*SHOCKED* Found OLD pics in "all images" folder!

Hello,

This is my first Mac, never really worked on them so just getting use to the small differences after years on pc's. So far so good i think.

However, I was simply *SHOCED* at what i discovered this morning, i just got it last night.

Besides checking my email last night and a bit of web browsing I didn't do anything on it. This morning I poked around and checked under "finder" the "all images" folder and much to my surprise and horror I found super old pictures there. They were all either pics i emailed to people at one time or another or they emailed me. I use google email. They are NOT in any of my gmail folders as i compulsively delete everything out of my gmail.

Holly sh*t! Where did they come from? How to get rid of them (permanently!) not just deleting from that folder. And, how not to have this happen again?

I looked at the pathway at the bottom of that folder and it was quite long but it said something about "imap.google...". Does that mean they are on the google server? I tried to contact google via phone and email to NO avail.

I don't want this to ever happen again. Help? TIA, Peter

if it says imap....that means they are Google's servers somewhere....

Do you delete your trash in gmail? Yes, it is hard to really get rid of stuff in google-land. Go through their privacy settings and you can find some help. You will not get a reply from help, in my experience.

Lesson learned....if you're sending or receiving "sensitive" stuff use a more "secure" or separate means. Google is hard to "lock down." The have the "search-able and accessible forever is best" philosophy.

Look under "dashboard" in your account settings....

What do I look for and what do I do once I find "it"?
Ok, so google has those images and will not get rid of them. OK. How do I prevent them from magically appearing in my "all images" folder.

This is just great.... hypothetically speaking, it would not be cool if a new gf found pics of a gf from years ago in those pics!

If you are seeing these pics in you all images file then they are still in your email some where. Open your mail app go to all mail and delete the emails from there then check all you archive boxes and delete them from those then after you have deleted them from where ever you have stored them them empty your mail trash and they are gone.

Let me know if you have any questions
Clay

Clay, trust me, they are NOT in my email anywhere. I am waaay too anal about cleaning it out.

Ok I trust that you have cleaned them out but do me a favor and go to gmail online and check all the boxes especialy the all mail box and let me know what you find there ?

Clay

and remember with imap they could very well be in several places and dont forget the sent box ( has gotten me before)

Clay

Clay, broham.... unbelieavable! There were emails with pics there from '08! K, so once I clean that folder they're gone??

Why did this happen in the first place? And, will it just keep happening as long as I have pics anywhere in my Gmail? Whatever happened to privacy and discretion?

LOL welcome to GMAIL ! Ok so if they are now gone from there its time to go to your home folder on your Mac go to Libary/mail/imap and just keep following the tree and you will find where OS X has stored all this stuff. Every time you see a mail box open it you will see a text file and a message folder....open the folder and you will see those same attachments in these boxes....clean them out. I am going to see if onyx will get rid of them now that I have cleaned out gmail online and ill let you know.

Clay

Excuse my ignorance, "home" folder? And that is where? TY.
Also, will I have to KEEP doing this everytime i get or send pics in my email? Besides cleaning gmail, going in the imap thing you just described and cleaning them out of there? And, deleting out of the "all image" folder? You've got to be kidding me! If thats the case, is there an email provider that is private and discreet so I don't have to deal with any of this stuff? Ridiculous. Lemme know what cha find out and thanks for all the help!

Open finder from your dock/click on the little house on the left /go to library / mail / imap.

As for the rest let me experiment with some server settings and viewing off line settings to see what we can do . In the mean time perhaps someone will come along with better answers.....

And yes once you cleaned the online folders they are gone from your email and wont be downloaded again now we just have to stop this from happening in the future. Of course an easy way would be to have a seperatte email account that is not set up on your Mac but only checked online....

Clay

Muchos gracias senior.

Ok status update : go to your mail app / preferences /accounts/ advanced / keep copies for offline viewing and select omit attachments

This will still keep your emails but not the attachments but you could select dont keep any and that should take care of things on this end ...now for the gmail settings online...


Also make sure that after you cleaned the all mail box on line that you then delete forever the on line trash...

Clay

OK, thanks.... I'll do all that now. So if I choose don't keep any, they will not be on my mac but still online? also, sorry, how do i go to my "mail app"?

correct they will still be online. As for your mail app it is in your apps folder or dock ( i don't remember if it was in my dock from the start ) Also how did you check your email last night ? Also just a hunch that I cant prove but even thought I had IMAP enabled on line I didn't disable pop and I wonder if that had something to do with all the crap I found on mine while helping you with this....

Ok heres what I have ....going to gmail online and doing all we have talked about ( will take some incoming mail for me to test the changes) including disabling pop .

On my Mac mail prefs / accounts / advanced / do not keep attachments ( i may try don't keep any and see how I like it)

going to home/users/library/mail/imap/gmail and opening each and every box and moving the contents of the messages folder AND THE ATTACHMENTS folder to the trash ( 9700 items for me ) I now only have my pics and album / movie art in the all images folder !

So now to find out if the changes will stop this from happening again , I am sure someone smarter then I will come up with a better faster ( script/ automator ) way to do this but.....

I hope I have been of some help to you and others

Clay

Clay, you're the man. how many freaking places can they duplicate this info, right?

Before I read your last msg, instead of opening each folder (which I started to do) I just selected all the "imap" boxes except the inbox, trash and other important ones and just deleted all of it. Hope its gone?

Then I did again, per your instructions and in advanced set to "not remember or save anything". Do you think if from now on we'll get an attachment and/or text it will still be there??

Thanks for all the help.

PS, do I need to disable "pop"? If so, how?? Thanks again.

Well I haven't selected don't save anything yet so I just check and I have received 3 emails from this forum and they are in the box under finder so i guess if you select save nothing they shouldn't show up but I shall change it now to make sure.