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User profile for user: Harpo747
Harpo747 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Deleting messages in the Mail Archive folder causes deletions in other mail folders

Recently I decided to thin out my mail storage usage at Google as I was reaching a limit. I use organized mail folders extensively for saving messages I care about and allow my Inbox to grow with the rest - periodically deleting excess from Inbox from the bottom every year or so. However, I began to notice the Archive which I never used nor cared about growing larger and larger. I was never even aware of this Archive in the past and I've been using Mail for many years. Now, I needed to include it in searches when looking for recent emails I needed to find (ones not filed away). When it came time to reduce my mail storage I figured I would thin out the Archive "folder" from its huge list of old mail up to the year 2020.

A month later, I've noticed that my valuable mail saved carefully in folders has also been thinned back to year 2020.


It sounds crazy to me but - is this Archive folder not actually a folder at all, and does it actually point into my own folders? Did I really delete all my precious mail stored away deliberately and intentionally by some dangerous new behaviour added to Mail? Its gone on Google's server as well. Yikes! Can I get it back?


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Dec 14, 2022 4:35 AM

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User profile for user: Barney-15E
Barney-15E
User level: Level 10
117,076 points

Posted on Dec 14, 2022 8:01 AM

For unknown reasons, Apple decided to map the Archive folder in Mail to the All Mail label in Gmail.

All Mail is how Goolag stores your emails for harvesting.


If you deleted from All Mail, I believe any other labels should remain, but that would only apply when using Gmail's web portal since Gmail really isn't IMAP or POP. The "feature" of Gmail to have a message exist in multiple locations (labels) does not translate to IMAP or POP where a message only exists in one location.

In normal IMAP communication with the server, Mail tells it the user wants to delete this message from the "All Mail" folder. Gmail then translates that instruction to its own protocol and something happens. It may not be as you intended.


I don't know if Gmail is configured to delete all labels if you delete a message from All Mail. If so, what you have experience could be expected behavior.

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User profile for user: Barney-15E
Barney-15E
User level: Level 10
117,076 points

Dec 14, 2022 8:01 AM in response to Harpo747

For unknown reasons, Apple decided to map the Archive folder in Mail to the All Mail label in Gmail.

All Mail is how Goolag stores your emails for harvesting.


If you deleted from All Mail, I believe any other labels should remain, but that would only apply when using Gmail's web portal since Gmail really isn't IMAP or POP. The "feature" of Gmail to have a message exist in multiple locations (labels) does not translate to IMAP or POP where a message only exists in one location.

In normal IMAP communication with the server, Mail tells it the user wants to delete this message from the "All Mail" folder. Gmail then translates that instruction to its own protocol and something happens. It may not be as you intended.


I don't know if Gmail is configured to delete all labels if you delete a message from All Mail. If so, what you have experience could be expected behavior.

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User profile for user: Barney-15E
Barney-15E
User level: Level 10
117,076 points

Dec 14, 2022 8:25 AM in response to Harpo747

On the Gmail web portal, Settings > See All Settings > Labels, you may be able to set it to not show All Mail in IMAP.

This was available to older Gmail accounts, but I have heard that newer Gmail accounts aren't allowed to disable that.


You can prevent Gmail from hoarding your messages into All Mail on the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.

In the IMAP settings, turn Auto-Expunge off, then tick one of the options to move the message to the Trash or delete immediately.

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User profile for user: Harpo747
Harpo747 Author
User level: Level 1
5 points

Dec 14, 2022 8:40 AM in response to Barney-15E

Many thanks Barney.

I am able to make that setting change.


I want to make sure I understand what the consequence is.

Now All Mail is not shown in IMAP - so Apple Mail won't be aware of a folder called All Mail on the Google Server.


What will the behaviour of that Archive file inside Apple Mail be now. It will collect mail locally I guess according to some algorithm? But I can delete from those without damaging any other content?


Thanks.

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Deleting messages in the Mail Archive folder causes deletions in other mail folders

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