trouble with old emails in inbox

[Wagmore]

I am new to Mac-have recently migrated from PC to a dear little MacBook.
This may be a server problem, but thought I would ask. Suddenly my inbox filled up with 1500 old emails (3-4 months' worth all marked "unread"). Have I inadvertently done something? Thanks.

 

[iLog.Genius]

That's normal. Sometimes when you setup Mail.app, it will retrieve your old mail even if you've read them (has a bit to do with what kind of mail account you have POP or IMAP). You didn't do anything wrong, everything is working properly.

 

[montycat]

I had this happen. I had to delete my emails from my ISPs webmail account. When I enabled Mail for the first time I too was wondering where all the old email was from. MC

 

[Wagmore]

trouble with old emails in inbox

Thank you, Ilog.Genius and Montycat-I appreciate your prompt responses. I was fearful I had already put my foot in it!
Wagmore

 

[NewMacbookPlz]

That happened because on your old PC, and depending on how you setup Mail, you're only checking what's new on the server as compared to what's on the computer.

There should be an option you can select titled "remove messages from server" or something of the like. That will cause them to be downloaded to your computer, but effectively deleted from the webmail side of the account. That would prevent this from happening again, but if you were to check your mail from another computer, any old messages would be gone.

I know this holds for POP3 setup accounts, not sure for IMAP.