Gmail keeps all of your emails in the 'All Mail' folder. That includes emails you receive, send and archive.

Gmail knows that it is totally alien and useless to only allow users to see emails all in one 'All Mail' folder. So, they created the idea of applying a type of tag which they call a 'Label' and this 'Label' allows that email to appear in a more conventional way in Folder form. If email has Label 'Inbox' then let email appear in the 'Inbox'. It does mean you can apply more than one 'Label' and have that same email turn up in various folders like 'Inbox' and 'Important'.

When you delete an email, you need to make sure you are putting that email into the gmail server 'Trash' folder, which may be called 'Bin' for some people. Gmail will then periodically empty the 'Trash'; usually every 30 days, thus allowing time for you to rescue that email if deleted in error. When gmail empties the Trash - or you force the 'Trash' to be emptied, the original is also deleted from the 'All Mail' folder.

If you delete the email and do not put it into the gmail server 'Trash' folder, then you are only deleting the 'Label' that is applied to the original email, so the original email in the 'All Mail' folder still exists as an archived email with no labels.

For imap accounts this means making sure you have set up 'Account Settings' > 'Server Settings' for the gmail account: When I delete a message: Select 'Move it to this folder' and select the 'Trash on gmail account'

If you use 'Shift + Delete' then you are just removing the Label. The email is deleted from the folder eg: Inbox because the 'Inbox' label is removed by gmail and it does not get into the gmail 'Trash', so will still lurk in the 'All Mail' folder.

Pop accounts do not synchronise with server folders and so it is impossible to delete and place the email in the server 'Trash' folder. This means, the user should periodically logon to the webmail account and delete those 'deleted' emails from the 'All Mail' folder. Then they are gone.

If you delete emails from the 'All Mail' folder, then the original email will no longer exist.

So if you emptied the 'All Mail' folder, you would no longer see any emails in any folders because you deleted them.

Thank you for your careful reply Toad-Hall. Appreciated. However, I do not claim to understand your first reply in full as I am not very tech-savvy. I understand most of what you say. Next question which you may feel you have already answered: do I just allow All Mail to get fuller and fuller and not worry about how much space it is taking up on my laptop capacity? What do you suggest? (I don't understand the term webmail site) Thanks, Ann

What is Webmail. Your gmail webmail account is how you would access gmail directly to see emails held in your email account on the gmail server. To access the gmail webmail account, you would use a browser like 'Mozilla Firefox' or 'Microsoft Edge' To logon, you would be asked for your gmail email address and the password. Good info here:

• https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8494?co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop&hl=en

Bless you Toad-Hall. Ann with thanks

Q: do I just allow All Mail to get fuller and fuller and not worry about how much space it is taking up on my laptop capacity?

No. You do need to get something organised. As you are using IMAP, Thunderbird connects to the gmail server and each folder will display exactly the same as on the server. This means each folder you see in Thunderbird gmail account is synchronising with the folders on the server, Thunderbird can only show what is on the server. Basically, the folders you see in Thunderbird gmail account are one and the same as shown on the server which you can access via webmail.

To see a folder on the server and synchronise with it, the gmail account has to be 'subscribed' to see that folder. There are basic system folders that you need to see eg: Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts, Trash, Spam. The 'All Mail' folder is a complete duplication of everything in all those folders, so really you do not need to see it. That does not mean you delete the 'All Mail' folder, it means you unsubscribe from seeing it. It will still be on the server, but not visible in Thunderbird.

But if emails that you delete are not going to the gmail trash folder then nothing is ever being properly deleted from the 'All Mail' folder. If it keeps growing in size, in the end, you will reach a quota limit. Gmail allows you to keep alot of emails on the server, but ultimately there is a limit - a quota - you are allowed. If you reach that quota limit then you will not be able to receive new emails until you delete some. That means properly delete, they must be deleted from the 'All Mail' folder. So, it makes sense to delete those emails when you choose to delete them, so the problem never happens.

At this point I do not know what is set up in your account.

So can you provide the following information. How do you delete an email? Do you select the email so you can see the contents and then click on the 'Delete' button? Or another method? Tell me exactly how you do it.

When you delete an email from the Inbox, does that deleted email appear in the gmail account Trash folder? OR does the email just get a line like a strikethrough the Subject? OR does it completely disappear?

Right click on the gmail mail account name folder in Folder Pane and select 'Settings' This will show you the 'Account Settings' Select 'Server Settings' When I delete a message: What have got selected? 'Move it to this folder' ? 'Just mark it as deleted' ?'Remove it immediately' ? You need to select: 'Move it to this folder' Then you need to select the correct folder - 'Trash on gmail email address'

Tell me what you have got selected and whether you needed to change to the advised setting.