Mail and IMAP driving me mad! Is there a setup guide anywhere???

Question

I am attempting to move over to using Apple's 'Mail' as an e-mail client instead of Microsoft Entourage, this is to start using the iCal and Address book apps as much as anything else, also starting to sync my Palm to these apps as well, perhapps to be ready for the iPhone!!
Mail seems to be a very confusing programme - and I've been using e-mail for more years than I can remember. It reminds me of trying to use Word - too helpful for its own good!
My old workflow: I am used to using POP accounts with Entourage. In the advanced tab on the account section I could click a checkbox to:
"alow on-line access (show account in folder list)"
This let me check and delete spam and large e-mails before downloading them to the local computer. Very simple and quick to use, Apple-L would update the folder view and then Apple-K to download the e-mails I wanted to my local computer
I can't find an equivalent in Mail so I guess I have to use an IMAP account. My ISP does provide this service - when I'm away from my regular e-mail computer I can use a web interface to acces my e-mail from anywhere.
So I start configuring my Mail accounts to use IMAP. What is very confusing is where do I actually 'see' the contents of various folders on the server and how these relate to the folders on the local Mac.
I think I have figured out that the drawer type folders at the top of the screen - ie Inbox - point at the inbox on the server and the black @ things towards the bottom show any other folders on the server, such as sent, etc. I've played around with creating and deleting new folders br right clicking on the @ icons and they do appear on the server when I check them via a web browser.
What is not clear at all is how to manage e-mail I want to move from the server to archive or store tham on my local machine. Clicking on GET mail doesn't seem to do anything. I can drag and drop mail from the server folders to a local folder and it then looks like it has been moved, ie it 'disappears' from the Inbox folder. However - when I check the server through a web interface the e-mails are still there...! Meaning they would build up over time and I'd have to delete them via web access which seems crazy to me.
There seems to be absolutely no help to be found from within Apple Help, so can anyone throw me a lifeline, or should I just go back to using Entourage?
At least Entourage alows you to use the cursor keys to move up and down sub-folders...

Answer 1

I'm not sure how you consider Entourage or any other email client that you have used less confusing than Mail but the layout in the mailboxes drawer for an IMAP type account is similar between Mail and Entourage and the behavior with an IMAP type account is identical with all email clients. The only exception between Mail and Entourage in this regard is the location of the account's Inbox mailbox.
With Mail, the Inbox mailbox for all accounts regardless the account type is located under Inbox in the mailboxes drawer.
This let me check and delete spam and large e-mails before
downloading them to the local computer. Very simple and quick
to use, Apple-L would update the folder view and then Apple-K
to download the e-mails I wanted to my local computer
There is something similar with Tiger Mail. Select Command-I. If you are accessing multiple accounts with Mail, select the POP account via the Account selection.
Under the Messages on Server tab at Show Messages, select All messages on POP server.
This reveals From, Subject, Date and Size only for all messages on the server. You can select a message or messages and then Remove from Server.
An IMAP type account will not help in this regard since the account's Inbox mailbox is synchronized with the server. Messages aren't received in the way messages are downloaded with a POP type account.
My ISP does provide this service - when I'm away from my
regular e-mail computer I can use a web interface to acces
my e-mail from anywhere.
I'm sure your ISP provides the same with a POP type account but you cannot keep messages sent via webmail access or any other server stored messages besides received messages synchronized with the email client used to access the account.
So I start configuring my Mail accounts to use IMAP. What is very
confusing is where I can actually 'see' the various folder on the server
and how these relate to the folders on the local Mac.
As provided, the account's Inbox mailbox is located under Inbox in the mailboxes drawer which cannot be changed. All server stored mailboxes are located under the IMAP account's icon in the mailboxes drawer which is identical to Entourage.
Clicking on GET mail doesn't seem to do anything.
Clicking on Get Mail is no different for any other account type. Selecting Get Mail checks the incoming mail server for new messages. Selecting Inbox or the account's Inbox mailbox under Inbox in the mailboxes drawer also
synchronizes with the server (for the account's Inbox mailbox only) with an IMAP type account.
I can drag and drop mail from the server folders to a local folder
and it then looks like it has been moved, ie it 'disappears' from
the Inbox folder. However - when I check the server through a
web interface the e-mails are still there...! Meaning they would
build up over time and I'd have to delete them via web access
which seems crazy to me.
Transferring messages from the account's Inbox mailbox or from any other server stored mailbox to an "On My Mac" location mailbox which is stored locally on the hard drive stores the transferred messages locally on the hard drive and removes the messages from the server at the same time but there is a delay with the actual removal from the server process. If you want this to be instant, you can take the account offline and back online and the same occurs when quitting and relaunching Mail. When launching Mail when connected to the internet, all server stored messages/mailboxes are synchronized with the server and the same for when taking the account offline and online.
If you want to keep a copy of a message on the server and stored on the hard drive, you can select a message and use the Copy To command instead of the Move To command or dragging messages from a server stored mailbox to a mailbox stored locally on the hard drive.