Apple Mail

[AM2354]

My number one pet peeve is with Apple Mail on my iPad, MacBook Air, and my iPhone 16 Pro Max . I have three email accounts added to Apple Mail. Now, I see there is an option which I have chosen to have all accounts dump any incoming mail into All Inboxes, which is self explanatory. So, when I think it's working along with All Trash as well, I find that when I pull up each individual account there is email in each inbox for each account, along with email in each trash bin. I thought ALL was to take care of all inboxes and trash, but it's not. Anyone have an answer to this?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Each mail message "belongs" to the individual accounts. The "All" option just lets you see "all" (from multiple accounts) in one list of mail. There is no "dumping all incoming mail into All." There's actually NO mail in "All." It only looks like that.

A particular message can display in "All" and in the inbox of the account to which it belongs at the same time. However, that's just one copy of a message, not two. It's actually in the in the inbox associated with the email account.

"All" is a convenience feature so that you don't have to click through 3 inboxes to see all new email to you. It is not truly its own inbox with copies of the same messages. Imagine if you had 20 or 50 email addresses set up. To see all new email, you'd have to click through 20 or 50 inboxes. "All" (appears to) bring "all" inbox email together in one spot.

Same with All Trash and All Junk, etc. None of those are their own boxes with their own copies of mail... just a summary in one place of the various junk & trash, etc boxes associated with each distinct mailbox.

When you "take care" of email in All, you are actually taking care of it in the inbox or trash associated with the individual account. For example, if you delete a message from All it will be deleted from the inbox of the individual account. If you go into the individual inbox and delete a message from there, it will also be deleted from appearing in All. If you reply via clicking it in All, you are actually replying to it in the inbox associated with the individual account... the same as if you went into the individual inbox for a specific address and replied to it there.

 

[AM2354]

Each mail message "belongs" to the individual accounts. The "All" option just lets you see "all" (from multiple accounts) in one list of mail. There is no "dumping all incoming mail into All." There's actually NO mail in "All." It only looks like that.

A particular message can display in "All" and in the inbox of the account to which it belongs at the same time. However, that's just one copy of a message, not two. It's actually in the in the inbox associated with the email account.

"All" is a convenience feature so that you don't have to click through 3 inboxes to see all new email to you. It is not truly its own inbox with copies of the same messages. Imagine if you had 20 or 50 email addresses set up. To see all new email, you'd have to click through 20 or 50 inboxes. "All" (appears to) bring "all" inbox email together in one spot.

Same with All Trash and All Junk, etc. None of those are their own boxes with their own copies of mail... just a summary in one place of the various junk & trash, etc boxes associated with each distinct mailbox.

When you "take care" of email in All, you are actually taking care of it in the inbox or trash associated with the individual account. For example, if you delete a message from All it will be deleted from the inbox of the individual account. If you go into the individual inbox and delete a message from there, it will also be deleted from appearing in All. If you reply via clicking it in All, you are actually replying to it in the inbox associated with the individual account... the same as if you went into the individual inbox for a specific address and replied to it there.

Very in depth information. I appreciate that. So, let me see if I get this, I get an email in my all inbox, and it’s address to my gmail account. I open it and delete it, and so when I go into my gmail email account that shouldn’t be there, is that correct?

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

That's mostly right, except you are NOT getting any email in your "all" inbox. Email only lands in the individual inboxes for the 3 email accounts you have set up. It only LOOKS like email is in "all" because that's how "all" works.

If you delete it in All, yes, if you check the Gmail account in Apple mail, it will be deleted from that inbox because that's where the email actually existed.

If you are checking on the Gmail website or in another app, it’s deleted if Gmail is set up as IMAP instead of POP, which is a whole other topic.

And it may not be instantaneous in Mail because Mail is not exactly bug free. But if you still see it in the gmail inbox in Mail, check again in 15 minutes. It should vanish shortly if not instantaneously.

Again, there is no actual mail in “All.” It just summarizes all inbox mail in one place visually.