Any GMAIL users able to help me figure something out - new gmail user here!

tomhenryford

I set up a GMAIL account today and I used the import function to get all my emails from my outlook sent to my new gmail account.

However, my sent folder is chocka-block! I went to delete stuff out of it but then I noticed it also deleted them from other folders or 'labels' that I had created.

For example, if I sent an email to Company A and Company A then replied to me with a question and hence I reply back with an answer, it would be like an email thread and I would save that conversation of back & forth emails in a folder for future reference but there would be separate emails in the sent folder containing JUST my replies and they are what I want to delete as I like a tidy sent folder.

However, when I try to do this it ends up deleting the entire conversation that I have saved in another 'label' or folder.

It's very frustrating, is there no way of just deleting single emails in the sent folder?

Hope I explained that clearly!

me_irl

Yeah Gmail groups similar emails as "conversations".

You can turn that off by following this guide -

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/5900?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

If you wanted to leave this feature on, you'd have to open the specific email to delete - click on the drop down arrow (just beside Reply) and select Delete this message.

beauf

Are you sure its needs emptying gmail storage is massive. I wouldn't delete sent email unless you really don't want it. Gmail can do odd things.

Gmail doesn't use folders. It uses labels. Its best to think of everything in one box/folder but all labelled. So you can search for all the labels "School Stuff" or "Car Stuff" etc. If you give something both labels it will be found by searching for either label.

I turn off conversation view. Its easily fooled and then it groups things incorrectly.

I use gmail a lot. But I much prefer outlook for professional use. Most of the people I know don't use gmail correctly. You can tell because they will have hundreds if not thousands of unread emails on their phone.

tomhenryford

beauf wrote: »

Are you sure its needs emptying gmail storage is massive. I wouldn't delete sent email unless you really don't want it. Gmail can do odd things.

Gmail doesn't use folders. It uses labels. Its best to think of everything in one box/folder but all labelled. So you can search for all the labels "School Stuff" or "Car Stuff" etc. If you give something both labels it will be found by searching for either label.

I turn off conversation view. Its easily fooled and then it groups things incorrectly.

I use gmail a lot. But I much prefer outlook for professional use. Most of the people I know don't use gmail correctly. You can tell because they will have hundreds if not thousands of unread emails on their phone.

Oh I don't care if it has endless storage, I can't deal with tonnes of emails. I always have an empty inbox and sent folder bar 1 or 2 at a time. The minute I receive a reply from a person I email, I delete my sent email and store their response instead.

I always like Outlook but it has gotten so bad, it is tediously slow. I can't click between folders without it taking an age, and if I want to click the bin symbol well that will easily take another 30 seconds. I've tried it in a few different browsers and it's the same. It's not my connection because everything else including gmail is super quick.

I know a few people in different locations also having the same issue with Outlook in recent weeks.

tomhenryford

me_irl wrote: »

Yeah Gmail groups similar emails as "conversations".

You can turn that off by following this guide -

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/5900?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

If you wanted to leave this feature on, you'd have to open the specific email to delete - click on the drop down arrow (just beside Reply) and select Delete this message.

I think I actually tried turning that off last night before I posted here and it didn't work but I could have just been boggled eyed from trying to get to the bottom of it so I'll try again now and let you know, thanks!


Update*

Yep, had it off as I thought. Do you think this will only apply to new emails I receive as I'm having the problem with the emails I imported from the Outlook account. I'll try again to manual delete them within the conversation but I just have so many, ugh.

tomhenryford

No still cannot figure it out.

Conversation mode is off.

I have an email called WORK that I always stored in a My Documents folder.

This was imported from Outlook to Gmail and is in the 'sent folder' along with everything else. When I went into it manually and clicked delete, it then also deleted it from the My Documents Folder.

When I went to trash and sent it back to My Documents it reappears in sent.

Would it be completely daft to delete absolutely everything in my gmail account and manually forward each email from outlook to gmail instead or is the very same thing going to happen?

I'm imagining/hoping that if I forward them manually that they will just go to the gmail inbox and I can then file them into the folders/labels and that a second copy won't for some reason appear in the sent folder.

**Update**

I tried manually forward an email from outlook to gmail. It arrived in the gmail inbox, I moved it to a label and as expected it's duplicated into the sent folder. I don't even get the idea behind it. Like a received a brand new email from a courier company this morning which I moved into a shopping folder/label but that didn't duplicate into sent so has it something to do with the fact the outlook and gmail may be merged?

srsly78

Just ignore your irrational urge to delete all mails, it simply isn't needed. Instead just pay attention to unread mails. You seem to be thinking mails as physical items which is not correct - mails can be referenced from multiple places.

beauf

You're fixating on folders. Gmail doesn't have folders. If you try to bend it to work like folders you'll drive yourself crazy.

beauf

I don't understand why email you receive (or import) have a sent label. Unless you've set this up by accident.

beauf

I think you should start with a blank gmail account and practice using filters and labels. Learn to use gmail before doing a massive import.

Also use the All Email, it shows you more clearly whats going on.

I also turn off categories it just makes mistakes and is then confusing.

Gmail tries to be too clever it does things automatically that you might not want. I dislike it for that reason. You don't have the same control as outlook or similar. Outlook.com is more like a tradition email.

Like Microsoft Word. Gmail is one of things that looks simple, but 90% of people don't use properly.

Marmit3

from what i read, i think gmail is not the solution for you, tomhenryford. Your only reason for leaving outlook seems to be that it became really slow. This usually happens when the PST file becomes too big, because the user didnt archive anything for years. I haven't used outlook for a few years now, but the last information i had was that the PST file should not exceed 2GB, and Outlook stops working as intended when the PST file size exceeds 4GB.
Interpreting your email behaviour (whatever works for you, i dont judge) i'd say it is well possible that you have emails from 10 years ago that you will likely never look at again, and thus your PST file is huge. If you google "archiving emails in outlook" you will probably find something that helps you better than switching over to gmail. Gmail is simply desinged to be used differently. I like it better (and in fact the "zero-inbox" approach is exactly how you should use gmail) but your usage is slightly unusual, so maybe outlook is just the better option for you.
- Archive old email
- Backup your PST file and create a new one

beauf

I assume because he said he was using outlook through the browser he means outlook.com not the desktop outlook application.

Marmit3

thats a valid point, i must've skipped that bit.