How to remove (some) gmail folders in Thunderbird

Question

I have started using gmail thru Thunderbird and every incoming email is duplicated 3 times (it will appear once in the 'Inbox' folder, once in the 'Gmail/All Mail' folder and once in the 'Gmail/Important' folder).

This is annoying because I have to open the same email 3 (once every copy of it) times to ensure that the notification icon doesn't signal three unread mails. So I have to always go to the 'Gmail/All Mail' and 'Gmail/Important' folders to mark folder as read every-time I get a new mail.

How can I remove the 'Gmail/All Mail' and 'Gmail/Important' folders in Thunderbird (obviously without deleting the content of 'Inbox')? Is this something that can be fixed from within Thunderbird, or do I have to change something on the webmail side?

Solution 1

The answers above no longer work for T'bird 68.10.0. The trick is to click on the account name -> Manage folder subscriptions -> select the folder you don't want and uncheck its box. The Important and All Mail folders are under [Gmail].

Even easier is to right click on the account name -> click on Subscribe..., then as above.

Solution 2

You can also tell gmail itself to not present the relevant folders to the IMAP user (thunderbird) at all. To do this, go to Gmail > Settings > Labels, find the relevant labels, and untick "Show in IMAP".

Solution 3

Unsubscribing the "important" folder can resolve the issue.

This can be done by right-clicking any folder in the inboxes panel and clicking "Subscribe...". That will load all folders Thunderbird is currently watching, and you can untick the box to unsubscribe from "Important".

You can find further information on imap folders and subscription in this superuser quesion: What does it mean to “subscribe” to an IMAP folder?

Comments

[fret]

Maybe this question can help: How do I get thunderbird to give notifications for only my inbox

[fret]

Did you consider unsubscribing the "important" folder? You can find further information here: superuser: What does it mean to “subscribe” to an IMAP folder?

[user2413]

@fret, it solved my problem. Can you turn these unto an answer?

[Lambart]

This helps (by hiding "Important"), but unfortunately it can't fix the worst problem: The "All Mail" folder. That can only be hidden via gmail's web interface (see D.J.Duff's answer).

[Lambart]

Yes! This is the best answer. I had to restart Thunderbird after hiding "All Mail" (and the other useless folders), but you just made my life much nicer.