Q: Delete email, but keep the internet account

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to free up some space in my mac book air, so I decided to unsync my email accounts, since I usually check my mail with Safari anyway.

I cannot simply delete all the mail in the app because I need the emails to remain in the server. Also, if try to delete the account from the Mail app, it says that the whole internet account associated with that email must be deleted. I don't want to do that because I have other stuff synched in that account.

I have tried Unchecking "email" on the internet accounts' settings, but although that made the mail disappear from the app (as intended), it did not free up any space, and System Information still says I have over 4 GB of mail, which is exactly what I had before unchecking email on internet accounts.

I thought of just finding where the emails are stored and deleting them from the folder, but I don't know if that would affect the server. I know it is not likely, but I want to be sure before doing that.

Any thoughts?

Thank you