Apple Mail - How do we rebuild GMAIL folders (labels)?

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Level 2

344 points

Apple Mail - How do we rebuild GMAIL folders (labels)?

Hi all,

For 3rd party email accounts - I can highlight the account on left sidebar - then click Mailbox > rebuild and I can see in activity window that it is getting all the imap mail again - nice...

If I login to gmail on a browser I see the directory total count in the varied folders - but they do no match in apple mail gmail.

But this does NOT seem to work for Gmail accounts. - when I do the same - nothing happens

Also I tried to control click and synchronize gmail account - or take offline - or online - this also seems to do nothing.

ALSO - I noticed that on both Macs w apple mail - the folder content count do match each other - but both are lower in count then the real Gmail browser content count...

Q: What is the best way to resync / rebuild GMAIL in Apple Mail? what is the best way to fix this so both mac apple mail gmail account folder content match the contents count of the real gmail count?

Posted on Aug 31, 2021 9:03 AM

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Answer 1

revDAVE Author

Level 2

344 points

Aug 31, 2021 9:29 AM in response to BDAqua

Hi BD Aqua,

Thanks for the help. Pretty sure i set up gmail as imap way back when - is there a way to check this now?

Also you may be on to something. It is possible that I may have dragged some mail out of the gmail inbox to a folder "on my mac" - I will check into this soon.

If I wanted to make sure apple mail > gmail and real gmail were synced - (even if there was some dupes 'on my mac') what is the best way to resync Gmail?

Also if i was to go to system prefs > internet accounts and remove that gmail account - would it also remove that same gmail account for the other icloud mac or just this one?

Thanks much for you help - Dave

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

239,351 points

Aug 31, 2021 9:45 AM in response to revDAVE

Last question first, It should not affect elsewhere.

Rebuild is best way to sync the two.

Be aware that your MacMail App can see On My Mac & any Server you set it up to see, so moving things in the Mail App to anywhere outside of the Server's realm, like On My Mac, then gMail won't know where they moved to & will wither tag them Archived &/OR All Mail. Solution is to Copy it in Mail to On My Mac folders then Delete them from gMail.

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Answer 3

revDAVE Author

Level 2

344 points

Aug 31, 2021 10:37 AM in response to BDAqua

Thanks,

I am aware that On My Mac will only show on that device. In this case - it may have been an error to do so...

You mentioned - Rebuild is best way to sync the two.

For 3rd party email accounts - I can highlight the account on left sidebar - then click Mailbox > rebuild and I can see in activity window that it is getting all the imap mail again - nice...

If I login to gmail on a browser I see the directory total count in the varied folders - but they do no match in apple mail gmail.

--> But this does NOT seem to work for Gmail accounts. - when I do the same - nothing happens

Also I tried to control click and synchronize gmail account - or take offline - or online - this also seems to do nothing.

How can I get this matched in gmail browser and apple mail gmail account folders?

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Answer 4

revDAVE Author

Level 2

344 points

Aug 31, 2021 2:57 PM in response to BDAqua

Yes thank you - I went to where you said and the gmail is IMAP.

My problem is that the apple mail folders have less contents than the real gmail label/folders

Ex: OldFriends folder has 300 on browser gmail and 100 on apple mail gmail version.

My goal is to update Apple Mail so it matches the folder counts of the browser gmail account. I mentioned that if I highlight the GMAIL account on left sidebar - then click Mailbox > rebuild - nothing happens as far as rebuilding gmail (other 3rd party)

I can delete and start from scratch if needed...

Thanks for the help - Dave

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