Structure of Mac Mail

I am using the classic view of Mac Mail on Mavericks. I am a bit puzzled about the folder structure and I have searched but cannot find the answer.
Here is my current situation:
I have two email accounts plus iCloud - both working fine and they can be seen under Inbox/Sent/Junk etc.

Next down is Smart Mailboxes which I understand and don't need to use. Have clicked Hide but can still see it - would prefer not to.

On My Mac comes next and I understand that this is to store copies of messages locally on the Mac and that it does not syncronise in smtp.

Immediately under On My Mac is another set of folders for each of the two email addresses that I have. They each contain sent, spam and trash folders and they do synchronise with the server. I don't understand why there is another incidence of my two email addresses. In one of them there was a sent message that didn't appear in the sent folder at the top of the list. The whole list looks quite cluttered and I just want one set of folders for each email address. Can anyone advise please?

pbd said:

Immediately under On My Mac is another set of folders for each of the two email addresses that I have.

Click to expand...

That's how IMAP accounts are displayed - what you see there is what's on each of your IMAP servers.

The MAILBOXES section at the top of the left column represents the standard mailbox types. When each item is disclosed it displays the associated mailbox in each mail account.

"Hide" for SMART MAILBOXES (as well as any other section), just hides the individual items in the section, not the section itself. I believe if you delete any smart mailboxes that are there, the SMART MAILBOXES section will no longer display.

The ON MY MAC section, as you stated, shows mailboxes that exist only on your Mac.

Below that are each mail account with any mailboxes that are not represented in the top MAILBOXES section. Often you will find there is a lack of correspondence between "Deleted Messages" (a seemingly default Apple Mail name for deleted mail items) and "Trash" (the usual standard on non-iCloud IMAP accounts). The same goes for "Sent Messages" and "Sent".

To rid yourself of the lower mail account listings, you'll have to "associate" all its mailboxes. Select a mailbox in an account in this lower section. Choose the menu item Mailbox->Use This Mailbox As to associate it with a type in the MAILBOXES section. If you are able to associate all of the mailboxes in an account, its listing in the lower section should disappear. You may find it necessary to delete an unused mailbox from one or more of your accounts. If you need to combine mailboxes, just drag email items between them.

HTH

Smart mailboxes are so insanely useful I find it hard to imagine why someone would think they don't want any. Until VIP mailboxes came along I used Smart Mailboxes for exactly that -- email from certain select people I would want to see right away (and be notified as they came in on my iPhone or iPad).

Now I use Smart Mailboxes for things like Unread Still (unread mail I didn't respond to on the first day it arrived), Work emails (any emails from my co-workers -- my boss is of course a VIP), and "archive prep" that automatically adds all emails from (year) so that when I'm ready I can just select those emails, choose "archive" and done.

@ron4mac - thank you very much for explaining that. I have looked at it and it seems that you have to go down each folder (mailbox) within the account to link it to the top accounts. I apologise for going on about Windows, but I am still making the transition. In Live Mail I have four folders under Inbox and mail is sorted into those once read (including sent ones). This works well because at the end of each month I drag and drop them into their respective folders on my external media so that I have the archive and can delete them from Live Mail. It may seem convoluted to some but it has worked well for me and when I need to retrieve an email I know where to look. BTW I have it configured POP3.

I think I will have to leave the two accounts at the bottom as they are because when I added these four mailboxes they appeared in that section, not at the top. As I see it I could recreate this system using Smart Mailbox (thank chas_m for your advice about that) but the mailboxes will not be synchronized. I could also do the same using On My Mac but again when they are moved into there they will not be synchronized. I am using smtp with MacMail and I would like to continue with this as it is a backup if ever I cannot get into my Mac. At least I now have a better understanding of the structure so thank you for helping me.