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created new accounts but sub-folders different, missing

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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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created new accounts but sub-folders different, missing, new, & new icons(?)

For many years I have had 2 Accounts in Tbird. They are POP. I just created two new accounts, and am confused by some differences in appearance. These are IMAP. Do IMAP accounts populate the sub-folders based on a structure present in the IMAP provider?

1) there is a new sub folder "All Mail"

2) No Junk folder. There is a Spam folder. Did some idiot change the name in an update to Tbird, just to fark with long time users? If so they did a poor job, since the Account Settings still has a tab for "JUNK Settings" and the toggle asks where to move the JUNK. Creating synonyms is bad practice, because nobody knows if they are in fact synonyms. One would presume they are not.

3) In the index listing of accounts, each account has an icon to its left -- concentric circles with a padlock. And I have not noticed that icon before, I'm wondering if my old accounts suddenly have a different icon (which strangely matches the new accounts' icons). The sub-folders all have unique icons for each type (Inbox, Sent, etc)

In choosing where to place sent mail, there are two toggle choices to Place A Copy In: 1) "Sent" folder on { [circle&lock icon] ACCOUNT_NAME 2) "Other { [SentFolderIcon] Sent on ACCOUNT_NAME I don't grasp the difference. Would 1) keep the messages on the remote IMAP system? I notice that my old POP accounts are using option 1) & mail is kept locally.

3) The new accounts have "greyed out" italicized subfolders "Folders" and "Labels." Are these associated with being IMAP, or did some Tbird update add them? What are they for?

created new accounts but sub-folders different, missing, new, & new icons(?) *** For many years I have had 2 Accounts in Tbird. They are POP. I just created two new accounts, and am confused by some differences in appearance. These are IMAP. Do IMAP accounts populate the sub-folders based on a structure present in the IMAP provider? 1) there is a new sub folder "All Mail" 2) No Junk folder. There is a Spam folder. Did some idiot change the name in an update to Tbird, just to fark with long time users? If so they did a poor job, since the Account Settings still has a tab for "JUNK Settings" and the toggle asks where to move the JUNK. Creating synonyms is bad practice, because nobody knows if they are in fact synonyms. One would presume they are not. 3) In the index listing of accounts, each account has an icon to its left -- concentric circles with a padlock. And I have not noticed that icon before, I'm wondering if my old accounts suddenly have a different icon (which strangely matches the new accounts' icons). The sub-folders all have unique icons for each type (Inbox, Sent, etc) In choosing where to place sent mail, there are two toggle choices to Place A Copy In: 1) "Sent" folder on { [circle&lock icon] ACCOUNT_NAME 2) "Other { [SentFolderIcon] Sent on ACCOUNT_NAME I don't grasp the difference. Would 1) keep the messages on the remote IMAP system? I notice that my old POP accounts are using option 1) & mail is kept locally. 3) The new accounts have "greyed out" italicized subfolders "Folders" and "Labels." Are these associated with being IMAP, or did some Tbird update add them? What are they for?

All Replies (20)

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1) All Mail is a Gmail folder, which you can usually unsubscribe to. See the All Mail section here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite

2) The Spam folder is another one created by the mail provider, and is where it stores what it calls spam. The Junk folder is a TB construct used by TB's Junk Controls.

3) If this is a Gmail account, uncheck 'Place a copy in...' in Copies & Folders since Gmail copies sent mail automatically to Sent Mail.

4) See the last line in the IMAP section of the Gmail kb article cited above.

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I do not have a gmail account. Is this a "container" that TBird always creates, without asking? Does it have some sort of linkage to gmail servers?

How do I delete it?

In Create New Accounts, I don't recall seeing "Movemail" at the end of the list of choices. What is it? Why was it in red -- but now when I go back & re-open the Account Settings pan, it is in normal black type?

The icon is similar to what I am seeing associated with each account, a circle with concentric circles within.

And the icon is 2mm in diameter, so I'm using a magnifying glass to see the details... why are TB system window fonts so SMALL ???

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I wasn't aware that providers other than Gmail used an All Mail folder. You don't remove an IMAP folder, you unsubscribe (right-click the account, Subscribe...). Who is the provider?

Movemail is an option on Unix systems that I'm not familiar with.

Perhaps you can post a picture of the icons.

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Protonmail.com. Servers in Switzerland, encrypted, and between users, encrypted point to point. Dumping verizon/aol for poor service.

I guess its IMAP -- they talk about IMAP but no mention of POP. Unless they default to POP...

