Why do some incoming emails go into the "Archive" folder?

[jaoneill]

A month ago I upgraded from a mid 2010 with High Sierra to the latest 27" iMac running Monterey. I have been having more and more instances where someone sends me an email that I don't receive. Usually a new client or someone not in my address book. The other day while searching for one such email, thinking that maybe it had somehow gone directly to "Junk". For the first time ever, I happened to click on the "Archive" folder and found hundreds of recent emails, most of which were junk, but many of which were those that I had never received (knowing that they had been sent) and none with the little blue dot indicating unread. WTH? I do have a folder that I titled "Archived Mail" that I set up years ago which contains email from 1995-2011 but I have never knowingly sent anything into the stock "Archive" folder that appears in the Mail program. Search as I might I can't seem to find the setting that is misdirecting a substantial portion of my email. Just as the daily postal delivery lands on MY desk, I want all email to land in my "Inbox". I will sort it! Can anyone help with some direction?

 

[chscag]

Who is your ISP? That's where you need to start in order to track down the reason why mail is going into the "Archived" folder.

For example... My ISP is Google Mail (gmail) and mail that comes using the IMAP protocol can be directed or moved to the "Archived" folder which would be duplicated on my Mac. The same does not occur with PoP mail. (I use both.)

 

[jaoneill]

Thank you, I too have both an IMAP account and a POP account and the IMAP is the problem. I much prefer the POP and kick myself for allowing an IT guru to change my main account over to IMAP ten years or so ago. Probably be an issue, at the very least a PITA to switch back if it's even possible, but this gives me the incentive to do so. Thanks for the heads-up......

 

[vansmith]

Assuming you're using Apple Mail (so ignore accordingly), do you have any (unintentional) rules set up? Head over to Preferences > Rules to see if that's the case.

 

[jaoneill]

Assuming you're using Apple Mail (so ignore accordingly), do you have any (unintentional) rules set up? Head over to Preferences > Rules to see if that's the case.

I am using Apple Mail but have no rules set up! Assuming that I change the settings over to POP, is there a way to rescue the last 10 years or so of my emails that they have on their server, or are they just lost forever into the ether? We have a local provider that I believe contracts it out to the gmail folks.
Biggest complaint that I had/have with the IMAP protocol is that I often have the need to search for an email that may have been sent or received years ago. Depending on how busy their servers are it can take hours, or even days. With the POP my emails are on my system and no more than a few seconds from my screen.