I may have found a partial solution to the very long sync problems.
One google search said right-click on the gmail account, select IMAP folder, Query, then it showed a huge list of folders, mainly subfolders of Trash folder.
When I tried to unsubscribe some of these useless Trash subfolders, and then clicked Apply and ok, nothing happened apart from a beep. I clicked X and nothing. But when I hit ESC key, window disappeared, and top 1/3 of Outlook went blank, and after 1- seconds Outlook unloaded. When I went back in, IMAP folder was no in the options any more. I tried repair and it didn't fix/restore missing IMPA folder option.
But I have notice sync is a little quicker.
I would love to get IMAP folder / Query working again, so I can unsubscribe many more Trash subfolders.
Any help appreciated?