The plea I get is: "I want to get my emails via Gmail for when I am out of the office, but then have them in Outlook when I get back". The server I look after (Linux, postfix) does not allow collection and relaying/forwarding; I don't know if this a generic rule or whether some servers allow it. And most ISPs now seem to block outgoing relayed emails - so that they are forwarded from your ISP back to a hosting server. So I need a diagram to show how this requirement can be delivered.

As far as I can make out, only Outlook 2010 has support for synching so that sent and deleted emails appear in all locations.

After a few months with my Windows Phone 7 phone and reluctantly gone the Hotmail route, it does work very seamlessly. I know it is a partly cloud-based approach (once emails get to Outlook they are off the cloud) but I am not troubled by that.

Thanks for your comments.