diff --git a/internal_packages/notifications/lib/headers/connection-status-header.jsx b/internal_packages/notifications/lib/headers/connection-status-header.jsx
index c6b915f6d..9675ecb42 100644
--- a/internal_packages/notifications/lib/headers/connection-status-header.jsx
+++ b/internal_packages/notifications/lib/headers/connection-status-header.jsx
@@ -47,8 +47,13 @@ export default class ConnectionStatusHeader extends React.Component {
   }
 
   getStateFromStores() {
+    const nextRetryDelay = NylasSyncStatusStore.nextRetryDelay();
     const nextRetryTimestamp = NylasSyncStatusStore.nextRetryTimestamp();
-    const connected = NylasSyncStatusStore.connected();
+    let connected = NylasSyncStatusStore.connected();
+
+    if (nextRetryDelay < 5000) {
+      connected = true;
+    }
 
     let nextRetryText = null;
     if (!connected) {
diff --git a/internal_packages/notifications/lib/sidebar/initial-sync-activity.cjsx b/internal_packages/notifications/lib/sidebar/initial-sync-activity.cjsx
index b0a95ee61..e7187e43d 100644
--- a/internal_packages/notifications/lib/sidebar/initial-sync-activity.cjsx
+++ b/internal_packages/notifications/lib/sidebar/initial-sync-activity.cjsx
@@ -27,12 +27,10 @@ class InitialSyncActivity extends React.Component
     fetched = 0
     totalProgress = 0
     incomplete = 0
-    error = null
 
     for acctId, state of @state.sync
       for model, modelState of state
         incomplete += 1 unless modelState.complete
-        error ?= modelState.error
         if modelState.count
           count += modelState.count / 1
           fetched += modelState.fetched / 1
@@ -45,13 +43,6 @@ class InitialSyncActivity extends React.Component
 
     if incomplete is 0
       return false
-    else if error
-      <div className={classSet} key="initial-sync">
-        <div className="inner">An error occurred while syncing your mailbox. Sync will resume in a moment&hellip;
-          <div className="btn" style={marginTop:10} onClick={@_onTryAgain}>Try Again Now</div>
-        </div>
-        {@_expandedSyncState()}
-      </div>
     else
       <div className={classSet} key="initial-sync" onClick={=> @setState expandedSync: !@state.expandedSync}>
         {@_renderProgressBar(totalProgress)}
diff --git a/internal_packages/notifications/stylesheets/notifications.less b/internal_packages/notifications/stylesheets/notifications.less
index cccfab416..562b3806c 100644
--- a/internal_packages/notifications/stylesheets/notifications.less
+++ b/internal_packages/notifications/stylesheets/notifications.less
@@ -136,7 +136,7 @@
     background-color: #615396;
   }
   .notification-error {
-    background-color: @background-color-error;
+    background: linear-gradient(to top, darken(@background-color-error, 4%) 0%, @background-color-error 100%);
     border-color: @background-color-error;
     color: @color-error;
   }
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@
     border-color: @background-color-success;
   }
   .notification-offline {
-    background-color: #CC9900;
+    background: linear-gradient(to top, darken(#CC9900, 4%) 0%, #CC9900 100%);
     border-color: darken(#CC9900, 5%);
   }
 
@@ -152,7 +152,6 @@
     display:flex;
     font-size: @font-size-base;
     color:@text-color-inverse;
-    border-top:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.25);
     border-bottom:1px solid rgba(0,0,0,0.25);
     padding-left: @padding-base-horizontal;
     line-height: @line-height-base * 1.5;
@@ -213,12 +212,3 @@ body.platform-win32 {
     }
   }
 }
-
-// Activity Error Header
-
-.account-error-header.notifications-sticky {
- .notifications-sticky-item {
-   background-color: initial;
-   background: linear-gradient(to top, #ca2541 0%, #d55268 100%);
- }
-}
diff --git a/internal_packages/worker-sync/lib/nylas-sync-worker.coffee b/internal_packages/worker-sync/lib/nylas-sync-worker.coffee
index fbe34d8c4..94fc7c2f9 100644
--- a/internal_packages/worker-sync/lib/nylas-sync-worker.coffee
+++ b/internal_packages/worker-sync/lib/nylas-sync-worker.coffee
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class BackoffTimer
     @_timeout = null
 
   backoff: =>
-    @_delay = Math.min(@_delay * 1.4, 5 * 1000 * 60) # Cap at 5 minutes
+    @_delay = Math.min(@_delay * 1.7, 5 * 1000 * 60) # Cap at 5 minutes
     if not NylasEnv.inSpecMode()
       console.log("Backing off after sync failure. Will retry in #{Math.floor(@_delay / 1000)} seconds.")
 
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ class BackoffTimer
     , @_delay
 
   resetDelay: =>
-    @_delay = 20 * 1000
+    @_delay = 2 * 1000
 
   getCurrentDelay: =>
     @_delay
@@ -277,7 +277,8 @@ class NylasSyncWorker
   _backoff: =>
     @_resumeTimer.backoff()
     @_resumeTimer.start()
-    @_state.nextRetryTimestamp = Date.now() + @_resumeTimer.getCurrentDelay()
+    @_state.nextRetryDelay = @_resumeTimer.getCurrentDelay()
+    @_state.nextRetryTimestamp = Date.now() + @_state.nextRetryDelay
 
   updateTransferState: (model, updatedKeys) ->
     @_state[model] = _.extend(@_state[model], updatedKeys)
diff --git a/src/flux/nylas-api.coffee b/src/flux/nylas-api.coffee
index b5ccdca2f..2cc3b3cfb 100644
--- a/src/flux/nylas-api.coffee
+++ b/src/flux/nylas-api.coffee
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ class NylasAPI
       type: 'error'
       tag: '401'
       sticky: true
-      message: "Action failed: There was an error syncing with #{email}. You
+      message: "An mailbox action for #{email} could not be completed. You
                 may not be able to send or receive mail.",
       icon: 'fa-sign-out'
       actions: [{
diff --git a/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.coffee b/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.coffee
index 80addb2f7..90154f925 100644
--- a/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.coffee
+++ b/src/flux/stores/nylas-sync-status-store.coffee
@@ -86,4 +86,9 @@ class NylasSyncStatusStore extends NylasStore
       state.nextRetryTimestamp
     _.compact(retryDates).sort((a, b) => a < b).pop()
 
+  nextRetryDelay: =>
+    retryDelays = _.values(@_statesByAccount).map (state) ->
+      state.nextRetryDelay
+    _.compact(retryDelays).sort((a, b) => a < b).pop()
+
 module.exports = new NylasSyncStatusStore()
diff --git a/static/variables/ui-variables.less b/static/variables/ui-variables.less
index 6ea6e109f..2353314e6 100644
--- a/static/variables/ui-variables.less
+++ b/static/variables/ui-variables.less
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ rgba(253,253,253,0.75) 100%);
 @background-color-info:    @blue-light;
 @background-color-success: #00ac6f;
 @background-color-warning: #ff4800;
-@background-color-error:   #f15f4b;
+@background-color-error:   #ca2541;
 @background-color-pending: #b4babd;
 
 //== Menus