Google has confirmed that Gmail has been having problems with Microsoft’s Outlook service for nearly 10 hours due to sync issues. This prevented Gmail users from receiving emails in their apps with their registered Outlook or Hotmail accounts. Google said the effect was “across all device platforms.” Luckily now the problem is resolved.
According to Google, the issue had nothing to do with Gmail app authentication. Instead, the company explained that it was due to Microsoft’s Internet Message Access Protocol server.
“IMAP syncs with Microsoft servers encounter errors that cause syncing problems with the Gmail app,” Google explained in its report. “Customers who log into their Outlook or Hotmail email accounts in the Gmail application on all device platforms will not be able to sync new messages.”
Users shared the incident on Twitter and even caught the attention of Outlook. However, it said it “had no issues with tracking” and suggested that users could access their emails directly using the Outlook app proper, causing further uproar in the Gmail community.
On a positive note, Google said it has communicated with Microsoft to resolve the issue.
“Our technical team is currently working with the Microsoft team to investigate the IMAP email sync issue,” Google assured. “The Microsoft team has recognized that even major email providers other than Gmail are unable to sync with Microsoft’s IMAP server. They are working on the problem.”
The matter was opened at 17:10 UTC on February 22nd and resolved at 02:57 UTC on February 23rd.
“The Gmail sync problem with Microsoft servers when using IMAP has been resolved,” Google confirmed. “Thank you for your patience as we resolve this issue.”
