Unable to download Gmail attachments in Windows Phone 8

[iyae]

Hey Guys,

I never really noticed this before but my Dad just got a Lumia 1020 and uses gmail quite frequently. He noticed that he could never download attachments from any of his emails in the Mail app; they would just say "downloading" but not actually download.

I tested this on my own Windows Phone (also a 1020) by forwarding myself an email from my outlook account (with an attachment) to my own Gmail account (which I rarely use) and hey presto, SAME problem.

It only happens with gmail accounts; I forwarded it to my outlook and was able to download the attachments fine. I loaded up my PC, and using the Windows 8 Mail app I was able to download the attachments.So it appears that this problem only exists with Windows Phone's set up with Gmail accounts; and its a pretty serious problem!

Anyone know how to resolve this? Really surprised I haven't found any mention of this online anywhere as it's kind of a big issue.

Just to clarify:

1) No its not the network (tested this on wifi and 3G, and the attachments downloaded fine in outlook, NOT gmail)
2) It's not gmail; I was able to download from that gmail account fine on my PC using their website, and the Windows 8 Mail app.
3) Its not the email; see point 1, it worked fine when forwarded to an outlook address.
4) Worked on my dad's old phone (blackberry); here I was recommending he switch from BB to WP, and now he cant use his gmail account (which he uses for business). Egg and my face are in alignment.

Any ideas? Any help would be appreciated!

 

[luk3ja]

I found the same happens with yahoo mail I think :/

 

[iyae]

I mean I can always make the case my dad switch to outlook but it's still a pretty embarrassing situation where a pretty basic feature can't seem to work on WP... I haven't got a yahoo account to test but if that's correct its a bit more worrying than I thought. ha

 

[iyae]

Ok so anyone who has this issue I worked out the problem: IMAP and Gmail. They dont play together. You need to set it up as POP.

To do that you need to do it like this:

Settings > email+accounts >add an account > ADVANCED SETUP

Then put the email address and password

Then on the next page use the following:
Incoming Server: pop.gmail.com:995
Type: POP3
Outgoing server: smtp.gmail.com:465
Username: your full email address

This will work, but when you check your email you wont see the attachments until you hit “Download email and images” at the bottom of the email. I tested it and it works fine.

 

[lumia720_user]

didn't work for me.. changed imap to pop.. get an error stating - there is a problem with the certificate for pop.gmail.com:993:1

moreover, i am unable to send emails from my google account to any gmail account.. wonder why?!

 

[Ashutosh Gupta1]

it shows attention required ...wrong password

 

[Wilfred van Dijk]

Hi,

I had the same problem, but if you use your windows account (i have a @live.nl account), you can see and open attachments on your windows phone (tested succesfully with an .ics file on my lumia 1020)

 

[scenske]

I'm running into the same issue.

I had changed the incoming server from IMAP to pop with no luck. I've noticed that the original poster was using the 995 port number. In Australia, if you add a google email it defaults to 993. If you change it to 995 it will not work!

Even with 993, you need to download the message / pictures / content for the download of the pdf to work.

If there is no message - I am currently unable to download the PDF!

How would you get around this?