Does Mail App Download Emails?

[ElliottG]

Hey guys

I'm thinking of switching my Gmail over to the Mail app in OSX, but I really don't want an app that downloads all of my emails...would prefer one that just syncs over the network instead.

Does the OSX Mail app download your emails or just reads them from the server? ie. Is this app like Thunderbird and Outlook for Windows, or does it work over the server only?

Thanks,
Elliott

 

[andy9l]

Nearly all local email applications download emails to your device – Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS. Thunderbird and Outlook download your emails to your machine.

If you're referring to IMAP functionality – where deleting an email on your Mac will also delete it from the server – OS X mail and GMail do indeed allow for that.

 

[Consultant]

Mac Mail app:
- syncs with IMAP email accounts
- allows you to view / compose email without internet connection

To sync mail with Gmail, you may have to enable IMAP in Gmail settings
https://support.google.com/mail/troubleshooter/1668960?hl=en#ts=1665018

 

[ElliottG]

Nearly all local email applications download emails to your device – Windows, Mac, Android, or iOS. Thunderbird and Outlook download your emails to your machine.

If you're referring to IMAP functionality – where deleting an email on your Mac will also delete it from the server – OS X mail and GMail do indeed allow for that.

Thanks, and no I was not referring to IMAP functionality.

 

[takeshi74]

You need to clarify what you mean. Thunderbird and Outlook can download or sync depending on the type of account. For POP accounts, clients have to download. Accounts such as IMAP sync.

As far as I can tell, Mail for ML supports POP, IMAP, Exchange IMAP & Exchange 2007 EWS.

 

[ElliottG]

You need to clarify what you mean. Thunderbird and Outlook can download or sync depending on the type of account. For POP accounts, clients have to download. Accounts such as IMAP sync.

As far as I can tell, Mail for ML supports POP, IMAP, Exchange IMAP & Exchange 2007 EWS.

Oh...maybe I was confused at the definition of IMAP...

I am using Gmail...basically what I wanted to know is if I use Gmail with OSX Mail, will it download all of my emails from the server onto my computer, or will it keep them on the server and just communicate with the server for sending/receiving?

I believe IMAP does the latter, right?

Thanks,
Elliott

 

[Weaselboy]

Oh...maybe I was confused at the definition of IMAP...

I am using Gmail...basically what I wanted to know is if I use Gmail with OSX Mail, will it download all of my emails from the server onto my computer, or will it keep them on the server and just communicate with the server for sending/receiving?

I believe IMAP does the latter, right?

Thanks,
Elliott

A default IMAP setup will mirror in the client whatever is on the server, unless you have a way to control that through settings on the server... and GMail does.

Go to the GMail.com page and in your setting you can uncheck labels (folders) you do not want mirrored in IMAP. There is also a setting there to limit IMAP sync to the most recent 1,000 ... 5,000 etc messages.

 

[ElliottG]

A default IMAP setup will mirror in the client whatever is on the server, unless you have a way to control that through settings on the server... and GMail does.

Go to the GMail.com page and in your setting you can uncheck labels (folders) you do not want mirrored in IMAP. There is also a setting there to limit IMAP sync to the most recent 1,000 ... 5,000 etc messages.

Thanks. I was hoping that Mail would just act as a nicer interface to talk to Gmail directly instead of downloading all the emails...I put in my account credentials and it imported 150mb of messages to my computer...would rather not have my emails taking up space even though it's only 150mb...

 

[andy9l]

Thanks. I was hoping that Mail would just act as a nicer interface to talk to Gmail directly instead of downloading all the emails...I put in my account credentials and it imported 150mb of messages to my computer...would rather not have my emails taking up space even though it's only 150mb...

This is identical behaviour to Outlook, Thunderbird, you name it. Local clients store local copies of the messages for offline viewing.

There's no point having a local client that just acts as an interface to the web version – just use the web version!

 

[Alrescha]

Thanks. I was hoping that Mail would just act as a nicer interface to talk to Gmail directly instead of downloading all the emails...I put in my account credentials and it imported 150mb of messages to my computer...would rather not have my emails taking up space even though it's only 150mb...

You can tell Apple Mail what to cache. See Mail Preferences, Accounts, Advanced, "Keep copies of messages for offline viewing:".

A.

 

[ElliottG]

This is identical behaviour to Outlook, Thunderbird, you name it. Local clients store local copies of the messages for offline viewing.

There's no point having a local client that just acts as an interface to the web version – just use the web version!

True...but I didn't know that when I made this thread and that was my OP.

You can tell Apple Mail what to cache. See Mail Preferences, Accounts, Advanced, "Keep copies of messages for offline viewing:".

A.

Thanks.