Go to the Gmail website, select Options (the gear icon), then Mail 
Settings.

On the Mail Settings page, there are several sub-pages for different 
options.  Select Labels.  From here you can find the All Mail label.  
Options for it are Show and Hide within Gmail itself, and then a 
checkbox for Show in IMAP.  Deselect the checkbox.  All Mail will no 
longer show up as an IMAP folder, and you can now delete your local 
copy without incident.

I disable this folder because I never "Archive" messages.  If I am 
done with it, it goes into Trash and is cleared out.  My eventual 
plan is to migrate away from using this email address (and Gmail) 
entirely.  At that time, I will use the All Mail folder to ensure 
that no mail is left behind.  I'm personally getting a bit nervous 
just how much of my life Google has indexed in their databases, if 
you know what I mean!

Joseph - KF7QZC


On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 03:02:53PM -0400, Tom Behler wrote:
>Hello, everyone.
>
>I am trying to get my personal g-mail account to work with Windows Live Mail
>on a Windows 7 laptop, but am having an interesting problem as I work with
>my g-mail account.
>
>Specifically, in my list of g-mail folders, there is a folder called "all
>mail".
>
>This appears to be an archive of some sort, that contains every e-mail I
>have ever received, replies to relevant e-mails, etc., all the way back to
>about 2009, when I first set up my g-mail account.
>
>There are literally several hundred thousand e-mails in this "all mail"
>folder.
>
>I really don't need this folder, and I have tried to delete it, but with no
>luck.
>
>I also have tried going into the folder and deleting messages in groups, but
>again, no luck.
>
>It seems that G-mail is blocking this action.
>
>Having all of these e-mails in my "all mail" folder is slowing things down
>unnecessarily, and I'd like to get rid of this extra e-mail baggage.
>
>Does anyone have any ideas as to how to accomplish this?
>
>Do I actually have to go into my g-mail account to do this, and if so, what
>exactly do I do?
>
>Since this quiry may be considered to be "off topic" to some, please respond
>to me personally at:
>
>[log in to unmask]
>
>Thanks much.
>
>Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