Gmail ... IMAP ... Mac Mail.app ... Mavericks ... SOLUTION -1

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Level 2

218 points

Gmail ... IMAP ... Mac Mail.app ... Mavericks ... SOLUTION -1

hi all,

hopefully this will give you enuff info to figure out what to do (if anything), but i urge you to read thru the links below to see if you are experiencing the same issues or not, & if so, what to do about them.

THE BACKGROUND INFO:

i've been using the Mac's Mail.app pretty exclusively since its inception, and with Gmail's IMAP option since mid-2009. the settings have always stayed & worked well...

• on Gmail.com > Settings > Forwarding & POP/IMAP >

- IMAP Enabled

- Auto-Expunge Off

- Move Deleted Messages to the Trash

- Folder Size Not Limited

• also on Gmail.com > Settings > Labels >

- Only the Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Spam, & Trash System Labels CHECKED to "Show in IMAP"

• then in the Mail.app > Preferences > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors >

- i had everything CHECKED & all the dropdown options set to "One Month Old"

--note: a year or so ago, i had to UNcheck the option to Store Drafts on server due to a hideous multiplication of draft messages showing up in the Trash

• also in Mail.app > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced >

- the IMAP Path Prefix was always "[Gmail]" to allow folders to show properly in the Mail.app

• and lastly in Mail.app >

- made sure the Sent, Drafts, Spam, & Trash folders/labels were properly mapped via the Mailbox menu > "Use This Mailbox For" option

...and i've always kept 'local' mailbox folders for archiving old emails in the "On My Mac" section in addition to keeping more current emails for reference in the "Gmail" section.

THE INITIAL PROBLEM:

after upgrading my Mac to Mavericks OS 10.9, i started noticing that any email i would delete or move from my inbox kept re-appearing in my inbox after changing views (like going to another mailbox then back to the inbox).

of course this drove my OCD crazy, & thus began the research. i've read a LOT about this issue from official sources to user discussions and have pieced together a procedure that seems to be working (for the most part) for me.

THE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:

a lot of people, tek/industry people, & blogs are pointing to these webpages as good summaries of issues & fixes (yes, there are SO many more, but i personally found these to be the most helpful in my quest)...

http://tidbits.com/article/14219

&

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/10/mavericks-issues-and-fixes/?viewall=true

&

http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1222267

&

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/making-gmail-and-os-x-mavericks-mail-play -well-together

THE DISCLAIMER:

of course, if you aren't greatly affected by the Mail/Gmail wonkiness, then it might be worth waiting another week or two (or 3 or 4...) & keep your eyes on further reports from these sites (links above or others you may like better) in case Apple &/or Google pushes an update to remedy the situation. likewise, if you do make these changes, it would still be a good idea (imho) to keep up'to'date in case such pushes do come out & affect these changes too. ugh ;-)

THE OUTCOME:

the below process, for me, has been SUCCESSFUL in every aspect except one...

THE LAST PROBLEM:

whenever i move a message from the gmail inbox (or any other gmail imap folder/label) to a local folder in the "On My Mac" section, it moves it just fine, but then it keeps a copy in the gmail "All Mail" folder/label, when i would want it deleted from gmail.

unlike when i "delete" a message, where gmail appropriately moves that message to the trash box, in this situation it simply strips the message of "any" label, and thusly it stays in the All Mail. so if anybody can amend this with a fix for that, we should be all set :-)

but aside from that last issue, the below procedure has brought back my Mail.app program to use Gmail as "I" believe it normally should work, and has always worked pre-Mavericks.

