Why does everything go into All Mail?

Because it’s all your mail. :)

The whole point of the folder is that it’s everything. Why do you want to alter the behavior?

Well said! I’ve always just thought of it as mail that I want because the only stuff that goes in there is when I click Archive. I also felt dumb as I read your comments and then looked at my wording of the question: Why does everything go into All Mail? It’s all coming together now….

“Archive” is the most inappropriately named feature of Gmail. ALL mail is archived instantly, as soon as it arrives. The button that says “Archive” should actually be named “Remove from Inbox”, as that’s all it does.

@MrItty
Archive is more concise, though. I would agree with you if “All Mail” were labeled “Archive.” Since it’s not, I don’t see much point. It’s not that hard for people to learn that Archive means that it’s removed from the Inbox. It is being archived when that button is clicked—there’s just no Archive view. Instead, it’s replaced with a view that shows the archive along with everything else.

You have the option of using an external Mail application for GMail. I recommend Thunderbird by the Mozilla folks. It’s really well made, runs with fewer resources than anything that Apple or Microsoft makes, and has better features which integrate with the Web, making it more than just a mail application.

OK, off my soapbox for Thunderbird now.

To do this, click the Settings link in your GMail page (upper right-hand corner of the window).

In the Settings page, look at the top for the Forwarding and POP/IMAP link and click that.

Go down to the third section and Enable IMAP.

Then click the Configuration instructions link to complete the setup.

POP is nice, but it tends to do weird things, like put your sent items in the Inbox for your e-mail application, which is really annoying and I believe the type of thing you are attempting to avoid here.

Now you can manage your mail as you wish; create folders, subfolders, categories, filters…whatever you want!

aide, no, it is not being archived when you hit the button. That’s my point. It is already archived the instant it’s received.

@MrItty
I know that’s your point. I’m disagreeing with your point.

I repeat: There is no Archive view. Only an All Mail view. Therefore, there’s no reason to say that the mail is not being archived. For an email to be archived, it would be moved out of the Inbox and into the Archive. We can see that the email is moved out of the Inbox, but there is no visible Archive.

Archive:
-noun
[...]
3. any extensive record or collection of data: The encyclopedia is an archive of world history. The experience was sealed in the archive of her memory.
–verb (used with object)
4. to place or store in an archive: to vote on archiving the city’s historic documents.

Every piece of mail received by GMail is stored in the archive instantly. Whether or not it’s also in your Inbox is irrelevant. The only thing that the button GMail has labeled “Archive” does is remove it from the Inbox. It is already archived. THAT is the reason to say the mail is not being archived, because it’s not.

How can it be stored in the archive when there is no archive?

This is quite possible the most pointless discussion I’ve ever had online.

The whole thing is the archive.

me too. I’m bored.

That is the funniest end of a debate I’ve ever seen.

Glad I can help amuse you. :-)

A rose by any other name…c’mon, does it matter as long as you know where it is and how to get there?

because gmail has a LAME implementation of imap