This article describes the issue but there is no resolution that works in all cases

That is correct. But for some reason you are asking the same question expecting a different answer. Nothing has changed. Except you apparently think you have email in those folders. Do not be sure of that. If it is IMAP it is little more than a local cache and is subject to deletion without notice. Simply accessing the folder may be enough to see the mail in it deleted as the server can not be contacted and logged into.

Wow so helpful. The question I referenced (which I cannot add to) does not help in all situations which I explained and then described my situation, which I have not seen others have.

The question hasn't changed because it is the same question (with a nuance) and if I could have added to it I would have, but there was a BANNER to say if you have the same or similar question then ask it again as it was archived. Which is exactly what I did and then got ragged on by you.

I know exactly how IMAP works and how its different from say POP3. This is not a question about how IMAP works. its about "Is there a way to stop Thunderbird attempting a log in" period.

There is no IMAP protocol based reason to force you to have to log in every time you open thunderbird and then repeatedly during the day. This is a thunderbird thing.

re :I have disabled all fetching of email and notifications of incoming mail and deleted related passwords.

AS you have deleted the password then you are going to see the OAuth logon po up.

re: There is no IMAP protocol based reason to force you to have to log in every time you open thunderbird and then repeatedly during the day. This is a thunderbird thing.

Gmail uses IDLE PUSH, so it will attempt to tell you there are emails which means Thunderbird asks for password in order to get access. It seems Thunderbird is unable to stop that process which can be rather annoying for some people.

Do you ever need to Get Messages from that gmail account in the future ? If no then, it may be a good idea to get copies of emails put into the 'Local Folders' mail account - but make sure you use the 'Copy to' option and then double check you have good copies of full email and not just headers. That means you could then remove the account.

Possible workaround - Create a new profile just for the imap gmail account and set everyting up and get emails etc. Then you can remove the gmail account from main default profile. Always start with usual default profile, but should you ever need to check the gmail account and get it updated then open the secondary profile. Then it should only download server when you use that other profile.

Gmail CAN'T Push without there being an initial connection. So the OATH Push notification occurs because thunderbird makes a connection to gmail.

I have tried to use logging to find the culprit module but apart from networking showing the connections made I haven't been able to guess the module responsible. IMAP shows a multitude of connections but none seem to be this particular account. All other IMAP logging modules do not render any output.

I have multiple gmail based accounts so its not clear whats going on and I am not experienced in debugging thunderbird.

I have considered other ways such as a different profile etc, however while I do not think this account will come back into use that depends on my client not me, and I still need ready access to the emails contained within.

Also I consider this a security leak. I have "effectively" disabled the gmail account using the techniques in the other question however Thunderbird is still calling home to gmail which it should not do.

I'm not disagreeing with you. It's the IDLE command which for reason the developers are not allowing to be disabled. It would really be helpful to fully disable for a specific account, but it's probably more complex than it seems, expecially if there is more than one account using the IDLE. You would need to create request/bug report to see if the developers will entertain the idea.

• https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/home

re :I have considered other ways such as a different profile etc, however while I do not think this account will come back into use that depends on my client not me, and I still need ready access to the emails contained within.

To retain access to emails copy them into the 'Local Folders' account. This is the standard practise for anyone using an imape account if they need to keep emails but not keep the account. It's also used when people need to keep access to emails, but need to move them off the server in order to increase their available quota. Then you do not need to keep the gmail account. You can always make an image of the saved passwords display, just in case you need to use it and store it in a useful desktop folder.

Select gmail imap folder - highlight emails in folder and use right click on highlighted emails > Copy to > select folder in 'Local Folders' mail account. Then check the copied emails - make sure you can select and it shows email content in Message Pane. Repeat until all are copied over.

Or use the addon 'ImportExportTools NG' to export mbox file and then import into Local Folders - always check you can see emails. Or Exit Thunderbird, Access Profile, select 'ImapMail', select gmail account folder, Copy the relevant mbox files (and *.sbd folders if they exist) and paste them in the 'Mail' > 'Local Folders' folder.