How to Remove Mail from Gmail when Archiving Locally on Apple Mail?

When you delete the message from a client like Apple Mail, it will delete it from the server.

I had the gmail trash mapped to the main Trash mailbox in apple mail. So when I delete a message from the inbox in Mail, it goes to the Trash which is on the server. Since the trash was mapped from gmail, it is still an imap folder and is available at the gmail website also. When it gets deleted from the trash manually or by time settings made in apple mail, it will get deleted at that time from the server.

You can make settings at the website to eliminate the ALL Mail Folder's use. These settings with Mail's settings of moving messages to trash and storing trash on server should accomplish what you want.

Since trash is an IMAP folder (you mapped it to Mail's trash folder), when you delete it from the trash in Mail, it will delete it completely from Mail and gmail site.

Also, under the labels tab, check to hide the All Mail Folder and any other folder you don't want to see from IMAP.

There really isn't any good way of doing that. Google believes that your email should be stored perpetually on their servers. You can always log on to GMail and manually remove messages from the All Mail folder, but as far as Mail is concerned, GMail is just an IMAP mail server. When Mail tells GMail to delete messages using standard IMAP protocols, GMail is choosing not to actually delete them.

Not correcting you Thomas. Everything you said is correct. This is just an option to configure gmail a different way than the default.

Actually it's not new. Just that gmail has a lot of confusing settings as oppose to other IMAP accounts which don't have near the options. I got rid of my gmail account about 6 months ago.

Well at least since 2010. I should have kept the account to keep up with the settings.

For Cerebro:

It doesn't really eliminate the All Mail Folder since the message will still appear in it if it's in the trash. But it will clear out the messages without having to do it manually when you empty the trash on the computer. So, you don't need to show the All Mail Folder in IMAP unless you just want to see it.

By storing trash on the server and maping the trash folder to Mail's main trash mailbox, that eliminates the step of gmail putting the message in gmail's Deleted Message mailbox (another useless step in gmail) and moves it straight to the trash in gmail. And, as I said, since gmail trash is an IMAP folder and mapped to the main trash, deleting from the trash on the computer will delete it completely in gmail.

In the Labels section, delete all folders created at the bottom as local folders since you only want to access it in Mail. The only folders you really need to show in IMAP are INBOX (that's by default), Sent, Drafts, and Trash. Hide the rest. I would disable use of the SPAM filter in gmail and just use Mail's junk filtering. I would also not map the draft folder to Mail's draft folder. So, you will leave the Draft and Junk unchecked to store messages on the server. The imap draft folder will still appear under the gmail folder in the sidebar, but drafts you create will only be local to the computer.

This will keep the gmail website's Inbox, Sent, and Trash appearing the same as the computer.

I don't understand what you mean by the hide technique didn't work. If you check the box at the gmail site not to show in IMAP, then it should not appear in Mail under the account in the sidebar. If it doens't remove it in Mail, make sure the settings are saved in gmail. Then disable the account in Mail in the Advanced tab, then re-enable it. It should force it to syncronize with gmail.

Cerebro,

Your question and comments really solved an issue I've had with Apple for quite some time: how to properly synchronize the Trash mailboxes.

Thanks,

Seamus Berkeley

Fine Art Painting and Portraits

I just found this thread and am appreciative of the information. I am currently deleting over 24,000 emails that gmail has kept in the all mail folder. I noticed my mac mail was running so slowly and when I opened and watched the activity panel, I saw how many messages it was moving between mail and the gmail server. ugh!

So, whil I have to delete these in groups to make sure I keep any I have MEANT to keep, I just changed my settings to the 'immediate delete message forever' option. I had to change the setting above that one, to choose 'Auto expunge Off: wait for the client to udate the server'. Can you clarify what this means? I am wondering if a setting I have will cause an issue, and they may not be connected at all. I tell mail not to check for messages automatically, to wait until I ask it to check. With this set, will the system not delete unless I tell it to check messages? I hope I am asking this clearly.

To be honest, some of the other explanations here on hiding folders, etc. I am concerned if I hide a folder, I won't see that it has collected xxxxx number of emails or some other function. Hiding seems mildly dangerous to knowing what is going on. Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are suggesting.

I like using mac mail on my iMac, ipad and iphone and having it match what I see in gmail when I check it at work. So I am grateful for the help to smooth out the process. The least checking that I can do, and deleting, etc., and still being able to find the message I need to keep, make me a happier user.

Michelle

You just need to hide the All Mail mailbox from Mail. See:

http://www.reedcorner.net/hiding-gmails-all-mail-from-apple-mail/

Huh, that's new. Thanks for the correction!

Actually it's not new.

LOL, well, it's new to me, then. Last time I messed with those settings, that wasn't there. I don't know how long ago that might have been, though.

THANK YOU, Glenn. I had been wondering how to do this for a long time and the "hide the folder" technique didn't really work for me.