THE PROCEDURE (assuming all your settings are set like mine were as listed above):

go to gmail.com in Safari (or other web browser) > Log in > Settings > Labels > and check "Show in IMAP" for the "All Mail" system label (which was previously a no-no, but now a yes-yes).
also on that same page, you will need to UNcheck the "Show in IMAP" option for Drafts. and then slide over and for BOTH the Drafts & Spam labels, click the "show if unread" options.
then go to each & every one of your custom "Labels" (you know them as Mailbox Folders). they will all start with "[Gmail]/foldername". click on each and remove the "[Gmail]/" leaving ONLY your custom folder name.
once done, click on your Inbox to get you out of the settings area.
now you will need to go thru ALL of your folders/labels (i know... big ugh!) to fix the labels attached to all the emails inside them ;-)
click a folder/label to reveal all the emails inside it.
click the checkbox in the header row of buttons/options that will cause all emails on that page to be selected/checked.
then, IF you have more emails than what fits on that page (in other words, if you have more than one page of emails in this folder as indicated by the "1-###" and page arrow buttons at the top right), then you will see a new small row that sits above the list of emails that says "All ### conversations on this page are selected. Select all ### conversations in "Folder/Label Name" - you WILL NEED TO CLICK this text link!!!
once you have, the sentence will change to "All ### conversations in "FolderName" are selected" - do NOT click the "Clear selection" link next to that.
next, click on the "Label As..." button in the header row of button/options - the icon looks like a price tag of sorts.
then in the resulting popup box that lists all your folders/labels, you will want to make sure ALL checkboxes are UNchecked EXCEPT the single folder/label that these emails are in. note: some of them may or may not have dashes instead of checkmarks in the boxes - you will need to click it to check it and then click it again to get it UNchecked & UNdashed.
after you've got only the one label checked that should be checked, then click the APPLY word at the bottom of that little popup box. note: if all the selected emails are labled correctly, then you won't see the "Apply" option & you can simply move on to the next folder.
if you get a dialog confirmation box pop up asking if you are sure you want to continue... click OK.
then WAIT! this may take a while depending on how many emails it's affecting and how fast/reliable your internet speed/connection is. when you see the "Loading..." notification at the very top of the page change to "All conversations have been removed from (and it lists them all)", then you can move on & do that same procedure (steps 5-13) to fix another folder/label.
WHEN DONE WITH ALL THAT, you can exit your browser.
now go to the Mail.app > Mail menu > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > and remove the "[Gmail]" text from the "IMAP Path Prefix" field.
then go to the Mail.app > Mail menu > Preferences > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors tab and if the Store Drafts on Server option is checked, UNcheck it.
then close the Mail.app Preferences window to get the option to SAVE that change!
now go to the Mailbox Menu > Synchronize > Gmail, in case it hasn't started doing that on its own.
then open the Window Menu > Activity, so you can see when it's done synchronizing. this may take a while if you've got a lot of mail. according to some, it took a day! so, just kick back & leave it alone till then.

THE END FOR NOW:

hopefully this helps other folks that were setup like me & want to keep it working that way. and yeah, again, if anybody knows how to fix the last problem described above, please let us know.

.peace.:.jason.

Posted on Nov 5, 2013 10:11 PM

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Answer 1

Nov 6, 2013 2:11 AM in response to syberknight

Well, maybe it is a good tutorial but I can't remove [Gmail] part of the labels as my Mailbox app for iPhone/iPad won't work. Right now I'm on Airmail (I guess the authors are blessed by Apple as the sales increased by thousands percents) but I would like to return on Mail.app as I miss some features from it.

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Answer 2

Nov 6, 2013 8:38 AM in response to syberknight

I have several hundred folders across 4 gmail accounts and well over 500k messages. I'm hopeful this works, and will watch for what others see as results. But I don't have the patience or time to make these changes. Maybe a quick prayer to the software gods that this problem will be fixed (or the transition automated) in a soon to be released Mail update. For now I have ALL mail enabled and a week later things are still stop and start with regard to synchronization. And search always pulls up Archive as the message destination.

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Answer 3

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 6, 2013 11:03 AM in response to virtualAThome

hi virtualAThome,

i guess i should have mention rather assume - but the changes in Mac Mail need to also be changed in your iOS devices.

for the Prefix of [Gmail], it's at...

Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Gmail Account > Account Email Address > Advanced > Incoming Settings > IMAP Path Prefix.

then back out & dont hit "cancel" anywhere, tap "done" instead.

hope that helps.

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Answer 4

Nov 6, 2013 1:28 PM in response to syberknight

The problem is that the app Mailbox requires it's own folders in the gmail account (the all start woth [Mailbox], for example [Mailbox]/Later, [Mailbox]/Done etc.) and I can't change it.

