Gmail IMAP: Read once, mark as read in all labels/folders?

Mail
1

For a Gmail IMAP account, for messages with multiple labels/folders (e.g. Inbox, CustomLabel1, CostomLabel2), is it possible to have the message marked as read in all labels/folders when it is read in one? This was the default behavior for Outlook, which I am considering transitioning from.

For example: Message arrives and Gmail filters automatically put it in the Inbox and apply CustomLabel1 and CustomLabel2. In eM Client, message appears in the folders for Inbox, CustomeLabel1 and CostomLabel2.

  • Desired behavior: Read message in any one folder (Inbox, CustomLabel1, OR CustomLabel2) and it is marked as read in all folders.
  • Current (apparent) behavior:  Read message in any one folder (Inbox, CustomLabel1, OR CustomLabel2) and it is marked as read in only that folder. Must manually mark the same message as read in all other folders. This is annoying and time consuming at best and, if not always executed perfectly, will create confusion over whether it has indeed been read or not.

A workaround would be to only have one label applied (e.g. skip inbox, apply only CusotmLabel1), but this limits functionality.

2

Hi, unfortunately this kind of behavior is actually caused by the gmail labelling system. As every message is assigned with it’s label and gmail labels are currently treated as folders, so the message automatically displays in all these folders. Unfortunately the labels are assigned on the server not in eM client so there’s currently not much we can do about this issie.

Thank you for understanding,
Paul.

3

Thanks for the reply, Paul. Unless I misunderstood, it doesn’t address my question though. It’s great that “every message is assigned with it’s label and gmail labels are currently treated as folders, so the message automatically displays in all these folders.”

If that’s the case, then the same message (Message A) is being displayed in multiple folders  (Inbox, CustomLabel1, and CustomLabel2) because it has multiple labels. That’s great.

But if I read Message A once in ANY of the folders, it has been read, and should thus be marked read as read in ALL folders where Message A appears.

The fact that that’s not happening seems like a bug.

If you are instead creating “ghost clone” messages, one for each label, that seems an odd implementation that would create problems like ambiguous read status, duplicate storage, etc.

Could you please clarify?

4

Hi, actually since the message is labeled it’s also being sent as 4messages with different identifiers, so the behavior you’re seeing is correct.
Unfortunately only solution to this would be stop using the labels, which I understand is not an option for your.

Thank you for understanding,
Paul.