Nested folders can't be modified in Lion Mail after Gmail import

[Diogones]

Hey all,

I have a 2006 Core 2 Duo iMac running OS X 10.7.4, and I recently decided to use the Mail.app to manage my Gmail account. Now my Gmail account has several "nested" folders, or folders within folders that I use to label various messages.

I imported everything from my Gmail account without a problem, and all of my email appears to show up. Unfortunately, there is one problem to an otherwise flawless transition.

Apparently all of the "parent" folders, or the folders that holds other folders, cannot be modified. That is, I cannot delete them, rename them, or move emails directly into them. Instead of the default darker grey color for folders, these top folders are a light grey color.

It also leads to duplicates. For example, I have a folder called "Sales" which includes folders that specify each sale. Not only can the parent Sales folder not be modified, but a new, regular folder, separate from the hierarchy and also called Sales exists, but with nothing in it. The duplicate, empty folders also have an underscore next to their names.

Is there any way that I can change these top folders so that I can manage my email more effectively, and eliminate the duplicates? I hope that I've described the problem clearly so that I may find an answer soon!

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hi,

-Is Gmail setup as IMAP or POP?
-Are the folders in question listed in the sidebar in Mail under a Gmail heading along with All Mail, Drafts, Important, etc.?
-Are the same folders listed if you login to Gmail via a web browser? If so, can you modify them there?

C

 

[Diogones]

Thanks for your help, Cory! To provide an update to my original post: I CAN rename the top folders, but not delete them or move mail into them.

To answer your questions:

1.) Gmail is set up in Mac Mail as IMAP

2.) Yes, the folders are listed under the primary Gmail header, because I created them in Gmail before migrating the folder to Mail.

3.) Yes, the folders are there if I go directly into Gmail, because I made them. They work fine in Gmail, and they contain the nested folders just like in Mail. The only difference is that I can't delete them or move mail into them in Mail, but I can do anything I want with them in Gmail. I was just wondering why the discrepancy?

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hmmm...very strange.

I just tested my Gmail account and it works. I can add/delete mailboxes and save to any user-added mailboxes in Mail or Gmail.

I assume this is similar to what your Mail sidebar looks like?



I am not sure why they aren't accessible in Mail. Have you tried looking at the account closer in Mail - Control-click on [Gmail] in sidebar. You can double-check the setup and the folder(s) and their content on Gmail.

Will keep thinking...

C

 

[Diogones]

Thanks again for your help Cory!

Well now, my sidebar looks different. They were all created in Gmail, not Mail, and were simply brought over when I created the account in Mail, so they are under the Gmail heading. However, the top folders in my hierarchy are also grey, just like the master Gmail folder in your picture.

I have tried double clicking them, to no avail. I can right click them and get the contextual menu, but all I got is the remove mailbox option. I still can't add any messages to them directly, but I can freely modify their subfolders. And what's the deal with the _Foldername that is created underneath the main folder and that contains all the info that the main folder should? I just don't get it.

 

[Cory Cooper]

I would try:

-Add another user on the Mac
-Login to the new user
-Launch Mail and add the Gmail account
-See if the folder structure/issue is the same or different

We can narrow down what is happening this way.

C

 

[Diogones]

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately the problem does propagate to another user account, so it isn't account based I think.