Windows 10 reached EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. If you are on Windows 10, see this article.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More
Open

Gmail IMAP and Thunderbird - How to delete E-mails in Gmail's "All Mail"?

Lin replied
Flashfox

I use Thunderbird to access my Gmail accounts. Gmail is confirgured for IMAP and I am able to access all of my E-mail accounts ... so that is good.

However, I do have one issue: When I delete an E-mail in Thunderbird, it moves to the TRASH folder and I empty that daily. However, when I go to Gmail, I can see that they are STILL in "All Mail". If I access All Mail in Thunderbird and delete messages, they reappear.

The only way I am able to get rid of them for good is to access them in Gmail. If I don;t, the All MAil folders grow like crazy and messages thgat I deleted are still there .. some were several years old.

Question: Is there a way to set up Thunderbird so that when an E-mail is deleted in Thunderbird, that it takes it out of "All Mail"?

I use Thunderbird to access my Gmail accounts. Gmail is confirgured for IMAP and I am able to access all of my E-mail accounts ... so that is good. However, I do have one issue: When I delete an E-mail in Thunderbird, it moves to the TRASH folder and I empty that daily. However, when I go to Gmail, I can see that they are STILL in "All Mail". If I access All Mail in Thunderbird and delete messages, they reappear. The only way I am able to get rid of them for good is to access them in Gmail. If I don;t, the All MAil folders grow like crazy and messages thgat I deleted are still there .. some were several years old. Question: Is there a way to set up Thunderbird so that when an E-mail is deleted in Thunderbird, that it takes it out of "All Mail"?

All Replies (1)

Best practice is to just unsubscribe from Gmail's "All Mail" pseudo folder. It's not relevant to a standards-based email agent like Thunderbird, and it just tends to confuse the user, as you discovered.

To Unsubscribe, right-click on the Gmail account name in the Folders List and choose "Subscribe" from the pop-up context menu. This will show all the available IMAP folders. Remove the check mark beside "All Mail" and the folder will no longer be visible in Thunderbird.

Vra 'n vraag

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.