[0157988944]

I just switched over to IMAp from Gmail, and I like it so far, but for this one issue:

In the above picture, you can see I have an inbox ON my Mac, and then the All Mail folder on Gmail. my problem is with the fact that when I get a new message, it goes into both my All Mail and inbox folders. I understand why, by my real annoyance comes when I read and delete an email in my inbox and it's exact copy in the "All Mail" folder is still marked as unread.

Is there any way to tell Mail to automatically mark all messages in the "All Mail" folder as unread?

[Koralatov]

Originally Posted by adamfishercox 

In the above picture, you can see I have an inbox ON my Mac, and then the All Mail folder on Gmail. my problem is with the fact that when I get a new message, it goes into both my All Mail and inbox folders. I understand why, by my real annoyance comes when I read and delete an email in my inbox and it's exact copy in the "All Mail" folder is still marked as unread.

Is there any way to tell Mail to automatically mark all messages in the "All Mail" folder as unread?

I set up Gmail as IMAP for two of my friends with Mail--one on my Cube (I lent it to him--I must be mad), and one of my friend's new MB. Unfortunately, despite about an hour's effort, I couldn't get it to automatically set the contents of the "All Mail" folder as read. It's annoying, but the only way around it seems to be right clicking and selecting "Mark All As Read" once in a while. It's irritating, but nothing major.

Personally, I just use my own domain with IMAP. That way, it gives me a bit more control over things, as well as being usable across all my Macs (and my work PC using Thunderbird Portable). The short email address is a bonus too.

[Cold Warrior]

Thunderbird 2 works great with Gmail. Sadly, my experience with Mail and Gmail IMAP has also been poor. At one point Mail spooled out of control, saving over a dozen draft versions of the same message on the IMAP server.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by adamfishercox 

In the above picture, you can see I have an inbox ON my Mac, and then the All Mail folder on Gmail. my problem is with the fact that when I get a new message, it goes into both my All Mail and inbox folders. I understand why, by my real annoyance comes when I read and delete an email in my inbox and it's exact copy in the "All Mail" folder is still marked as unread.

I don't think you do understand why. In the Gmail world, Inbox is just a label; deleting from any label folder is just unlabeling the message. If you really want to delete email as you read them, you should be reading/deleting in All Mail and ignoring the Inbox folder.

[gradient]

I'm using Gmail IMAP with Mail and, interestingly, have no such problems. When I get a new message in my inbox, I read it, file it and have never had an issue with those messages still showing as unread in the All Mail folder.

[0157988944]

Originally Posted by mduell 

I don't think you do understand why. In the Gmail world, Inbox is just a label; deleting from any label folder is just unlabeling the message. If you really want to delete email as you read them, you should be reading/deleting in All Mail and ignoring the Inbox folder.

I understand that.
But I shouldn't have to read my messages in my all mail folder. My all mail folder is a jumble of all my mail. My inbox I keep for all my NEW mail. So when i read something in my inbox, it should be marked as read everywhere else.

[frdmfghtr]

That is odd; when I read something in the Inbox, it gets marked read in the All Mail folder too--but sometimes it takes a while. How long do you wait for the "All Mail" folder to update?

I tried it just now, and it took a minute or two to get updated in "All Mail." I don't know if it's a matter of how often Mail updates IMAP folders, how often Gmail sends updates to Mail (I don't know how IMAP really works, but more-or-less how to use it) or the number of "All Mail" messages in the folder (I have almost 10,000).

Out of curiosity: how do you have GMail set up in the "Mailbox Behavior" tab? I have everything stored on the server, except for "Trash."

[pheonixash]

In your Account Preferences, under the Advanced Tab, set the IMAP Path Prefix to: [Gmail]

That should do the trick. The All Mail folder will still be present, but now it'll update as when things change in your inbox. To get rid of the other mailboxes such as Sent, Junk, Drafts & Trash, select each, then in Mailbox (on your menu bar) > Use this Mailbox For, choose the appropriate option. Now all your folders should be updated exactly like a normal e-mail account, without any of the Gmail oddities.

[0157988944]

Great! Thanks So much!!

[JKT]

Apologies for resurrecting this thread, but IMAP has just been activated on my accounts and there is a difference to the advice given above that is specific to UK users. Because Google can't call it GMail here, set a Path Prefix: [Google Mail] instead of [Gmail].

[- - e r i k - -]

In addition, there's this hint:
macosxhints.com - Remove Gmail's All Mail folder in Mail from Spotlight index

[all2ofme]

Here's a good run-through of Gmail/Mail/iPhone tips for reference:
How-to: Proper Gmail IMAP for iPhone & Apple Mail