This round icon... I could understand it being associated with the new accounts, but why would the old accounts have their icon changed? Unless TB supports a single icon for all account names, and ProtonM inserted theirs into the memory slot...

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icon image:

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And the version by the account names has a padlock as well.

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The account icon is part of TB, independent of the provider; the padlock indicates the connection is secure, SSL or TLS.

POP accounts only download the Inbox; IMAP shows whatever folders are defined on the server, including Inbox, Sent etc.

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So is this a paid proton mail account? The 4 euro a month option?

If so you are at the mercy of the "bridge" as to what default server side folders it offers. This will perhaps also be compounded by what mail accounts you imported. I am guessing you imported a gmail one if you have an all mail folder.

I am not sure how many times I have told folk that the padlock indicates ad encrypted connection nothing more. It's relevance here is Nil.

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Never had gmail, never will. So to create new folders I have to do it from the ProtonM web interface. The TB function doesn't work.

I presume the TB folder function will work on the old POP accounts. I can have some POP & some IMAP, right?

Plans ProtonMail Plus $3.29/mo ProtonVPN Plus $6.63/mo Half price deal so 2 years for $144. A main account plus 5 subaccounts and a domain name.

Looks like all the accounts go into the same web InBox and also the All Mail. I'll need to create folders & filter rules to segregate them on the web browser. But I set up the Bridge to go to separate accounts on TB.

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Or I guess I could use the TB filter to move them from the catchall ProtonM InBox into various Local Folders. I do that already for the POP accounts.

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I thought IMACs deleted emails from the server once they had been delivered to a local host (TBird). This is not happening with ProtonM. Do I need to configure that within TB Settings?

I created such a filter but it does not seem to work, nothing moved.

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IMAP is synchronized. So moving to Local folders should delete. But while the mail is stored in the account it is replicated on the server and any other IMAP devices that connect to the account.

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Manually running filter & there is a blue spinner that never ends. Should not take minutes to move 4 msgs !

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Re: Movemail quote: Movemail is a service on UNIX-like systems to copy mail from the system mail spool into an email client. It is a part of GNU Emacs. Depending upon your operating system, you may need to have GNU Emacs installed to have it. https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Help_Documentation:Creating_an_Account

POP and IMAP work differently. IMAP is like a virtual copy of what is on server which you would also see via webmail account. The imap folders synchonise to show what is on server, so if you accessed webmail account via a browser and deleted an email off server, then when you next went into Thunderbird, the folders synchonise and that 'deleted' email would also get deleted out of the imap mail account folder without you needing to do anything. It also works the other way, delete in Thunderbird and it is deleted off server.


ProtonMail is a privacy-enhanced email service in Switzerland. It offers end-to-end encryption, a Gmail-like user interface, secure compatibility with other email providers, and does not track its users. https://www.reddit.com/r/ProtonMail/comments/8h85wi/disabling_all_mail_folder/

As it uses a 'gmail-like user interface' then the 'All Mail' folder is likely to be where all emails are stored and some sort of labelling/tagging method is used to display emails in other folders as users are more used to that sort of view. It is also likely that any email you delete must be put in the server 'Trash' folder (or whatever protonmail call it eg: Trash, Bin, Deleted Items etc). Otherwise a label is only deleted and the email archived in 'All Mail', so not properly deleted.

Definately sounds like the same sort of system Gmail use. Good info at this link: https://protonmail.com/support/knowledge-base/creating-folders/

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re :"greyed out" italicized subfolders

These are folders that cannot store emails but can contain other folders that do contain emails. A noselect flag has been applied.

Another good link which may be generally helpful

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Why isn't my TB filter working? I copied the exact same filter that works on the old POP account, sending to a Local Folder.

I want a complete copy of my emails permanently on my computer. How do I make that happen, automatically? Transfer everything to Local folders?

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VerizonSucks said

I want a complete copy of my emails permanently on my computer. How do I make that happen, automatically? Transfer everything to Local folders?

Use POP not IMAP. Fairly simply really.

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I am unable to manually drag email from the ProtonM account folder into a Local Folder. WTF ???

And that blue spinner is always up, on top of the pointer arrow.

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I think it is time for you to start using proton mail support. Instead of posting here every time it fails to meet your expectations.

My guess, and it has to be a guess because I don't have any proton mail account is that the "bridge" does not do move or copy because they are "encrypted end to end" and you mail stays prisoner on their server because it is encrypted there. You get to read it and perhaps print it and that is about all.

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I can still read the mail when offline, so there is a copy on my computer. I want to know what is IMAP and what is something ProtonM does and how each affects how TB operates.

I have not found any pay for service POP providers.

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