Thanks for the feedback, I wish it was that simple and tried this already. When I show Favorites only - it also hides Inbox (unified), sent, etc... as you can see in the attached image

Original answer withdrawn. Your question is really about Unified Folders view, not hiding accounts as such.

Well, I will explain: 1) With 7 email accounts, my own local folders are further down the list, very inconvenient for me. I had 7 accounts while using Outllok and didn't have to see them. 2) Once those accounts are set, it is not likely I need to access the setup again very frequently. 3) I didn't intend to hide them away and not be able to access setup at times, or at times change password. Sounds like the QuickFolders can do the trick but I need to know abit more about it, where can I download it?

Thaks again for your feedback

Hello Zenos, I found the add on QuickFolders and installed it, but whatever I do, I can't MOVE the email accounts out of the way, those "Folders" are LOCKED in the left pane, is there a way to Unlock them maybe?

Cheers

It seems to me that you're fighting an intrinsic feature of Unified Folders.

Unified Folders gather together all the instances of particular types of folders. Each account will have Inbox, Sent, Junk, and somewhere to put deleted stuff. So Unified can set about collating all the Inboxes into one virtual Inbox, all the Sent folders into one virtual Sent folder, and so on. It cannot automatically deal with any odd-man-out folders that may appear in some accounts, or folders created by the user. So, to retain access to these singleton folders, it shows you the individual accounts.

If you never make your own folders in your accounts, and you're not bothered by odd-man-out singleton folders in specific accounts, then what you ask for would make sense. But it wouldn't suit me.

I don't use Unified because I do choose to create lots of folders for my own use, in my accounts. Via IMAP, this makes the messages in those accounts and their folders accessible to all of my computers, my tablet and my phone. For that same reason, I wouldn't create these folders under Local Folders. I want them online or in the cloud and thus shareable.

But the general solution to the use of Unified folders is to deliberately create views of individual accounts, allowing access to one-off folders that don't appear in Unified folders. Hiding the accounts would defeat that.

Outlook Express was built for POP and offered all your accounts merged into one Inbox. That won't work with IMAP; Unified Folders is an approximation to the "all-in-one" view offered by Outlook Express. If you want an experience close to that offered by OE, use POP in all your accounts and use Thunderbird's Global Inbox.

I do have Outlook here and it presents all my accounts separately, much as Thunderbird does. I wonder if when you say "Outlook" you mean "Outlook Express"?

Hi Zenos, 1) I am not trying to mimic anything. Just mentioned the one thing I liked about Outlook (never used Outlook Express). 2) Never liked IMAP, all my email accounts are POP 3) In the Unified, if I open the folder I can see all my accounts in there anyway 4) I too create my own local folders and manage them by myself, they are generic and NOT linked to any of my 7 accounts.

Will Global-Inbox help me hide all the accounts somehow? This is the ONLY thing I am trying to achieve...

Global Inbox is used for pop mail accounts. You can use 'Local Folders' Inbox to receive all incoming emails. If set correctly, you will not see any pop mail accounts in the 'Folder Pane'; you will only see 'Local Folders' mail account.

Good info: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Global_Inbox please read section "Changing the Global Inbox setting for an existing account"

Note: where it says: "Tools -> Account Settings -> Server Settings" This refers to using the 'Menu Bar' toolbar; some people have this enabled.

You can also access same location via either of following methods:

1. 'Menu icon' > 'Options' > 'Account settings'
2. Right click on pop mail account in folder pane and select 'Settings'

Before changing anything, I would advise you go into 'Offline' mode ( to prevent any accidental download until you have completed all the necessary changes and restarted Thunderbird), then move all emails from current pop mail account folders into suitable folders in 'Local Folders'.

For all pop mail accounts, change the settings as advised in Account Settings. change the 'Server settings' to use Inbox for different account and select 'Local folders'. select: 'include this server when getting new mail'. see image below.

check 'Copies & folders', 'Junk Settings' and 'Message Filters' if you have any.

When all is checked as per advise at the link on Global Inbox, restart Thunderbird - do not download anything/stay offline, until you have closed and restarted Thunderbird otherwise you will still see the pop mail accounts.

It should restart as normal, but all pop mail accounts should no longer be visible, only Local folders.

Thanks to you all, I am sorry I wasted your time, the answer was there all along - Global Inbox.

I have a long way to go to learn Thunderbird

Cheers and thanks again