Mail keeps on reloading previously deleted and read items

Thunderbird is written by Mozzila. The same people that make the Firefox Web Browser.

When I switched over from Windows XP to Windows 7 there was no more Outlook Express and I had to use Windows Live Mail, I think it was called. I didn't really care for it so I tried MS Outlook as I have MS Office in many different versions that all come with Outlook, didn't care that much for Outlook either. So I searched around a little and hit on Thunderbird. Installed in on my Win 7 desktop and liked it. Fairly easy to setup and use. As with everything there is a learning curve to getting use to it, but not much.

When I bought my Macbook Pro I tried Mac Mail for maybe a day and then downloaded Thunderbird for OS X. Installed it and have been using it on both PC and Mac. I would never go back to Mac Mail.

There are also many add-ons for TBird. Right now I'm used CompactHeader (Give you the option to show or hide the full header of the emails), Extra Folder Columns (Adds some columns for different things), Folderpane Tools (That allows you to move your email accounts around in the main window. Otherwise they are listed as you add them and I have 7 Email accounts), Get All Mails (Which give you a button to Check all your POP Email accounts at once. You can do that anyway but you have to select the drop down from the standard Get Mail button), Google Contacts (Which syncs all your Google contacts into the TBird address book), Keyconfig (To set shortcut keys differently then the default) and Lightning & Provider for Google Calendar (Only on the Windows install of TBird. That is to sync my Google calendar into TBird. On Mac I use the built in Calendar program).

I've been using it on Windows for almost 2 years and on my Mac from about the second day I had it, which is about 15 months ago.

Most setting are already included in the program. You just type in your email address and password and TBird either has the settings or goes out to the server to get the correct settings. The only account I have to set up manually is my companies email account. We use some Fly By Night Hosting company, Name Withheld, and although they do IMAP no email program has or can get all the correct settings for it. Other then that one account all others, well until AT&T started to move away from Yahoo and started up there own Email server service again, are done automatically. Like with Gmail. I type in my gamil email account and all the settings are filled in and they WORK, and have not STOPPED working.

I have had Zero Problems with Tbird.

Thanks, Shootist 007 - I downloaded Thunderbird this morning (Australia). It looks really different from any other mail application I've used. I think I'm going to love it, there are so many good features, and it was really easy to set up.

When I turned on my MacBook this morning and checked Mail, the messages I'd moved to the Gmail Trash/Bin hadn't come back in, thank God. I wondered why my wi-fi was being used up so quickly!!!! Hundreds of emails I'd deleted were being uploaded again and again. Something to do with IMAP. Which is definitely a problem with the Mac Mail, because you should just be able to Delete, not move everything to the Gmail Trash/Bin folder. Anyway, even though I've solved that problem, I want to check out Thunderbird - maybe just because its icon is so cute!

GeorgePorge, I hope you solve your Mail problem too - yes, I felt really scared too, because it was so difficult and frustrating finding a solution, and I hoped that Mail would still be free of all the deleted emails this morning... and it was, so, hooray!

Nothing like a little problem-solving to make you feel alive, though, is there?

Have a magnificent day 🙂

Nothing to do with IMAP. The mail program is supposed to communicate with the IMAP servers to get mail and handle mail movement from folder to folder, like moving deleted emails for the inbox to the trash, and to then delete mail that has been moved into the trash and then the trash emptied. It seems Mac Mail has a hard time doing that with Gmail. Not sure how it works with other IMAP servers.

The whole point behind IMAP mail is to give the user more control over how mail is handled and to allow multiple devices to connect and get the same mail. As with POP once it is downloaded to one device it is removed from the server, unless a setting is made to leave the mail on the server for x period of time.

I started having this issue on my iPhone after adding my seldom-used gmail account in order to use and sync calendar apps. What I finally figured out was to turn off the setting for mail on my phone and it did the trick. Since I never use gmail but had associated my other email addresses with that account, all of my mail had just accumulated in the gmail inbox - over 27,000 messages! They are still in my gmail inbox if I go to check it online (which I never do as I never use that account for mail), but turning off the mail setting for that account did the trick.

This fixed it for me too. Thanks Mssahj! A simple fix for a dreadful problem. It may be worth noting that while you reconfigured accounts and then the problem started, I did nothing to initiate it.. It did coincide with a significant change in the way gmail and apple mail interacted.

Thanks Mssahj. That was really annoying problem. And really simple solution.

This is the solution that worked for me.

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=201110252225322

here is the article text:

When you use Mail, or another email client, together with a Gmail account you will surely know that clicking on a message and pressing the delete key does remove that message from Inbox folder but leaves a copy of it in the 'All Mail' folder on the Gmail server. Effectively the message has not been deleted. This is the default Gmail behavior.

While I like using Mail.app with Gmail I don't like the 'All Mail' folder. Here's how to configure Mail so a deleted message ends up in the Trash folder on the Gmail server.

In Mail.app, under Preferences click the Accounts icon. Select your Gmail account. In the Trash section check the box 'Move deleted messages to the Trash mailbox' and check the box 'Store deleted messages on the server'. Close the Mail.app Preferences.

On the left side where the Mailboxes are located, expand the Gmail folder, and click on the Trash folder. Next, from the Mail.app menu selectMailbox » Use this Mailbox For » Trash.

Now messages you delete in Mail.app will from now on be moved to the Trash folder where you can permanently delete them by selecting them and pressing the Delete button on your keyboard or by enabling the automatically delete after x number days setting in Mail.app preferences.