disabling email accounts on one but not all of my apple devices

HotMama2021 wrote:

I have two macbooks. I want to stop using my two email accounts on one (laptop B) but not the other (laptop A). I have disabled the two accounts on laptop B. Can I now delete all the emails in the inbox on that laptop? Or should I also delete each account using that minus sign? My goal is to clean out all my emails (thus reclaiming valuable space) from laptop B without losing them from the cloud or laptop A while not deleting either account from laptop A. Thanks!

• IMAP accounts stay on the server, so no local loss, when you re-sync

• POP accounts download and remove from the server—therefor save your inbox/sent box if you want them

• "On My Mac" is just that, local folders you created and moved mail into. No loss here.

Remove email accounts in Mail on Mac

Remove email accounts in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

HotMama2021 wrote:

How can I tell which type each of my email accounts are? Please be super specific in your response, as to where I find that out.

And I still don't understand the difference between disabling versus using the "-" sign to remove? delete? an account. I could envision a future where, say my laptop A has to go in for repairs, that I might want to re-enable or re-install my email accounts on laptop B...so I wouldn't want to preclude that possibility no matter what else I do with these accounts. Thanks!

See the Connection Doctor if in doubt

Mail>Window>Connection Doctor this will tell you IMAP or POP on each account

Add email accounts in Mail on Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-lamr/guide/mail/mail35803/mac

I have a related question, using this same example. I have removed Mail on laptop B in this example, which prevents syncing through iCloud. However, because my Mail account is using IMAP, any emails I delete from laptop B will also delete from laptop A. While I appreciate that the deleted emails are still on the IMAP server, they will no longer be visible in Mail on laptop A, which is inconvenient.

My preferred outcome is that deleted emails from laptop B would continue to be visible on laptop A.

While I could revert to POP, this would be unsuitable, as I also have an iPad and iPhone using the Mail account and want to continue with synching across those devices using IMAP.

Suggestions?