MacOS – Adding an IMAP account without saving emails locally in Mail 7.0

data synchronizationimapmacosmail.app

I want to add an IMAP-account to Mail.
Since I've used this account for many years, it contains thousands of emails and archive folders, and I really don't want to fill up my SSD with that.

I couldn't find a way to limit synchronization to a certain time frame or specific folders (I guess that's not really the concept of IMAP).

I found out that there used to be a "Don't keep copies of any messages" checkbox in Mail's preferences, so emails would not be stored locally.
I would be completely satisfied with this solution, however, in Mail 7.0 this option was removed (which I don't understand, seems like such a basic function to me).

Does anybody have a solution for this?

Suggestions for alternative software are welcome as well (in case there's really no way to use Apple Mail without downloading my entire mail history).

Best Answer

Please check this question.

One way to save space is to exclude attachments from download. I think you have to uncheck: Account->Advanced->Automatically download all attachments