After I updated to Catalina 12.15.4, all my Gmail is going straight to Archive.
There is an "archive" in the Mail app that was not there before
So basically no email is going to the inbox. All are going to Archive Mail in gmail
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 10.15
Gmail All Mail Label is now mapped to Archive in Mail.
Gmail isn't IMAP, though it tries to pretend that it is.
Gmail doesn't have folders/mailboxes or anything like them.
It "tags" messages with Labels. When an email arrives, it is tagged with an "Inbox" label and an "All Mail" label. Mail attempts to resolve the "same message exists in two different folders" conundrum that doesn't exist on IMAP.
"Important" is another label. So, an incoming message could exist in three folders. Dogs and cats, living together.
In Gmail settings, Labels, you can tell it to not show the All Mail label in IMAP, but that doesn't stop it from collecting everything you've sent or received, even if you delete it, in All Mail. It just prevents you from seeing it in an IMAP email client like Mail.
Mail isn't archiving them. Goolag is. Mail now shows the Gmail "All Mail" label as the Archive folder.
They keep every email you ever sent or received, eve if you delete them. That's how they sell you to receive compensation for the "free" email service.
Like I said, having a message exist in two folders at the same time is not an IMAP thing. Expecting an IMAP email client to fully support something that is not really IMAP is not going to work well at all.
You can turn off All Mail in IMAP so that it doesn't affect the other folders. But, if you have other messages that contain multiple labels, you will likely see the same problems.
Gmail works best via their web portal. There might be a dedicated Gmail-specialized email client, but Mail isn't it
The same thing is happening to me! Here is the thread from Google support: https://support.google.com/mail/thread/52205892?hl=en&authuser=0.
The support person suggests that the problem is with Apple Mail, which absolutely makes sense to me because the problem started right after I upgraded to Catalina.
At first, some of my mail was going straight to the "Important" folder that I didn't even know existed. That definitely is a Gmail folder. I set up a rule in Gmail that only messages that contained a garbage string of text (i.e. qwertyuiopzxcvbnm) should go to that folder. Problem solved! Except that now some of my most important e-mail is going to that All Mail/Archive folder.
I want to see everything in my inbox first. I can't even figure out how to set up a rule in Apple Mail to address that because there is no choice for "Don't send anything to the archive." I can't find any setting or rule in Gmail to fix the problem either.
Again, this started when I upgraded to Catalina and it is also a problem on my iPhone. HELP!!
Thank you for your answer. I understand how Google mail works.
Hoever, every mail that should go to my Inbox is going to "All Mail", whether I use the Apple Mail app, or the web browser Safari or Chrome) to get directly to Gmail.
Therefore, there is a problem at the level of Gmail, since it happens both in the app and on the browser.
Your explanation is incredibly helpful! That explains why this is happening on my phone, too. (At least I think it does.) I turned off both "important" and "all mail" for IMAP. If it doesn't work, I'll let you know and will also let Gmail know. It's 2020 everyone! So many people have Macs that everyone needs to make their apps and platforms work for everyone.
Mail is automatically archiving every gmail email
