macOS Sequoia: Two copies of a large Inbox folder in Profiles folder
Hello,
In my Thunderbird Profiles folder, I can drill down to ImapMail. I see multiple subfolders prefixed with my imap server name. eg:
- imap.server-5.com 10.85GB - imap.server-3.com 8.83 GB
and so on. The datestamp on each is different.
Within the two examples above is a large Inbox folder taking up ~8.8GB.
The size doesn't concern me as much as the fact of having two of these. I'd like to understand what Thunderbird is doing under the hood here. Does it create new imap.server-#.com folders periodically as backup/recovery folders?
I'd like to recover space where possible but if these are protective measures, I could live with that. However, if it creates future folders and replicates 8+GB of data multiple times, I'd like to know what steps I can take to free up disk space.
Thanks,
All Replies (6)
A suggestion:: - click to the account's 'server settings' pane - check the folder named at 'Local Directory' - use the dropdown menu to select the one you want, probably the imap.server.com without the -n number - restart thunderbird and recheck the local directory. If the folders populate, you can then delete the other folders.
The good news with IMAP is that the messages remain on the server and Thunderbird will repopulate if the PC folders are deleted.
Thanks, This may be a macOS GUI difference but in the Local Folder setting I see: - {Folder hierarchy}/imap.server-5.com - No dropdown - There is a Browse button that takes me to Finder at the imap.server-5.com folder
Do you mean to use Browse to select imap-server.com and then restart?
I have a tendency to put my foot in mouth whenever I attempt to help a MAC issue; I keep thinking thunderbird is the same everywhere. My perception was that your IMAP account was pointing to a server other than the intended, assuming the account's proper name was your example without the numbers. My primary intent was in sharing that, if you remove all of the message folders in IMAP, thunderbird will repopulate. Since the perception is that there is duplication, the result after repopulating would be less disk used. If you posted a screenshot of the imapmail\<imap account> folder, that might make a response clearer.
Ah, I see. I think I can live with this duplication/replication. I found it while doing a disk profile to see what was taking space. If I see more large folders popping up in the future, I can revisit.
Thanks for your prompt responses.
I am hoping my response proves useful. Good luck. :)
Definitely does help. Often it helps to know when to tweak and when to just let the software do its thing. I think this is the latter.