basic question re Mac Mail

[wfriedwald]

Like everybody, I have multiple eMail accounts - some are for specific clients / jobs etc.

my main account is gMail - and everything in there resides in a cloud somewhere - I can access it on a web browser.

but I have several others that I access through the Mac MAIL program.

so my question: when Mac MAIL is accessing eMails, does that mean they are residing on the local hard drive, or are they also on a cloud somewhere?

(is there a way to get Mac MAIL to access the gMail account - and would that mean it downloads all those eMails to a local drive?)

questions! questions!

thanks for any feedback!

w

 

[Mike Boreham]

Apple Mail keeps a local copy of what is on the server for any IMAP account...so that you don't have to be on line to read your emails. Gmail is iMAP, so just add an account for Gmail and Apple Mail will synchronise with the server and there will be local copies on your local drive.

 

[wfriedwald]

oh thanks ... I'm also trying to figure out WHERE on the local hard drive it is that those eMails are stored? thanks again!

 

[Mike Boreham]

~/Library/Mail/V10

The user library is hidden by default. Many ways to see it or make it permanently visible: How to Keep the User Library Folder Visible in macOS

I dont think this info is very useful as I strongly advise against doing anything to or in that folder, which is likely to upset the Mail app. It is hidden for a reason!

 

[wfriedwald]

Years ago, I used an email archive program called MAILSTEWARD - I haven't done anything with it for a few years, but I have an archive (it may go as late as 2019) of 46GB. I recently upgraded to the latest version of that program.

I'm not sure how to add to it - or what I did before - but I believe it can only grab eMails from the local drive, not directly from the cloud.

so I guess what I have to do is get MAC MAIL to grab all my gMail - as I understand, it MAC MAIL will then store it on a local drive, probably the STARTUP drive - which is what I do NOT want, since there's so little room on there now ...

here's a question: can I tell MAC MAIL to grab everything from the gMail server and then store it on local EXTERNAL hard drive, rather than the STARTUP drive?

I plan to move all of that into MAILSTEWARD very quickly, but if it has to be stored on the STARTUP drive in the interim, that will be inconvenient because there's so little room on the STARTUP drive - which is causing other problems!

anyhow, grateful for feedback / suggestions!

thanks!

W