Nesting Gmail IMAP folders properly in Thunderbird?

Question

I know Gmail uses their own strange implementation of IMAP, but is there a way to make the folders nest properly when loaded in Thunderbird?

I have a bunch of custom folders that seem to nest parallel to the [Gmail] folder rather than inside it. Also, the Inbox folder does the same thing (nesting next to, rather than within).

Is it possible to either remove the empty [Gmail] folder and put all its subfolders within the account's root, or make all custom folders and the Inbox folder nest inside the [Gmail] folder?

Answer 1

I edit the advanced server settings to set the IMAP root to [Gmail]/, which fixes most things.

All the folders then end up at the same level as Inbox (not nested inside the Inbox, though). There are two downsides:

1. All Gmail labels for the folders will show as [Gmail]/FolderName in the Gmail web interface
2. Occasionally, Thunderbird will get confused and show an (empty) [Gmail] folder in the folder list. Deleting this folder makes it disappear, and does NOT result in deletion of all of your mail. Just delete the Gmail.msf and Gmail.sbd folders in your Thunderbird profile to make the folder invisible again.