Apple Mail auto-checking even when set not to

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Apple Mail auto-checking even when set not to

Hi

I have a mac pro and a macbook pro. I set up my mail so the laptop only downloads mail from my imap accounts manually - and only use it occasionally. Normally I only open Mail to send an email, don't actually want to download mail. The mac pro auto downloads in the normal way. Suddenly after years of the laptop doing what I expected, it has taken to auto-downloading. It is stil set to check mail manually, it just doesn't do it that way. As soon as I open mail, it downloads. I then can't delete the mail without it also disappearing from my desktop as well, when all I really want to do is stop Mail filling up my modestly sized hard drive. I googled this behaviour and found various old posts about advanced settings which can control the mailbox behaviours individually, but the preferences seem to have changed since then and the advanced tab they talk about isn't there any more. I think this behaviour started with the 10.13.4 update.

Can anyone help please?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13), MacBook Pro 13" retina

Posted on May 17, 2018 1:48 AM

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Answer 1

May 17, 2018 3:58 AM in response to TimPollard

I think that is just how IMAP works. When you start Mail, it is syncing your mail contents with the server.

The "check manually" is really only appropriate for a POP account.

If your mail account can be accessed via POP, then you probably should set it up using POP on this particular mac.

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Answer 2

TimPollard Author

Level 1

60 points

May 17, 2018 4:31 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis

Thanks for the answer. What you say does make sense, but until a few weeks ago the 'check manually' switched off the syncing, and now it doesn't! These accounts haven't changed in years, have never been collected as pop3 on this mac. I could delete the accounts (which would get rid of the mail I don't want on this mac as well), and set them back up as pop3, but then sent mail wouldn't appear on the imap server.

I may have to leave the laptop set to 'take accounts offline' so that if I accidentally open mail it doesn't immediately start syncing.

What I'd really like, if anyone from Apple is listening, is the option to have just a recent window of a few weeks worth of mail sync down, so that I can keep an eye on new mail without clogging up the system. With a laptop you might well want a mail behaviour that is like an ipad/iphone rather than a desktop pc.

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Apple Mail auto-checking even when set not to

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