Mail, gmail, mailboxes and 'read'

[TXBDan]

This is probably a stupid question, but something seems odd to me in using Mail for my gmail (IMAP) account.

I have the Inbox, Outbox, Sent, Trash at the top in the left pane. Below that i have a GMAIL folder with its subfolders (labels), etc.

Firstly, its been d/ling emails for two days now. Why does it need to d/l all of them w IMAP? Can't i just get like the last 50-100 or so like the iphone's Mail? Secondly, when new mail comes, it shows up in both the upper Inbox as well as the lower GMAIL/All Mail and sometimes in the labels if applicable. If i read the new email in the main Inbox and read it, it is marked as read. However below in the GMAIL section, it is still unread. Thats pretty annoying. Why is this? I almost get the feeling like i have two things going on here at once. I initially had gmail setup as POP (which is default), but then i deleted taht account and redid it using IMAP. In the Accounts Preferences i have one and only one account (IMAP).

Is this how its supposed to work?

 

[TXBDan]

Here is a very helpful link for reference:

http://5thirtyone.com/archives/862

The "Use mailbox as" was very helpful in cleaning this mess up.

 

[TXBDan]

Ok, so here's an example now. My gf just sent me an email.

It shows up in MAILBOXES/Inbox as unread.

It shows up in GMAIL/[Gmail]/All Mail as unread.

It shows up in GMAIL/Priscilla as unread.

So i read it in the main MAILBOXES/Inbox and it is then unread. but in the other two locations it is still shown as unread.

I can try to resynch the gmail folders but it doesnt change.. this is annoying.

 

[GGJstudios]

If you set up your mailboxes properly with "Use this mailbox for", then all of your Inboxes will appear under Inbox, etc. When you sync, the mail shows up properly, but there may be a delay before the same messages that appear in the "All Mail" boxes show as read. It may take a few syncs before it "catches up".