Mail downloading TONS of old messages. HELP!

yikes.
on a brand new macbook pro,
just logged into a wireless network at the hotel, clicked 'get mail', then out of nowhere mail starts trying to download 22,000 emails.
these are all older messages.... i've got remove from server already checked so no idea why this would happen.
rebuilt the mailbox but its still doing it.
HELP.
suggestions?
Message was edited by: dconstrukt
Message was edited by: dconstrukt

From what you describe, this is normal. Mail can only get messages that are on the server, so the fact that it's downloading old ones means that you left them on the server. You may have the option to delete retrieved mail set now in Mail, but until it retrieves all those old messages, that can't happen.
If you have access to the account via webmail, you can stop downloading with Mail, login to the webmail account and delete all the old messages, leaving only the new ones, then let Mail retrieve those.
Mulder

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