Delete from server deletes from Mail (IMAP)?

[mgerber]

I'm using Mail 5.3 with IMAP accounts on Lion.
One of those accounts just hit its 1GB limit with some 8k+ messages and I need to delete quite a few before I can receive more. Unfortunately, the Charter webmail UI is horrible: can't sort, can't search, can't delete more than a handful of messages at a time.

I can have Charter Tech Support delete all 8k+ messages from their server.
Will that also delete messages I now see in Mail?
If so, is there a way to protect my Mail messages from being deleted? There are quite a few I'd like to keep.

My Mail account prefs are now set to Move Deleted Messages to the Trash mailbox after one day. If I understand that correctly, messages will be moved to the Trash on the Charter servers and deleted after one day. Is that correct?

Thanks for any help on this.
Also, if I can be directed to a good IMAP primer, I'd really appreciate it.

Mark

 

[Alrescha]

IMAP is kind of the original cloud for mail. It allows all mail clients (desktop, phone, tablet, etc) to have the same view of your mail.

As such, when you delete mail, it is deleted everywhere.

But you do not have to store all your mail in the IMAP server. You can create local folders on your Mac (which show up as "On My Mac" in the folder list). If you drag mail from the IMAP server folders to your "On My Mac" folders, you will have a permanent copy of the mail on your Mac. You can then delete the copies on the IMAP server.

To create mailboxes on your Mac, choose the Mailbox in the menu, then "New Mailbox..." and make sure "On My Mac" is in the pulldown box.

A.

 

[mgerber]

Thanks for the tip.
Sounds like I'll have to move everything to a local folder and have them delete the files on the server. Probably better all around.

Thanks!