On Apple Mail, my Gmail account suddenly no longer has a 'sent' folder. If I go to Gmail directly, the mail I've sent is there, but not on Apple Mail. I have deleted the account and re-installed it, and all the folders are there (inbox, drafts, bin etc) but there is no 'sent' folder.
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.3
As Barney pointed out, it looks like your local configuration is wrong for GMAIL.
This is what is should look like. This image shows GMAIL and also Exchange, they look similar.
Your image shows an odd "\Trash" instead of "Trash." Your nesting of other folders inside your Inbox indicates some improper changes were made inside your Mail folder inside your Library folder. I suspect this is related to your issue.
Look inside your user Library folder, there should be a Mail folder, which should look something like this (for Monterey you should see V9, this image shows V8 for a Big Sur computer):
Instead of just deleting and reading your GMAIL account, you might try removing the GMAIl account, quitting Mail, moving the GMAIL-related folders in this Library/Mail directory to the desktop, restart the computer, then try re-adding the GMAIL account. Perhaps that will create the folder structure properly.
If this does not work, you can restore the folders back to where they were. I would also back up your computer before doing any of this in case it goes south and you need to completely restore your user Library folder to the way it was.
As Barney pointed out, it looks like your local configuration is wrong for GMAIL.
This is what is should look like. This image shows GMAIL and also Exchange, they look similar.
Your image shows an odd "\Trash" instead of "Trash." Your nesting of other folders inside your Inbox indicates some improper changes were made inside your Mail folder inside your Library folder. I suspect this is related to your issue.
Look inside your user Library folder, there should be a Mail folder, which should look something like this (for Monterey you should see V9, this image shows V8 for a Big Sur computer):
Instead of just deleting and reading your GMAIL account, you might try removing the GMAIl account, quitting Mail, moving the GMAIL-related folders in this Library/Mail directory to the desktop, restart the computer, then try re-adding the GMAIL account. Perhaps that will create the folder structure properly.
If this does not work, you can restore the folders back to where they were. I would also back up your computer before doing any of this in case it goes south and you need to completely restore your user Library folder to the way it was.
Is it visible under the Gmail account header? If so, add it back to Favorites.
Give this a try: boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and test to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.
NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 3 - 5 minutes as it's doing the following;
• Verifies your startup disk and attempts to repair directory issues, if needed
• Loads only required kernel extensions (prevents 3rd party kernel/extensions from loading)
• Prevents Startup Items and Login Items from opening automatically
• Disables user-installed fonts
• Deletes font caches, kernel cache, and other system cache files
What happens if you add All Sent to your favorites? If it’s already there try removing it and adding it.
Well, that worked! There were loads of strange labels, some duplicated, some nested. Have no idea how that came about. I deleted all of them, leaving just the core 'folders', then switched on everything (POP and IMAP). Re-installed everywhere and it came back. Thousands of them.
Curious thing though was that all my 'On My Mac' folders disappeared. I had to re-import all from my back-ups.
Thanks for your attention!
Make sure the "Enable" checkbox is checked for your Gmail account in Mail's Accounts preference pane.
Also, check your Gmail account settings at Gmail.com to see if there is some setting that might keep Sent emails off your devices and on Gmails servers. A long shot but who knows.
You've got a problem with your IMAP path Prefix.
There should be nothing but messages in the Inbox.
I don't know what it should be, but you should not be seeing folders inside the inbox.
Also, this is really weird - if I create a mailbox called 'Sent' it is visible for a few seconds, then disappears. If I then try to recreate it, the message is that I can't as it already exists, but it isn't visible anywhere. Ditto if I do it with a small 's'. Disappears, then says it exists. Any other label, no problem. I've tried 'Sent', 'Bollocks', they all stay. Just any version of sent, it disappears.
Zak021 wrote:
I just don’t understand why something works perfectly for over a decade then suddenly stops!
I don't have an answer for you other than to say it seems to be a problem local to your Mac. I have 4 Gmail accounts in Mail and they each have a 'Sent' folder.
It doesn't exist anywhere - under the 'google' tag all the other folders are there, but not sent. Adding 'All Sent' back to favourites again shows me all the other providers, iCloud, Outlook etc, but no GMail.
No 'Sent' label... Literally just suddenly disappeared from all devices at the same time.
Thanks Old Toad - yes, it is definitely enabled. All works just fine, as I have described, It's just that there is no 'sent' folder. It sends, it gets received, I see the sent mail on the web app, but there is no sent folder on my mac, nor phone, nor either iPads.
The issue is why does my iPhone and both iPads also show the same problem?
Because it is wrong on all of them. All account settings are synchronized on all devices.
I’m pretty sure it should be blank, but I don’t have gmail set up in Mail anymore.
Hi Barney - No, that's the issue. It's not visible anywhere! Not on the mac, nor my phone, nor both iPads. Very odd.
I would remove the Gmail account and re-add it to Mail.
Ok, really, I wouldn't re-add Gmail to Mail as it will never work well.
No sent mailbox for gmail
