Gmail-To-Outlook Glitch Fixed

Google has released a patch that fixes a bug that delayed delivery of e-mails to users of its Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook offering.

The service, when working properly, lets users receive Gmail e-mails, as well as information from Google Apps' contacts and calendar tools, in their Outlook inboxes. But a server glitch has been slowing down or preventing the e-mail deliveries to Outlook for at least the past couple of weeks.

Google's App Sync team first reported the problem in a blog post earlier this month.

"We recently discovered a bug in Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook that can cause a small number of email messages to not be downloaded to Outlook," team members said in a March 13 post.

"It primarily impacts customers who have been away from Outlook for more than a few days, so if you've been online every day or so, you shouldn't encounter the problem," the team said.

On Wednesday, Google said it fixed the problem and has commenced delivery of a patch to affected users. Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook is a free add-on for the Premier and Education editions of Google Apps. The former is priced at $50 per user, per year, while the latter is available at no cost to educational institutions.

Some users of the paid version of the service complained that Google took too long to produce the fix.

"Google, I am paying for this service. My business depends on it. Unless I happen to log-on to the Web interface, I would never have noticed the missing e-mails," complained a user who identified himself as Jrdft, in a post on Google's support forum.

"OK Google guys, this is not funny any longer. We just lost a major deal because the email was missed. After I'm fired I'm sure my successor will be delighted to switch back to Exchange," said a user called Exmicrosoftie.

On the same forum, a Google employee going by the name Advisor Wesley apologized for the problem on Wednesday, said the fix would be "complete by the middle of next week," and promised that any missing e-mails would be automatically downloaded to users' Outlook inboxes.

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