Ahh but you see, the Gmail remembers "All Mail" unless you delete it 
and empty the trash.  Messages are archived, not deleted, otherwise.  
Just because you don't sync "All Mail" doesn't mean it's not there.

The only safe way to get that stuff out of Gmail's hands is to know 
what's there and move it somewhere else.  I've avoided the archiving 
problem, but all of my current mail still lives on Google.  Doing 
something about that requires I move it somewhere else and then empty 
the All Mail folder.

It's in the works.

Joseph - KF7QZC


On Thu, Sep 01, 2011 at 04:23:36PM -0400, Tom Behler wrote:
>    Thanks very much, Joseph, and I share your nervousness, which is another
>reason why I want to get rid of that darn "all mail" folder.
>
>Besides, I just don't need to store all of those messages anyway.
>
>I'll work through your steps when I get time here.
>
>73 from Tom Behler:  KB8TYJ
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "T. Joseph Carter" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2011 4:15 PM
>Subject: Re: Slightly Off Topic: E-mail Question
>
>
>> 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
>>