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ATT.net Bulk subfolder under Trash folder and Draft folder mysteriously appeared

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  • Last reply by Matt

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I am using Thunderbird 102.3.0 64bit on a Windows 10 PC. AT&T (att.net) is my email provider.

Several weeks ago (I don't know if it was when Thunderbird downloaded an update) a Bulk folder appeared as a subfolder to the Trash folder. Some of the messages that appear in this Bulk folder are legitimate "non trash" emails. I have not moved any messages into the this Bulk folder.

At the same time the Bulk folder appeared, a new folder named Draft also appeared as a subfolder under my account email mail name xxxxxx@att.net. The normal "Drafts" folder is also present which is correct.

When I log onto my ATT.net mail account on the ATT.net website these two folders DO NOT appear.

I called AT&T mail support and the person who appeared knowledgeable has never heard of this issue with Thunderbird. The AT&T Internet support forums are full of messages about this "folder" issue but no one has any answers. Yahoo is the email provider that AT&T mail uses.

Does anyone have ideas how to get rid of these two folders?

Thanks!

I am using Thunderbird 102.3.0 64bit on a Windows 10 PC. AT&T (att.net) is my email provider. Several weeks ago (I don't know if it was when Thunderbird downloaded an update) a Bulk folder appeared as a subfolder to the Trash folder. Some of the messages that appear in this Bulk folder are legitimate "non trash" emails. I have not moved any messages into the this Bulk folder. At the same time the Bulk folder appeared, a new folder named Draft also appeared as a subfolder under my account email mail name xxxxxx@att.net. The normal "Drafts" folder is also present which is correct. When I log onto my ATT.net mail account on the ATT.net website these two folders DO NOT appear. I called AT&T mail support and the person who appeared knowledgeable has never heard of this issue with Thunderbird. The AT&T Internet support forums are full of messages about this "folder" issue but no one has any answers. Yahoo is the email provider that AT&T mail uses. Does anyone have ideas how to get rid of these two folders? Thanks!

Modified by billartman

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You are right ATT email does not exist. It is Yahoo mail even to the point you are better off using the Yahoo server names instead of the ATT ones with your ATT email address as your user name, as you can use oauth authentication with yahoo, you can't with the ATT mess.

Then there is the Bulk mail folder. I have no idea why it is appearing in the trash. Mine appears in the folder list where it belongs. Perhaps you have already tried to delete it unsuccessfully so it now lives in the trash folder. The bulk folder is a built in part of your yahoo IMAP mail account. You can not under any method I am aware of remove it, as Yahoo have no opt out for their spam detection which is hard coded to use that folder for what it thinks is spam. In the web interfaced they display the folder as spam If my recollection of the yahoo interface is correct in IMAP they choose to use a different name.

Unfortunately the ATT support are close to completely useless, as your ATT support representative ably demonstrated. Never heard of a standard folder offered by Yahoo to all IMAP clients, not just Thunderbird all mail clients are included in the standard folders used.

SO you can not get rid of the bulk folder, you can move it out of the trash, and you can ensure the account setting in Thunderbird also reflect that folder as being the folder junk mail for the account is placed into. After that you can remove the junk folder that is no longer in use. As for the drafts, again every IMAP account has one. Which one has the purplish paper icon in your Thunderbird, as that is the one that will be used as a drafts folder (as set in the account settings) the other can be deleted.

Generally it is a good idea to use compact from the file menu after you mess with these things which will re syncronize your mail in all folders with the server.