Gmail Rolls Out Advanced IMAP Controls

If you use IMAP to pull mail from your Gmail account (and as we've noted before, you should), you'll want to check out the new Advanced IMAP Controls. Available in Google Labs (meaning technically it's an experimental feature), this handy addition lets you specify which Gmail folders you want to sync with your mail client.

For example, you may want to sync only your Inbox and Sent Mail folders, leaving stuff like All Mail (which gets huge and can really bog down a mail client), Spam, and Trash to the Web.

To take advantage of this option, sign into your Gmail account, click Settings > Labs, then scroll down to Advanced IMAP Controls and hit Enable. Then click the Labels tab, where you'll find a new "Show in IMAP" checkbox next to each label. Uncheck the ones you don't want to sync and the corresponding folder will disappear from your mail client. (Don't worry, the data's still there -- but now you have to access it on the Web.) This may seem like a minor deal, but to me it's a huge improvement. [via The Official Gmail Blog]