LyteByte

Gmail lets you to view the same email in multiple locations or rather it stores in one place and uses tags to recall in different folder. But when you use IMAP to access Gmail in Outlook, each of these mails are stored in multiple locations, for example in the Inbox, the label folder you applied and in the All Mails folder. This means you are unnecessarily storing the same email in multiple places and wasting memory space. Each mail is stored at least in two places so potentially you can reduce the Gmail memory space in outlook by 50%

What do I do usually?

I like a clean inbox! So I organize all my mails in tags which are equivalent of Folders in Outlook.

Some rules I follow:

1. I don’t apply more than one tag or label to any mail. So each mail is in only one folder when you view in Outlook. I still wish there is a way to allow nested folders like feature when you use Gmail IMAP but that is a totally different story.
2. When a tag is applied it means, i move the mail to that folder and so it is not in Inbox folder.
3. My Inbox folder has only mails that I am currently working on and which cannot be categorized in the folders that I have.
4. If there is a mail in Inbox, which I am not working on it anymore and if it doesn’t fit in any of the folders or I don’t want to delete it permanently, I move it a folder called Arhive. (This is a self-made explicit folder called Arhive, not the Gmail archive feature). Gmail doesn’t let you create a folder called Archive.

Now it’s time to tune the Outlook to reduce the Gmail space.

Since you already have all the mails in at least one of the folders, it is redundant to have the All Mails folder subscribed in IMAP.

So how to unsubscribe Gmail’s All Mail IMAP folder in Outlook?

Right click the Gmail main folder and click on Data File Properties.

From the General tab, choose the Folder Size.

Here you can see the total size of gmail .pst in Outlook before tuning.

Now right click on the Gmail main folder and click on IMAP Folders.

Enter All Mail and click on Query. It will come in the results, choose it and click Unsubscribe.

Now if you go back and check the folder size of the gmail .pst, you can see how much it has reduced after removing the All Mails folder.

You can also remove other folders like Spam and Starred if you like.

This method helps you to keep your Gmail memory space in outlook to an optimum level and helps in better management.

What other tips that you follow for better management of Gmail in Outlook, let us know your suggestions in the comments.