LeviFig.net » Apple Mail + IMAP + To-Do’s

Apple Mail + IMAP + To-Do’s

Blogged on November 21, 2008 at 13:21

This post is more for personal reference than anything, but I’m sure someone else will find this useful. (I read/learned it here originally)

If, like me, you’re using Apple’s Mail (love it!) and use IMAP (e.g. hosted, GMail, etc…) you might find *really* annoying those automatic “Apple Mail To Do” folders that keep getting created under your INBOX… After much research I found that there is no way of disabling the To Do system on Mail (dumb because I’ve never used it and never will — Things FTW). The best workaround involves limiting the creation of those folders to just your client, not getting written to the server. For that to happen, just go to Preferences > Composing on your Mail.app. There, on “Create Notes & To-Do’s in” choose “On My Mac”. Here’s a screenshot:

So, hope this helps someone else avoid a stupid annoyance! And hope Apple allows us to DISABLE To-Dos in Mail in Snow Leopard. ;)

EDIT: Added the link for the iPhone screenshot of all the “Apple Mail To Do” folders under the Inbox.

Tag(s):annoying, apple, bug, gmail, imap, leopard, mail, osx, todo

Joel said,

November 21, 2008 @ 15:44
Using Mozilla Firefox 3.0.4 on Mac OS X

What I hate about Mail is its inferior conversation format. That’s what makes Gmail great (plus archiving/searching). Mail’s interface is too much like Outlook to be appealing to me.

Levi Figueira said,

November 21, 2008 @ 16:21
Using Safari 525.26.12 on Mac OS X

I understand… But I don’t agree! :) I dislike the conversation format! For me, Mail’s ability to highlight messages within the same conversation without bundling them up is actually a plus!! But I understand why people like it!

As to archiving/searching that’s not a mail client issue! I do exactly the same with my Mail.app: few folders for very specific stuff (e.g. financial, registrations, iTS stuff, etc…) and then a HUGE “Archive” folder (over 20k right now) with a few smart folders for it. Then, every year, I move the previous’ year archive into a “yearly” folder under the main “Archive” (e.g. 2006, 2007, etc…). In Mail, the search is SOO fast it’s incredible! Plus I use IMAP so everything I have is synced up everywhere AND… it’s my own server, my own settings, my own everything! :)

But hey: GMail is pretty great! I’ve had since day 1 and still use an account there quite frequently (including a pretty active GTalk account ;)).

Thanks for your comment too, Joel! ;)

Rafael said,

December 16, 2008 @ 15:21
Using Mozilla Firefox 3.0.4 on Mac OS X

That feature is not such a bid deal. But I found a rather stupid problem in Mial:
I want to change my POP emails to IMAP. There is no short cut to just change that!! I have to delete all the POP and the emails in the folder, then create a new account IMAP. Then I can’t find my emails anymore anywhere. Talking about stupid, this is one the finest I ever seen, bravo Apple.

Levi Figueira said,

December 17, 2008 @ 08:00
Using Mozilla Firefox 3.1b2 on Mac OS X

@Rafael
I hear ya! Once upon a time, when switching mail hosts (IMAP), Mail.app duplicated my mails to craaazzy numbers in a way that my account became unusable! :/ This was with Mail.app on Tiger, and IMAP handling is much better on Leopard, but still…

But anyway, your problem is very strange… The POP>IMAP change should be at the server level and in how it “provides” the service. Most hosts allow both POP and IMAP at the same time even, making any migrations really easy, making you just move the POP files (locally) to “under” your IMAP Inbox! If you were switching hosts at the same time, it would be even easier, just having you set up both accounts on your mail client and drag-n-drop your messages from one to the other.

By the way, deleting mails on a POP3 account means deleting your emails from your machine. POP just provides an Inbox at the server level (unlike IMAP where all your folders are on the server). If you deleted any messages you deleted them from your machine…

Not sure what happened there, but I know how it sucks because with that multiplication of messages I once had I lost all my messages (several years’ worth)… :(

Bottom line: backups! :/

Eduardo said,

January 14, 2009 @ 11:27
Using Safari 525.27.1 on Mac OS X

Thanks, this help-me a lot :)

levifig said,

January 15, 2009 @ 12:03
Using Safari 525.27.1 on Mac OS X

No problem… Glad it worked for you!
For some reason, it's not working for me anymore… grrr :/ Back to the tons of INBOX folders under my Inbox… At least not as frequently (I think!).

dddd said,

January 16, 2009 @ 03:48
Using Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5 on Mac OS X

this doesn't work. apple mail will create that folder no matter what. it's a bug.

levifig said,

January 16, 2009 @ 15:38
Using Safari 525.27.1 on Mac OS X

I've been coming to that sad realization… :(
It's happening way less often on mine though.. I'll update the post though!

Thanks for your input :)

Marcel Schmitz said,

January 20, 2009 @ 23:05
Using Mozilla Firefox 3.0.5 on Mac OS X

Good tip!

Padipo said,

March 20, 2009 @ 09:05
Using Mozilla Firefox 3.0 on Mac OS X

Perfect!
I was going crazy on that problem…
Thanks

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