How do I con figure TB to delete messages from the server

[Bruce]

Until several years ago when my email provider (maine.edu,) switched to
Google gmail to manage their emails and recommended TB (the only client
they now support), I had used Eudora.  Eudora allowed me to select the
option of also deleting the message on the server when I deleted it on
my screen.

But I cannot figure out how to do this with Thunderbird. Consequently, I
now have thousands of emails still remaining on the server which I
thought would have been deleted when I deleted them on my screen.

I am running TB 60.6.1 32 bit.

Any advice would be welcomed.

Bruce

[Bob Henson]

Assuming you are using POP3 (otherwise all the folders would sync
automatically) you need to go to Options > Account Settings > Server
settings for each account your have and untick "Leave Messages on Server".
That won't remove the ones already on the server though - you'll have to go
into your ISP account online and delete them all there - after that they
should delete automatically as you delete them locally on your machine.


--
Bob
Tetbury, Gloucestershire, England

If all seems to be going well, you obviously have no idea what is really
happening.

[Keith Nuttle]

On 5/23/2019 4:17 AM, Bob Henson wrote:
> Assuming you are using POP3 (otherwise all the folders would sync
> automatically) you need to go to Options > Account Settings > Server
> settings for each account your have and untick "Leave Messages on Server".
> That won't remove the ones already on the server though - you'll have to go
> into your ISP account online and delete them all there - after that they
> should delete automatically as you delete them locally on your machine.

I don't know how this works on other mail servers web mail, but with the
ATT version of Yahoo, when you have the proper settings in Thunderbird,
it will delete mail from the server. HOWEVER, when the mail is deleted
from the server, it does not disappear, but goes to the Yahoo mail trash
folder.

So the only way to remove a mail from the Yahoo server, it to use the
online Yahoo web mail program and delete it from there.


While this is frustrating, I live with it as I also use the online web
mail junk filter to pre screen my mail, and periodically check it for
false negatives.

[WaltS48]

For a POP3 account select the Account, click "View settings for this
account", select Server Settings and configure the "Leave messages on
server" setting.

For an IMAP account, do the same except configure the "When I delete a
message:" setting. You probably want "Remove it immediately".

--
OS: Ubuntu Linux 18.04LTS - Gnome Desktop
https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/get-involved/

[David E. Ross]

Windows 7
Thunderbird 52.9.1

In my primary E-mail account, I have indeed removed the checkmark from
"Leave messages on server". This does indeed work for my default
identity. However, I also have a anternative identity in the same
account for which this does NOT work.

[James Moe]

On 23/05/2019 12.55 AM, Bruce wrote:

> Eudora allowed me to select the
> option of also deleting the message on the server when I deleted it on
> my screen.
>
> But I cannot figure out how to do this with Thunderbird.
>

Another option is to configure the Properties for Trash to set the
Retention policy to remove messages more than a day old (or some longer
period of time). It has the advantage of retrieving a deleted message
should you need to do so while keeping the number of deleted messages low.

--
James Moe
jmm-list at sohnen-moe dot com
Think.

[Lindsay Graham]

Bob, you imply that, with IMAP, all folders will sync automatically between server and computer.  But that is not necessarily true.  If retained emails are moved from Inbox to local folders they certainly do not sync with the server.

Lindsay Graham
Canberra, Australia


On 23/5/19 1817, Bob Henson wrote:

[NFN Smith]

Lindsay Graham wrote:
> Bob, you imply that, with IMAP, all folders will sync automatically
> between server and computer.  But that is not necessarily true.  If
> retained emails are moved from Inbox to local folders they certainly do
> not sync with the server.
>
> Lindsay Graham
> Canberra, Australia

In this, there is the assumption of synchronization within the same
server account.

By definition, Local Folders is local to your hard drive, and there's no
synchronization with any server.

If you have multiple IMAP accounts within the same profile, each account
will synchronize with the defined server, but not other accounts on
other servers.

There's a variety of ways of using Local Folders. One of the more common
would be to move stuff off a server when you're bumping into quota
limits for a particular account.

As was noted, if you're using POP, there are several options for mail
retention on the server after download, including "delete immediately",
deleting after a specified number of days, and deleting after the
message has been moved out of the Inbox in the POP client. Depending on
your preferences and workflows, there's reasons to use any of those
settings.

In my own usage, I prefer POP in my primary client, because it better
facilitates long-term storage. However, I make occasional use of
multiple profiles, clients and computers. On my primary working
computer, I use POP from Mozilla Seamonkey, but I make some use of
Thunderbird from that computer, and I have mail clients set up on other
computers, as well as my cell phone, all using IMAP connections. Plus,
on occasion I will make use of a webmail client.

Thus, on my primary POP profile, I set mail retention to 15 days before
deletion, and as a result, I have the last 15 days of my inbox available
to me, no matter where I'm getting my mail from. Going a step further,
for setups that I might send mail from, I tweak those so that sent
messages are saved in the Inbox rather than the Sent folder, and that
allows me to have those messages available for download (and subsequent
filing) the next time I make a POP connection. And if I'm working from a
setup where I haven't made that tweak, I either remember to Bcc: myself,
or move a sent message from the Sent folder into my inbox.

Smith