Wish you could get the newest mail, move and label messages, see all folders and still not have to deal with hundreds of thousands of emails on the desktop when the Gmail archive is but a browser tab away?
Gmail does offer a way to limit the number of messages it shows to your email program in each folder. This can make synchronizing faster and your desktop email leaner while all the latest mail is still available.
Make Gmail IMAP Faster with Less Email Traffic
To limit the number of messages visible per folder in Gmail IMAP so your email program has less to download, cache and keep in sync:
- Click the gear in your Gmail's top right corner.
- Select Mail settings from the menu that comes up.
- Go to the Forwarding and POP/IMAP tab.
- Make sure Limit IMAP folders to contain no more than this many messages is selected under Folder Size Limits.
- Pick a desired number of messages to show in email programs; Gmail will pick the most recent 1000, 5000 or 10,000 messages, for example.
- Click Save Changes.
You can also pick the labels and folders your email program sees.
(Updated September 2011)
