Trying to delete huge amounts of mail - Help!

[pmcdn]

I just got a MB Air and manually setup my mail accounts. Most of them are gmail accounts and with tens of thousands of messages. I am trying to delete most of them off this device, but it hangs up, etc.

How can I easily permanently delete most of these messages off of my MB Air without deleting them off of the server?

 

[BarkingGhost]

You should do the desired clean up through Gmail's web page. Its an IMAP and I think the was Gmail does it if you do not do the clean up locally (from their web interface), its not going to stick.

Then again, maybe that is just my experience with Thunderbird and Gmail accounts.

 

[Mal]

Actually, I would just go to the Advanced IMAP Controls in Gmail's Settings (in the web browser) and turn off the All Mail and any other labels you don't need. That way they're all on the server, but they don't have to show/download to your MBA.

jW

 

[Lurchdubious]

Actually, I would just go to the Advanced IMAP Controls in Gmail's Settings (in the web browser) and turn off the All Mail and any other labels you don't need. That way they're all on the server, but they don't have to show/download to your MBA.

jW

Won't this stop future emails from coming to your Mail app?

I'm in the same boat. I have 8GB of email stored on my Air, 90% junk. I don't want to get rid of everything altogether, but if I could delete it from my Air yet keep an option to search what's stored on the server, that would be ideal.

 

[waynep]

Just be careful as you delete mail on your computer. If IMAP is setup, it will sync that deletion to gmail's server and delete it there also. You can setup gmail as POP I think. Maybe that's what you need to look at.

 

[Lurchdubious]

Just be careful as you delete mail on your computer. If IMAP is setup, it will sync that deletion to gmail's server and delete it there also. You can setup gmail as POP I think. Maybe that's what you need to look at.

Yeah the problem is what's already synced. I am good at deleting all non essential mail now, but I wasn't for the past 5 yrs

 

[Mal]

Won't this stop future emails from coming to your Mail app?

I'm in the same boat. I have 8GB of email stored on my Air, 90% junk. I don't want to get rid of everything altogether, but if I could delete it from my Air yet keep an option to search what's stored on the server, that would be ideal.

Nope. The Inbox will still show up, just not the "All Mail" label. In Gmail, that displays all the emails you've ever received, but it's not exclusive. You can hide that label and still receive the Inbox and any other labels you want to keep.

jW

 

[Lurchdubious]

Thanks. That's a bummer. Guess I'll have to delete all the old emails from the gmail browser manually. Would that delete those emails from my mac automatically? Or do I have to manually delete both?

 

[Mal]

I don't think you're really getting it. Assuming you're using IMAP, you don't have to do anything except what I said, and those messages (the old ones that you don't need, as long as they're no longer in your GMail inbox) will be removed from Mail. Because it's synced, not just downloaded. If you delete a message on Gmail, it'll be deleted from the computer. If you delete a message on the computer, it'll be deleted from Gmail. If you hide a folder from IMAP syncing via the Advanced IMAP controls, Mail thinks it no longer exists, and will delete it. It'll sit on the server (where you never really need to worry about space), but won't be on your computer any more.

jW

 

[Lurchdubious]

I don't think you're really getting it. Assuming you're using IMAP, you don't have to do anything except what I said, and those messages (the old ones that you don't need, as long as they're no longer in your GMail inbox) will be removed from Mail. Because it's synced, not just downloaded. If you delete a message on Gmail, it'll be deleted from the computer. If you delete a message on the computer, it'll be deleted from Gmail. If you hide a folder from IMAP syncing via the Advanced IMAP controls, Mail thinks it no longer exists, and will delete it. It'll sit on the server (where you never really need to worry about space), but won't be on your computer any more.

jW

Thank you for your help. I'm sorry If I sounded retarded, I was replying on my phone w/o having my Air in front of me to familiarize myself with what was being talked about. It's been a long day. SO, I removed the All Mail label from showing in IMAP in my Gmail browser. Quit and restarted Mail app. The All Mail label now doesn't show, but a search of some emails that were in that folder still brings them up in the Mail app, and my available memory on my mac hasn't changed. Do I need to delete that account and then re-add it/re-sync?

 

[Lurchdubious]

K, I did the label magic then deleted that acct from my Mail app. Updated Safari and restored the Air while I was at it. Gained back almost 4 GB's . Thanks for the help!!