To clarify, yes, emails are still saved to your computer if you are using IMAP. See The difference between IMAP and POP3.

The main difference between IMAP over POP3 is that IMAP keeps the email on Gmail, but POP3 will download the email to your computer and then delete the copy from Gmail. Therefore, when connecting multiple computers to IMAP, all computers will gets the copies of the same emails. When using POP3, only the first computer to connect will get a copy of the emails.

That's frustrating, I have been looking for a Unified inbox solution. The best so far has been Mailbird but it's a paid product. I'm possibly willing to pay for it, it's really that good, but funds have other priorities at the moment.

Thunderbird is great but I prefer to avoid inbox downloading as that's what Gmail (and other) servers are for.

re :To clarify, yes, emails are still saved to your computer if you are using IMAP

That is not entirely correct as it depends upon your settings. Even if you do choose to download full copies, you should remember that those folders constantly synchronise with server to show what is on server and therefore cannot be relied upon as a backup.

BluBor....Thunderbird has everything you need, but you need to understand the variety of options and set them up to suit your requirements.

Imap accounts can select to only download 'Headers' and when you select to read an email, it is downloaded to a temp cache to faciliate viewing. OR you can select to download full copies which are stored within the profile meaning you can read emails in offline mode or make a backup of emails.

Please read this info for general understanding: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization

Further down the same link as above is a section...: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization#w_configuring-synchronization-and-disk-space-usage

• To stop fully downloading emails into Thunderbird profile and only download headers

You would need to uncheck the option 'Keep messages for this account on this computer'. Then click on 'Advanced..' button to only select any folder you actually want to download full copies. Uncheck everything if you do not want to fully download everything.

• Another option to limit what is saved in profile:

You could select to download full copies, but only keep a limited number on your computer. This is set up in the disk space settings area. You may only want to keep full copies for the last 3 months, but keep headers for everything else. Note: To keep this under control, you must remember to compact folders on a regular basis. You can auto set up to 'expunge' the Inbox on Exit if you selected to download only for the Inbox folder for xx days worth.

Unified folder view: Menu app icon > 'View' > 'Folders' > 'Unified'

re :, but POP3 will download the email to your computer and then delete the copy from Gmail.

If you use gmail and POP and want to download emails on multiple email clients................ If you need to use POP instead of IMAP, set up 'Recent mode'. Recent mode shows your last 30 days of emails from Gmail so you can get access from more than one pop account. If you download to eg: desktop and Laptop, then you can be assured you now have two full copies, any of which can be used as a backup in itself or used to create a third copy stored externally. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7104828?hl=en-GB

However, POP accounts do download and store emails on computer in your profile and no pop mail account folder actually synchronises with the server, so deleting emails off server does not effect any Pop mail account folder.

IMAP generally suits many people and can be a better option when it comes to Gmail.

If you delete an email using an imap account, or phone that access server or via webmail account, then email is deleted off server and will be auto deleted from all imap accounts because they only show what is on server. Basically, imap account folders and server folders are one and the same.

If you want to have more than one copy that only exists on the server, then you would need to get full copies downloaded so you can create a copy of the profile and therefore a backup of emails that are unrelated to the server.

Note: Gmail also has a quirk when it comes to deleting. If you delete an email in gmail Imap account you must make sure it goes into the gmail imap 'Trash' folder in order to get fully deleted. Otherwise it just deletes the label and archives the message in the 'All Mail' folder and you can discover your server quota is not decreasing after deleting.