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To save diskspace, can I delete ImapMail?

  • 1 reply
  • 4 have this problem
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  • Last reply by Zenos

defenestrate
defenestrate
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Dear Community,

I've been synchronizing my IMAP mail to my laptop for years. Now I need some extra diskspace. I unchecked "Keep messages for this account on this computer" and checked "synchronize the most recent 30 days." But I still have 20G in my ImapMail folder for this account. I want to keep my old email on the server--I only want to delete the copies on my laptop. Therefore, I have kept "Don't delete any messages" checked on the "To recover disk space" option in the Syncrhonization & Storage screen.

How do you advise that I delete these old emails on my laptop without deleting them on the server? Can I simply delete the account in my ImapMail folder in Profiles? Or will that make Thunderbird unstable?

Thank you for your help! A

Dear Community, I've been synchronizing my IMAP mail to my laptop for years. Now I need some extra diskspace. I unchecked "Keep messages for this account on this computer" and checked "synchronize the most recent 30 days." But I still have 20G in my ImapMail folder for this account. I want to keep my old email on the server--I only want to delete the copies on my laptop. Therefore, I have kept "Don't delete any messages" checked on the "To recover disk space" option in the Syncrhonization & Storage screen. How do you advise that I delete these old emails on my laptop without deleting them on the server? Can I simply delete the account in my ImapMail folder in Profiles? Or will that make Thunderbird unstable? Thank you for your help! A

Chosen solution

Put the messages you don't need to see into their own folder and don't subscribe to that folder in Thunderbird.

Note that unsubscribing simply stops adding to the local cache. It doesn't remove the existing cache. You'll have to do that by hand.

I don't think removing the relevant IMAP folders will do any harm. Thunderbird will simply download (again) the material in the folders that are subscribed and synchronized.

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All Replies (1)

Zenos
Zenos
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Chosen Solution

Put the messages you don't need to see into their own folder and don't subscribe to that folder in Thunderbird.

Note that unsubscribing simply stops adding to the local cache. It doesn't remove the existing cache. You'll have to do that by hand.

I don't think removing the relevant IMAP folders will do any harm. Thunderbird will simply download (again) the material in the folders that are subscribed and synchronized.