This article has been updated here: The method below is obsolete but I have left it here for reference in case you are running an older version of OS X. Here is how to access any of your Gmail contacts from the Apple OS X Address Book. I personally don’t think this is a great feature because I like to keep all my contacts in one place – Apple’s address book.

Apple, the Apple logo, Macbook Pro, and iMac are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. And other countries. Mac App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc. When it comes to using Gmail at home or on a Mac laptop, you may prefer to use Apple’s Mail application. Using a single application, Mail, you keep all your email messages organized in one app. Using a single application, Mail, you keep all your email messages organized in one app.

But if you have contacts in your online gmail account and want them on your OSX address book, this might be handy. Open your ‘Contacts’ App, and from the ‘File Menu’ select ‘Preferences’. Click on the blue @ symbol to bring up the Accounts Tab as below: 2.

Click on the little + sign in the bottom left to add a new account, select ‘CardDAV’ and enter your gmail login details. For ‘server address’ enter ‘google.com’. Click ‘Create’.

Deselect ‘Mail’ because you just want to sync contacts here not your mail. Click ‘Create’ again. Now if you open your contacts app, down the bottom there will be a new entry called ‘Google’. If you click on it you can see all your gmail contacts.

Since I've had the new iMac (Mountain Lion 10.8.3) I have this annoying Gmail set of the same mail boxes as the 'normal' mail list. I've tried to remove/delete the whole lot, but it won't allow me to.

I don't want Gmail at all because here in the UK we have 'Virgin Media' which is probably the best ISP available. Apple support said it is not possible to remove from the Mac Mail window, but surely there must be a way to remove something I never installed myself and never wanted. I've seen that it's also to do with IMAP - which I do not want either. Can anyone please tell me how to remove it completely? Here's a shot of the problem. From the screen shots you have provided, I can only guess that your old Mac and your new Mac are accessing your Virgin Media mail in different ways. Clearly, the new one is using IMAP.

Could the old one be using POP? That would explain the difference. Anyway, if you are going to continue using ntlworld.com via IMAP to access your Virgin Media email, I suggest that you hide the details and try to forget they are there. Unfortunately, 'All Mail' and 'Spam' may tend to collect unread messages over time, so the gray 'NTLWORLD.COM' line will carry a numeric badge; you may want to show (un-hide) the details and make the messages read if that bothers you.

Makey wrote: I don't see why Gmail is a necessary component of Virgin Media, who I've been with for many years. It seems to be just another Mountain Lion issue, because the Mail on my old iMac (Snow Leopard) has none of the Gmail lists and it still works the same - with Virgin Media! I've spoken at length with Virgin's help team and they confirmed that the problem is with Apple. See this screen shot from the old iMac Mail:- So, VM are saying that somehow Mac Mail opened a GMail account in your name and then signed into it? Please explain how they think such a magical act could actually take place.

Virgin Media support appear to be living in fairyland. Post the account settings in use by your accounts. Makey wrote: markwmsn, you are quite right that the old iMac uses POP and the new one uses IMAP, as in the screen shots. I've tried manually re-setting the new one to be the same as the old one, but neither incoming or outgoing messages worked at all!

What I'm unable to change is the Account Type from IMAP to POP (as shown in yellow) Surely this is a change caused by the difference SL and ML:- You will have to add the account (in ML) manually, go to Mail, Contacts and Calendars (in System Preferences) and choose 'Other' as the account type. Then enter whatever you like, POP or Imap etc. Best games for old mac. How have you tried switching to POP3? You can't just change the server, you have to change the access method (the highlighted part). The only way I know to do that is to delete the IMAP account entirely and recreate it as a POP3 account.