Gmail ... IMAP ... Mac Mail.app ... Mavericks ... SOLUTION -1

Question

hi all,
hopefully this will give you enuff info to figure out what to do (if anything), but i urge you to read thru the links below to see if you are experiencing the same issues or not, & if so, what to do about them.
THE BACKGROUND INFO:
i've been using the Mac's Mail.app pretty exclusively since its inception, and with Gmail's IMAP option since mid-2009. the settings have always stayed & worked well...
• on Gmail.com > Settings > Forwarding & POP/IMAP >
    - IMAP Enabled
    - Auto-Expunge Off
    - Move Deleted Messages to the Trash
    - Folder Size Not Limited
• also on Gmail.com > Settings > Labels >
    - Only the Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Spam, & Trash System Labels CHECKED to "Show in IMAP"
• then in the Mail.app > Preferences > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors >
    - i had everything CHECKED & all the dropdown options set to "One Month Old"
      --note: a year or so ago, i had to UNcheck the option to Store Drafts on server due to a hideous multiplication of draft messages showing up in the Trash
• also in Mail.app > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced >
    - the IMAP Path Prefix was always "[Gmail]" to allow folders to show properly in the Mail.app
• and lastly in Mail.app >
    - made sure the Sent, Drafts, Spam, & Trash folders/labels were properly mapped via the Mailbox menu > "Use This Mailbox For" option
...and i've always kept 'local' mailbox folders for archiving old emails in the "On My Mac" section in addition to keeping more current emails for reference in the "Gmail" section.
THE INITIAL PROBLEM:
after upgrading my Mac to Mavericks OS 10.9, i started noticing that any email i would delete or move from my inbox kept re-appearing in my inbox after changing views (like going to another mailbox then back to the inbox).
of course this drove my OCD crazy, & thus began the research. i've read a LOT about this issue from official sources to user discussions and have pieced together a procedure that seems to be working (for the most part) for me.
THE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
a lot of people, tek/industry people, & blogs are pointing to these webpages as good summaries of issues & fixes (yes, there are SO many more, but i personally found these to be the most helpful in my quest)...
          http://tidbits.com/article/14219
          http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/10/mavericks-issues-and-fixes/?viewall=true
          http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1222267
          http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/making-gmail-and-os-x-mavericks-mail-play -well-together
THE DISCLAIMER:
of course, if you aren't greatly affected by the Mail/Gmail wonkiness, then it might be worth waiting another week or two (or 3 or 4...) & keep your eyes on further reports from these sites (links above or others you may like better) in case Apple &/or Google pushes an update to remedy the situation. likewise, if you do make these changes, it would still be a good idea (imho) to keep up'to'date in case such pushes do come out & affect these changes too. ugh ;-)
THE OUTCOME:
the below process, for me, has been SUCCESSFUL in every aspect except one...
THE LAST PROBLEM:
whenever i move a message from the gmail inbox (or any other gmail imap folder/label) to a local folder in the "On My Mac" section, it moves it just fine, but then it keeps a copy in the gmail "All Mail" folder/label, when i would want it deleted from gmail.
unlike when i "delete" a message, where gmail appropriately moves that message to the trash box, in this situation it simply strips the message of "any" label, and thusly it stays in the All Mail. so if anybody can amend this with a fix for that, we should be all set :-)
but aside from that last issue, the below procedure has brought back my Mail.app program to use Gmail as "I" believe it normally should work, and has always worked pre-Mavericks.
THE PROCEDURE (assuming all your settings are set like mine were as listed above):
go to gmail.com in Safari (or other web browser) > Log in > Settings > Labels > and check "Show in IMAP" for the "All Mail" system label (which was previously a no-no, but now a yes-yes).
also on that same page, you will need to UNcheck the "Show in IMAP" option for Drafts. and then slide over and for BOTH the Drafts & Spam labels, click the "show if unread" options.
then go to each & every one of your custom "Labels" (you know them as Mailbox Folders). they will all start with "[Gmail]/foldername". click on each and remove the "[Gmail]/" leaving ONLY your custom folder name.
once done, click on your Inbox to get you out of the settings area.
now you will need to go thru ALL of your folders/labels (i know... big ugh!) to fix the labels attached to all the emails inside them ;-)
click a folder/label to reveal all the emails inside it.
click the checkbox in the header row of buttons/options that will cause all emails on that page to be selected/checked.
then, IF you have more emails than what fits on that page (in other words, if you have more than one page of emails in this folder as indicated by the "1-###" and page arrow buttons at the top right), then you will see a new small row that sits above the list of emails that says "All ### conversations on this page are selected. Select all ### conversations in "Folder/Label Name" - you WILL NEED TO CLICK this text link!!!
once you have, the sentence will change to "All ### conversations in "FolderName" are selected" - do NOT click the "Clear selection" link next to that.
next, click on the "Label As..." button in the header row of button/options - the icon looks like a price tag of sorts.
then in the resulting popup box that lists all your folders/labels, you will want to make sure ALL checkboxes are UNchecked EXCEPT the single folder/label that these emails are in. note: some of them may or may not have dashes instead of checkmarks in the boxes - you will need to click it to check it and then click it again to get it UNchecked & UNdashed.
after you've got only the one label checked that should be checked, then click the APPLY word at the bottom of that little popup box. note: if all the selected emails are labled correctly, then you won't see the "Apply" option & you can simply move on to the next folder.
if you get a dialog confirmation box pop up asking if you are sure you want to continue... click OK.
then WAIT! this may take a while depending on how many emails it's affecting and how fast/reliable your internet speed/connection is. when you see the "Loading..." notification at the very top of the page change to "All conversations have been removed from (and it lists them all)", then you can move on & do that same procedure (steps 5-13) to fix another folder/label.
WHEN DONE WITH ALL THAT, you can exit your browser.
now go to the Mail.app > Mail menu > Preferences > Accounts > Advanced > and remove the "[Gmail]" text from the "IMAP Path Prefix" field.
then go to the Mail.app > Mail menu > Preferences > Accounts > Mailbox Behaviors tab and if the Store Drafts on Server option is checked, UNcheck it.
then close the Mail.app Preferences window to get the option to SAVE that change!
now go to the Mailbox Menu > Synchronize > Gmail, in case it hasn't started doing that on its own.
then open the Window Menu > Activity, so you can see when it's done synchronizing. this may take a while if you've got a lot of mail. according to some, it took a day! so, just kick back & leave it alone till then.
THE END FOR NOW:
hopefully this helps other folks that were setup like me & want to keep it working that way. and yeah, again, if anybody knows how to fix the last problem described above, please let us know.
.peace.:.jason.

Answer 1

hi Dean Suhr,
i just went back & re-read my posts... i find no where that i said anything about dragging emails into the ALL MAIL folder. i mentioned the issues with dragging messages into "any other folder that i've created" from either the INBOX or "any other folder that i've created".  it copies instead of moves the message. but ONLY Mac Mail does this. the iOS Mail app does NOT do this - it moves as it should move.
as far as what you said "who cares what Gmail says the labels are"... well... I do :-)
there are occasions where i need to utilize the web browser gmail interface, and i want it to be correctly synced.
i don't think it's unreasonable to want that, as that's how it's been for YEARS, till now, AND that's how it still is with iOS 7.
besides, what happens if i get a different device/computer and need to add the same account - i imagine it will not sync up correctly if gmail has labels on messages that it shouldn't.
fortunately for me, i don't have quite as many messages & accounts as you; it only takes aprox 30 minutes for mail to sync up after i started over with it.
.peace.:.jason.