Mail on Macbook Air syncing too many emails!

I have just bought a Macbook Air and wanted to Sync my Hotmail Emails like I do on Iphone and Ipad. Problem is that it is syncing 20,000 mail messages from the last 10 years. I only need it to sync about the last two weeks or last 50 emails or something like I do on Ipad and Iphone.

I don't want to delete old messages on server because they are old work from university and writing Idid when I was younger for various projects, also messages from friends that I want to be able to look back on when I'm older. I also don't want them on my Macbook becasue they will clog it up and I like to keep things tidy, only things in my inbox which are releant to work and play today.

I can't find any option to regulate the inbox sync, only the trash and delete folders.