gmailgmail-labels
Is there a way to create a rule in Gmail to automatically make a "COPY" of an incoming e-mail and move that copy to a different label/folder while leaving the original in my main inbox.
That way I can read and delete the original e-mail but have a copy in an appropriate folder without having to look through all of my folders for new messages.
I just read and delete from my main inbox and a copy of important e-mails is automatically already in the proper folder for later use if needed.
It is now possible to label and/or "star" messages when you send them.
Official Gmail Blog: Star and label messages before you send them
When composing a new message, you can assign labels or star it by using the labels drop-down menu. As you’d expect, recipients of messages organized this way won’t see your labels or stars.
This is the new compose window:
Press the down arrow in the lower right, then choose "Label".
This is the old compose window:
Gmail labels are different than folders, in that a message (or conversation) can have multiple labels. Generally speaking a message can only exist in one "folder".
It's easy to simulate labels as folders, however. Just make sure a message only ever has one label. "Inbox" is a special label in Gmail, but it's still just a label.
To do this automatically, when you create your filter to move the message to the label(s) you want, also check "Skip the Inbox". Then new messages that meet your filter criteria will not be in the Inbox.
Best Answer
No, Gmail only has 1 copy of each email and it is only in one place no matter how many labels it has so if you delete it from one view you are deleting the one and only copy of that email.
How Gmail stores your email: