I have never thought Gmail’s IMAP interface worked quite the way I thought it should, so I spent some time today trying to get some answers.
My first issue was with unread messages. I typically use the gmail web interface during the day while I am at work and use Apple mail whenever I am using my mac. Unfortunately, when I get home at the day Apple Mail never picks up the fact that I have been reading my emails during the day. After poking around a bit I found this post, which says the issue is caused by Gmail’s lack of support for sending the optional untagged FETCH responses to connected clients.
One work around is to uncheck the “Use IDLE command if the server supports it” under Preferences -> Accounts -> Advanced. Note, that by unchecking this box, you will no longer have push email.
The second issue was with the behavior of the delete button. By default, Gmail IMAP will archive messages when you delete them. I usually find myself wanting to delete rather than archive. One of the comment’s in this post details how to fix the issue. Basically you want to
- Select the [Gmail]->Trash folder
- From the menu select Mailbox -> Use this mailbox for -> Trash.
You can also do the same thing for the junk, sent, and draft folder.