MacOS – I have over 50,000 emails. How to make the Mail app go faster

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I have the macOS Mail app set up with my Google Gmail account using the IMAP integration. I have over 50,000 emails in my Gmail account, and the Mail application is starting to get a bit slow. For example, it takes several seconds to be able to open an email.

What are my options? I want to continue using macOS Mail, but I don't necessarily need access to all historical messages because I can log into the Gmail website for that.

I'm using Mail Version 13.4 (3608.80.23.2.2) on macOS Catalina 10.15.4 (19E287).

Best Answer

I would start by deleting the account and then recreating it. However, before you do, make sure you set the "Download Attachments" option in the Account Settings

You have three options:

  • All - automatically downloads all attachments
  • Recent - mail from the past 15 months.
  • None - you have to manually download attachments.

So, as you're recreating your GMail account, select "Recent" or "None." Then, as it synchronizes with your email account, it will only download the attachments that fit those rules.

Account Information Tab

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