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Answer 5

Nov 11, 2013 11:26 AM in response to syberknight

Nothing has helped me. I've tried nearly everything. All of my IMAP accounts are busted. Not just Gmail imap. Can't empty trash etc... not good. Very "un Apple" like.

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Answer 6

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 11, 2013 11:58 AM in response to virtualAThome

ok. i used to have "[Gmail]" as my path prefix.

if you have "[Mailbox]" as yours, the same principal applies.

steps 3 and 16 in my instructions above mention how to remove this.

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Answer 7

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 11, 2013 12:01 PM in response to syberknight

so now that the Mail update has come out, i've spent more time trying to figure this out.

i first went back into gmail via the web browser > settings > labels > and turned the "show in imap" option for ALL MAIL back "OFF" as it used to be (yay).

then, i ended up just deleting my gmail account off of Mavericks Mail & iOS 7 Mail, and then adding them back from scratch.

everything "seems" to work in both Mail programs -BUT- i've noticed in my testing that whenever i move a message in Mac Mail from one folder to another (inbox to archive, or any folder to any other folder; Except Trashing - that works), that gmail in the web browser KEEPS the label of the folder/label i move it out of when it moves it to where i moved it. like a "copy" instead of a "move".

driving me crazy! i want a clean inbox, and i want to have my email sorted how I want it sorted; but this means i either still have to do it all thru the web browser OR do it twice (once in mac mail & then go to the web browser to lean up all the leftover labels).

oddly enough, the iPhone does NOT do this; when i move a message there, it moves it everywhere else as it should.

any tricks to making mac mail do this correctly?

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Answer 8

Nov 11, 2013 1:09 PM in response to syberknight

Syberknight,

You said you turned off "display All Mail in IMAP" in Gmail's web yet talked about dragging things into All Mail ... that is a bit inconsistant. I have no idea what teh propoer behavior is for dragging from In box to All Mail is - I think All Mail is best left undisplayed and ignored.

You also described how Gmail works in the web interface when dragging from folder to folder - does this happen in Mail? Frankly I don't care what labels are on my mail as long as it is where I want it in Mail, ie who cares what Gmail says the labels are?

I tend to stay away from Google's web interface - I use Mail and iOS Mail to manage all of my accounts - 5 of them - 14GB total representing over 600k messages.

Mail, to my knowledge is much more IMAP like in that inside Mail you can only have one folder for a message a given message which implies one gmail label (I use lots of rules but no smart mailboxes so I am not sure, but presume that is all handled inside Mail and not with Gmail labels)

The Mavericks Mail v0.0 to Mail v1.0 was quite an experience with having to synchronize All Mail in and then synchronize All Mail out (2 days each) and a 1 3/4 hour mailbox rebuild for Mail 1.0, but all seems to be working correctly now (All Mail no being displayed).

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Answer 9

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 11, 2013 4:09 PM in response to Dean Suhr

hi Dean Suhr,

i just went back & re-read my posts... i find no where that i said anything about dragging emails into the ALL MAIL folder. i mentioned the issues with dragging messages into "any other folder that i've created" from either the INBOX or "any other folder that i've created". it copies instead of moves the message. but ONLY Mac Mail does this. the iOS Mail app does NOT do this - it moves as it should move.

as far as what you said "who cares what Gmail says the labels are"... well... I do :-)

there are occasions where i need to utilize the web browser gmail interface, and i want it to be correctly synced.

i don't think it's unreasonable to want that, as that's how it's been for YEARS, till now, AND that's how it still is with iOS 7.

besides, what happens if i get a different device/computer and need to add the same account - i imagine it will not sync up correctly if gmail has labels on messages that it shouldn't.

fortunately for me, i don't have quite as many messages & accounts as you; it only takes aprox 30 minutes for mail to sync up after i started over with it.

.peace.:.jason.

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Answer 10

Nov 11, 2013 5:00 PM in response to syberknight

Is not the Archive folder in Mail the same as the All Mail folder/label in Gmail?

Best of luck to you ...

