The All Mail Folder - Can I delete without losing my Folders and Emails within?

Question

Hello Support Gang. I have a boring but subtle problem. I use folders and move emails from my inbox to particular folders (categories) within my gmail. What I was wondering is if I can delete all the contents of the All Mail Folder? If I have moved everything over to folders that I have created, would that matter? Any Suggestions? Ideas? Thanks for any attention to this post!

icantchooseone · Accepted Answer

no - gmail doesnt have folders
 
   gmail only has 1 copy of each email and it is only in one place no matter how many labels it has so if you delete it from one view you are deleting the one and only copy of that email   also note - if you have conversation view on  it affects how you delete emails - if you get a reply to a sent email  , OR you reply to a received email and you delete the email or the reply   - they will both be deleted unless you pull down the arrow on the right of the email you want to delete and select delete this message ( or turn conversation view off in gmails settings  )   To delete a specific message from a conversation thread, click the down arrow next to Reply and choose Delete this message. 
see http://gmail-miscellany.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-gmail-stores-your-mail.html   and http://gmail-tips.blogspot.com/2013/05/managing-sent-mail.html

icantchooseone · Accepted Answer

Gmail help  reference on deleting mail >> https://support.google.com/mail/answer/7401?hl=en

before you delete i suggest you read this http://gmail-miscellany.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-gmail-stores-your-mail.html  because gmail only has 1 copy of each email and it is only in one place no matter how many labels it has so if you delete it from one view you are deleting the one and only copy of that email  
 
also note - if you have conversation view on  it affects how you delete emails - if you get a reply to a sent email  , OR you reply to a received email and you delete the email or the reply   - they will both be deleted unless you pull down the arrow on the right of the email you want to delete and select delete this message ( or turn conversation view off in gmails settings >> click the  gear  picture in gmail > settings >  in the general category turn conversation view off > save  http://support.google.com/mail/answer/5900?hl=en )

to select multiple mail   ( see image below - it may take a few seconds to load  )    
	
Open the label (or, your Inbox, or Sent Mail, etc) containing the messages you'd like to select.
	
Click the Select: All link above your messages.
	
Click the link that says Select all [number] conversations in [current view].
	
Select the action you'd like to do 
  to search eg by date / sender etc if you need to delete or move or action certain mail only  see Using advanced search   ​    
     if the image is too small click here >> https://17897260011935924126.googlegroups.com/attach/3eaa58ba764a7/select%20all.png?part=0.1&view=1&vt=ANaJVrGU2qdscKPSEDENxhoqTqrZQ0tVidX6T5F43VUBzXJhDEGN5X4B-J1hbeHxSahGy295W2Om2cIflW2BXTyN5jo57X8j_cSysn2FKy_JX5G8I8-wiAU

icantchooseone · Accepted Answer

welcome and they are called labels not categories