular thing - some have tried to attribute it to a particular Windows update, others have tried to attribute it to changes in the way GMail allows third party clients to access their system (but those folks get shot down by anyone who shows that Mozilla Thunderbird works perfectly fine) and so many more.

Some people have even had success by simply removing the account and then adding it back in. At this point, probably won't hurt to try that.

Next thing to try if that does not work is to reset the Mail app completely using Windows Settings --> Apps --> Apps & Features --> Mail and Calendar (tap the 3 vertical dots) --> Advanced options.

JohnnyGui · May 4, 2022

johnlgalt said:
Yeah. In doing more research on it, it is not OS specific, nor is it specific to any particular thing - some have tried to attribute it to a particular Windows update, others have tried to attribute it to changes in the way GMail allows third party clients to access their system (but those folks get shot down by anyone who shows that Mozilla Thunderbird works perfectly fine) and so many more.

Some people have even had success by simply removing the account and then adding it back in. At this point, probably won't hurt to try that.

Next thing to try if that does not work is to reset the Mail app completely using Windows Settings --> Apps --> Apps & Features --> Mail and Calendar (tap the 3 vertical dots) --> Advanced options.

I already re-added the account and reinstalled the mail app. Would a reset still help?

I'm curious now, do you happen to have the same issue when adding gmail to the mail app?

johnlgalt · May 4, 2022

I haven't tried - but if it helps, I can try and see, I do have plenty of GMail account to use, both regular and Workspace accounts.

Also, do you by chance have Advanced protection enabled on your Google account?

As for the reset - it *may* help, though I'm not 100% positive it will (actually, chances are it won't simply because the other accounts are sending notifications through the toast system, only the GMail account is not, so there is something going on with that one account, and a reset *probably* won't make a difference.

One thing to note - have you verified that the account specific settings for each account in Mail are as close to identical as possible to eliminate that? I think you have, based on your previous posts - just asking for clarity.

JohnnyGui · May 4, 2022

johnlgalt said:
I haven't tried - but if it helps, I can try and see, I do have plenty of GMail account to use, both regular and Workspace accounts.

Also, do you by chance have Advanced protection enabled on your Google account?

As for the reset - it *may* help, though I'm not 100% positive it will (actually, chances are it won't simply because the other accounts are sending notifications through the toast system, only the GMail account is not, so there is something going on with that one account, and a reset *probably* won't make a difference.

One thing to note - have you verified that the account specific settings for each account in Mail are as close to identical as possible to eliminate that? I think you have, based on your previous posts - just asking for clarity.

Thanks, I will wait for your test results.

- So I tried the reset but it didn't help unfortunately.
- The Mail settings are the same for both accounts.
- I never used Advanced Protection (from what I've read, this is on Android or iPhone, not on Windows)

johnlgalt · May 5, 2022

Not happening here either. I added my primary GMail account, and then sent one message to my Outlook account and another to my GMail account. I got the notification form Windows Mail for the Outlook account, not for the GMail account.

Also, advanced protection is for the Google account in and of itself - has nothing to do with mobile versus desktop. I run that so that you have to jump through numerous hoops before account security can be changed, on all my accounts, for various reasons - but it's not something that is on by default, you really have to enable it yourself, and it is a multi-step process.

JohnnyGui · May 5, 2022

johnlgalt said:
Not happening here either. I added my primary GMail account, and then sent one message to my Outlook account and another to my GMail account. I got the notification form Windows Mail for the Outlook account, not for the GMail account.

Also, advanced protection is for the Google account in and of itself - has nothing to do with mobile versus desktop. I run that so that you have to jump through numerous hoops before account security can be changed, on all my accounts, for various reasons - but it's not something that is on by default, you really have to enable it yourself, and it is a multi-step process.

Ah thanks for testing. So it seems not just something at my end. I'm curious how widespread this issue actually is.

Does the Gmail alert pop up in the lower right corner the moment you open the Mail app?

johnlgalt · May 5, 2022

It didn't - but upon further examination, I had a GMail filter in place to move emails from my work account to a a separate 'folder' (though in GMail, it just means applying a tag), and hide it from the Inbox, so I never got any notifications, neither when I sent the mail nor when I opened Mail and Calendar.

I'll try again sending mail from outlook to GMail using the web interface and also verify I don't have a filter rule for *that* account also, and see if I can eat least get some sort of notification.

JohnnyGui · May 5, 2022

johnlgalt said:
It didn't - but upon further examination, I had a GMail filter in place to move emails from my work account to a a separate 'folder' (though in GMail, it just means applying a tag), and hide it from the Inbox, so I never got any notifications, neither when I sent the mail nor when I opened Mail and Calendar.

I'll try again sending mail from outlook to GMail using the web interface and also verify I don't have a filter rule for *that* account also, and see if I can eat least get some sort of notification.

Yeah, maybe the filter is the cause at your end. If you could remove it and then do the same as before, that would be great.

JohnnyGui · May 21, 2022

Unfortunately this issue has not been fixed yet.

Is anyone else experiencing this?

johnlgalt · May 23, 2022

It's pretty much as you've described. No real reason why it is happening, but it is.

JohnnyGui · May 23, 2022

johnlgalt said:
It's pretty much as you've described. No real reason why it is happening, but it is.

So even after removing your mentioned Gmail filter rule, you've having the same issue? And the alert pops up after opening the Mail app?

johnlgalt · May 25, 2022

Well, I didn't remove the filter, I simply sent email from another account that wasn't being filtered. Easier that way.

But yeah, exact same behavior as you described.

Gmail alerts only pop up when opening Mail app

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