Inbox vs. Archive Question

If you delete the emails in your inbox, they will be deleted as of the preferences you set to the trash. They will remain in the trash until the designated time limit you have set.

If you Archive email messages, they will be stored depending on how you set up the Archive mailbox as IMAP or local storage. That also depends on the type of account you have and provider.

Some providers such as Gmail has a default of Archiving messages and not deleting them. You would need to check at the provider website on how these functions are set.

If they are Archived in Gmail, then they shouldn't appear in the Inbox of Mail. They should appear in the Archive folder under the Gmail account in the sidebar. Verify what is going on at the gmail website. If I remember correctly, Gmail's default is to Archive messages after 30 days. They should go to the Archive folder if this is your setting. Might be best if you examine how you have your settings created at the gmail site. If you are using IMAP, uncheck the box to enable POP also.

What I'm trying to say is if you archive the message, it should move from the inbox to the archive folder. The message should not exist in both mailboxes unless you are copying messages to the archive folder. Did you actually archive messages or create an archive folder?

I just don't understand exactly what you have going on.

Open settings at the gmail site. Look at the Forwarding & Accounts POP/IMAP tab. Check setting for message handling such as Archiving there. You can also go to the Labels section and hide folders such as Archive there. If you don't want the Archive function when you delete a message, set it to move it to the trash.

Even still, they should not show in an Archive folder and Inbox unless they are copies. Try deleting one and see if it deletes it from the other location.

What I'm seeing is the All Mail Folder showing in the Archive folder. Don't understand that one, but somehow the All Mail Folder is mapped to the Archive folder. So yes, deleting the message there will delete it from the Inbox. The All Mail Folder in gmail shows the message no matter what mailbox it is in.

Go the the Label section of the gmail site and uncheck the box to not show the All Mail Folder in IMAP. Do the same for Archive if it shows in the Label section. As soon as Mail syncs with gmail, those folders will disappear from Mail.

Check only the mailbox folders you want to show in Mail.

I was confused at first until you provided the screenshot. The All Mail folder explained it all. Don't know why the All Mail folder was mapped to Mail's Archive mailbox though.

Glad it's solved.

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