Working with IMAP folders in Apple Mail
IMAP is a mail server technology that, in short, allows users to store their messages on the remote server, so that they are accessible from any computer. Other email clients like Mozilla Thunderbird make it relatively simple to manage IMAP messages and folders, so I was surprised to hear some co-workers claim that Apple Mail doesn’t support this feature. After a bit of digging, I found that it does indeed; it’s just not obvious.
Thunderbird and other email clients refer to IMAP mail directories as “folders,” which makes sense to most folks familiar with file and operating systems. As it happens, Apple Mail (at least, Mail v3.1 in Leopard) calls these folders “Mailboxes,” which seems counterintuitive to most folks, who think of their email “mailboxes” as somewhat synonymous with their actual accounts.
At any rate, if you’re connecting to an IMAP server, the list of “Mailboxes” on the left-hand side of Apple Mail, below the name of your email account, is an actual list of your mail directories on the server. You can right-click (or Control+click) any of these Mailboxes to rename or delete your mail directories. Note: use this with care, as once you delete stuff on your IMAP server, it is gone for good!
You can also add a new mail folder by clicking the plus (+) icon in the bottom-left corner of Apple Mail, and choosing New Mailbox.
You can then enter a name for the folder, which will be added to the left-hand Mailboxes list, and the new folder will be created on your IMAP server. You can then store messages in your new folder, and those messages will be available to you anytime, anywhere, from any IMAP email client on any machine.
Hi John,
Good post! I’ve just finished converting my POP account to IMAP in Apple Mail. I’ve figured out how to manage the folders (including the tip that you should NOT let Apple Mail change your IMAP Prefix when you create a new mailbox!), but I’m having trouble with the Sent and Trash folders. When I set up the account preferences to keep deleted files and sent files on the server, I get errors from Apple Mail when it tries to send deleted or sent messages to the appropriate folders. Could you offer a brief explanation of what I’d have to do to make these features work? I’m guessing it’s some sort of a naming mismatch between the server and Apple Mail, but I’m not sure how to track down the exact problem or how to fix it. The error messages indicate (without an actual quote handy) that the mailbox doesn’t exist or access is not allowed, or something to that effect.
Thanks!!
Hi again, John,
I found the answer to my own question–in Mail, select the folder (e.g., Trash), and then from the Mailbox menu, select “Use this folder as…” and then select Trash. Do the same process to bless the “Sent” folder.
Great; thanks Kris! I hope your discovery helps some folks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work for me! For example: when I select the Trash folder, and then choose Mailbox –> Use this folder for … , all four possible choices (Drafts, Sent, Junk, and Trash) are grayed out and can’t be selected. I also verified the same behavior for the other Mailbox folders.
If you’re using the same environment as I am (Leopard 10.5.1, Mail 3.1), I wonder what the difference is and why I can’t do the same?
Well, my IMAP mailbox appears as “Inbox”, and indented under that are “Sent”, “Trash”, and a couple other folders. It’s these folders that you have to select before going to the Mailbox menu. When you select the “Use this folder for…” option (assuming they aren’t grayed out), the mailbox you had selected disappears from the Inbox. In my Mail preferences for my IMAP account, I tell it to keep deleted messages and sent messages on the server. Also, the “IMAP Prefix” field is blank, in case that makes any difference. Perhaps something here triggers an idea for you. Sorry for the vague generalities–I am at work and not able to access my Mac to give you specifics.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that, yes, I am running the latest of everything under Leopard.
Thanks for the pointers, Kris. In my case, to get this working, I had to:
- In Mail -> Preferences -> Accounts, under the Advanced tab, change the value of “Keep copies of messages for online viewing” to “Don’t keep copies of any messages.” There was an “Uh oh…” moment when doing this, as Mail gives an “Are you sure you want to do that?” warning, and all the messages in my Inbox and other folders disappeared, but they re-appeared after I closed and restarted Mail.
- In the left-hand pane, under my email account (and *not* under Mailboxes), select each of the folders (Junk, Trash, Sent), and then go to Mailbox -> Use this mailbox for … –> the mailbox name.
I didn’t have to do this for my Inbox, as that only appears under Mailboxes and not under my account. My Junk folder stayed beneath my account and didn’t “move” to the Mailboxes list, btu Drafts, Sent, and Trash did move and are now only under Mailboxes.
Thanks for all the explanations,
unfortunately I have some problems I cannot explain to myself.
Adding new mail folders (by clicking the plus) or renaming them simply does not work. Obviously the changes cannot be executed on the server.
Receiving and sending mails just works fine, so my IMAP account seems to be set up correctly.
Do you have any idea ?
Thanks a lot !
Hi Norm. If I had to take a guess, mine would be that this is not a problem with your email client, and that your email provider has either locked down their IMAP server intentionally to disallow these actions for security reasons, or that a misconfiguration of the service has caused these effects. Who is your email provider? Are you able to connect directly to your email server, via SSH or other method, and test whether you can rename or delete mail folders that way?
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Nice one for this post. Cleared up a few confusing things for me. Your comments too regarding the setting the folder’s intended usage from the Mailbox menu!
The terminology Apple uses does seem quite confusing at first, but after your post explained it I picture the “mailboxes” as more like pidgeon holes, and the mail account itself is like a collection of pidgeon holes — like you’d see in an office. Makes more sense that way. Though my web mail manages them as “folders” alongside the INBOX! Requires a little double thinking on that one.
I have a pretty similar problem. I have setup an IMAP account, setup a new folder for the sent messages to be stored in but I cannot “use this mailbox for” on either ’sent’ with airplane or ‘copies of sent’ folder that I created as they all options are greyed out. I think I have tried all the suggestions here?……..please help
Thanks Davey. Good analogy regarding the pigeon holes: I think that makes more sense than calling them all separate “mailboxes”!
krystal: did you create a new folder for your sent mail? You shouldn’t have to: can you right click the Sent that’s already under your account, and choose Use this mailbox for … Sent mail?
Also, did you go to Mail -> Preferences -> Accounts, under the Advanced tab, and change the value of “Keep copies of messages for online viewing” to “Don’t keep copies of any messages”?
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