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Answer 11

robhitt

Level 1

0 points

Nov 11, 2013 6:36 PM in response to syberknight

I have the same problems with the labels and gmail, was perfect the way it used to be. Let us know if you figure this issue out. thanks

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Answer 12

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 11, 2013 7:59 PM in response to Dean Suhr

hi Dean Suhr,

well, it depends. i've noticed, during this trial, that when i had the ALL MAIL folder in Gmail > Settings > Labels checked to "show in imap", that it WAS the same as the archive folder. in other words, when i click the "archive" button in Mac Mail, it puts it in an "Archive/Gmail All Mail" folder, and when looking at it via a web browser, that message is simply UNlabeled and resides in the ALL MAIL folder.

BUT, when i re-checked that option to NOT show the ALL MAIL folder in imap, either Mac Mail or Gmail creates a new folder/label called "[imap]/Archive" (that's how it's shown in gmail via web browser - in Mac Mail, it's just "Archive"). and the resulting action labels it as such.

it's weird. ugh. i used to love gmail; now i'm wanting to move elsewhere.

.peace.:.jason.

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Answer 13

gdepena

Level 1

1 points

Nov 11, 2013 8:02 PM in response to syberknight

I found this to be the best solution:

http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/answers/how_to_setup_gmail_imap_and_mail.app1#com ment-71477

In the end you have to wait 4 days for so till it starts working properly... Don't try moving stuff till it's all done.

-G

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Answer 14

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 12, 2013 8:31 PM in response to gdepena

hi gdepena,

thanks for the link, but... that article is from 2010 & doesn't seem relevant to the Mavericks issues.

.peace.:.jason.

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Answer 15

syberknight Author

Level 2

218 points

Nov 12, 2013 10:51 PM in response to syberknight

BEHOLD... i THINK i've found the solution!!! 🙂

after wwwaaaaaayyyyy tooooo much researching, reading, discussing, & experimenting; i think i've finally found a series of settings that's working for me, for how i need/want it to work.

that means,

i have a gmail account.
i use that gmail account in Mac Mail.app, upgraded to Mavericks, & updated with the recent update for Mail.
i also use that gmail account on my iPhone 5 & iPad 4, with iOS 7 (latest).
additionally, i have an icloud account, and my work exchange account in these programs too.
i want when i "Delete" a message, for that message to go into the "Trash", and sit there for 30 days, then be automatically & completely deleted everywhere.
i have the Mac Mail.app Toolbar customized with the Archive button visible, and when i click that, i expect the highlighted message(s) to go to the "Archive" folder on my Mac Mail.app, AND, if i log in to gmail.com via a web browser, i want that message to go to an archive folder only without any other "labels" attached to it.
i expect when i move a message from any mailbox (including the inbox) to a different folder in Mac Mail AND in iOS Mail, that gmail will remove the label for where it was being moved from, and add the label for where it was being moved to - not "copy" and have both labels attached to the same message (unless i specifically choose to "copy" rather than "move" a message).
and lastly (i think), if i move a message from gmail to a folder in the "on my mac" section, i want Mac Mail to move that message for local/offline storing, and i want gmail to 'then' delete that message from gmail.

now, to the best of my knowledge, i think i've accomplished all of these bullets except the last one. after a message is moved to the "on my mac" section, gmail sticks that message in the All Mail folder instead of deleting it. oh well, can't win 'em all i guess 😉

also note, Mac Mail.app creates a label in gmail called "[Imap]/Archive" that it puts all the messages i click the Archive button in the toolbar for. it's still called just 'Archive' in Mail, so, i can live with that. 😎

here are some annotated screenshots of my settings.

hope this helps!!!

DISCLAIMER: i'm nobody special & have no precise nor direct knowledge of all the ins & outs; i'm just another user like you all; have been using these things for many years; & have done a lot of reading, discussing, experimenting, etc. and this is a solution that i've come up with that seems to work for me. everybody has their systems configured how they want them & differently than everyone else (generally), so i cannot guarantee that this solution will work exactly for you like it is for me. but we're all in this together & i'm willing to keep trying to figure stuff out if needbe.

.peace.:.jason.

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