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How do i stop Thunderbird to download an specific folder on a clean install?

  • 6 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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Hi everyone,

Im doing a clean install and i dont want Thunderbird to sync and download some emails.

What im trying to achieve is to download every email to use offline and be in sync with the Gmail account but only the most recent ones. And i did this:

Inbox: So far in Gmail i moved alot of emails from the Inbox to another folder. How can i disable that folder to sync in Thunderbird? Because as soon as i log in, every folder starts to sync and download automatically.

Outbox: I did some research and its seems that is not possible to move emails from outbox to another folder. Is there any way that i can only download emails only after specific date?

Hi everyone, Im doing a clean install and i dont want Thunderbird to sync and download some emails. What im trying to achieve is to download every email to use offline and be in sync with the Gmail account but only the most recent ones. And i did this: Inbox: So far in Gmail i moved alot of emails from the Inbox to another folder. How can i disable that folder to sync in Thunderbird? Because as soon as i log in, every folder starts to sync and download automatically. Outbox: I did some research and its seems that is not possible to move emails from outbox to another folder. Is there any way that i can only download emails only after specific date?

All Replies (6)

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If you are using an Imap gmail account. Any folder you created which contains emails will be on the gmail server and if you have subscribed to see that folder then it will be in your Folder PAne. Imap accounts fully synchronise with server - that is their purpose to show you what is on the server - it means you can access the server via different devices - laptop, desktop, phone, or via webmail direct and everytime you see the same.

If you create a folder with suitable name and put a load of emails in it. But you do not want to see that folder. The idea being you dod not want to delete emails off server, but equally you do not want to see them. Unsubscribe from seeing that folder.

  • Right click on the gmail mail account name folder in Folder Pane and select 'Subscribe'
  • Select the folder you do not want to see and click on 'Unsubscribe'
  • click on 'OK'

re :Outbox: I did some research and its seems that is not possible to move emails from outbox to another folder?

In Thunderbird 'Outbox' is a very specific folder and it is in the 'Local Folders' account. It is specifically designed to contain any email you create from any account and choose to 'Send Later'. In offline mode, you can create emails, but you cannot send them, so when you select to 'Send Later' they get put into the 'Outbox' folder. Then when you go back to online mode you can right click on the 'Outbox' and choose 'Send unsent messages'. So the 'Outbox' only contains emails created and ready for sending, but not sent.


re : Is there any way that i can only download emails only after specific date?

All imap folders synchronise with server to display whatever is on server in any specific folder. You can choose whether to download full copies or only headers on a per folder basis.

If you choose to download full copies on a specific folder - eg: Inbox Then you can choose to download full copies of the latest emails eg: 30 days and the rest will only download headers. It means you still see the full list of everything, but only the more recent is actually fully downloaded. To maintain this you will need to compact more frequently to force the file to get refreshed. This is method used by some people to use less computer disk space.

In Thunderbird

  • Account Settings > Synchronisation & Storage for account
  • Select checkbox: 'keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer.
  • click on 'Advanced'

Any folder you select the checkbox - it downloads full copies. Any folder not selected only downloads headers.

Under 'Disk Space' To keep all up to date select 'Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age.'

For any folder which you have selected to download full copies, the following can be used to perform a full sync on specific emails by age and only headers for the rest.

  • Select :Synchronise the most recent eg: '30' days'

After setting these settings - Restart Thunderbird and then compact eg: Inbox. You should still see all emails listed in Message List/Thread Pane, but only emails less than 30 days old will be full downloaded.

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Offline: Only emails that are fully downloaded can be viewed in offline mode. Those which are only headers downloaded, show in list but if you click on them email cannot be retrieved from server.

Emails you create and send will end up prepared and ready for sending in the 'Local Folders' account 'Outbox' folder.

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Toad-Hall said

'

Hi, how are you?

Thank you very much for your answer!

I have a question that will be important for me to determine if i want to download emails for offline use or not. Whenever i use the search function, that is gonna look into the emails body too or only headers? I assume only headers since the body is not downloaded but im not sure.

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The Global Search takes header info and small section of data to use in searches. That data is stored in a the 'global-messages-db.sqlite' file in your profile name folder.

If only headers are available then that's what gets returned. If you select to read any emails that are not fully downloaded then those emails will appear blank because the natural action is to access server and download email into a cache to facilitate viewing. Obviously in 'offline' mode that's nor possible.

Basically, if you do not have full copies downloaded then you will not be able to read any contents of those emails when in 'offline' mode.

But you can choose which folders to fully synchronise eg: you may want Inbox full downloaded, but not the 'Spam'. You may want last years Archive 2023 folder but not older Archive folders.

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Toad-Hall said

The Global Search takes header info and small section of data to use in searches. That data is stored in a the 'global-messages-db.sqlite' file in your profile name folder. If only headers are available then that's what gets returned. If you select to read any emails that are not fully downloaded then those emails will appear blank because the natural action is to access server and download email into a cache to facilitate viewing. Obviously in 'offline' mode that's nor possible. Basically, if you do not have full copies downloaded then you will not be able to read any contents of those emails when in 'offline' mode. But you can choose which folders to fully synchronise eg: you may want Inbox full downloaded, but not the 'Spam'. You may want last years Archive 2023 folder but not older Archive folders.

Then i need to download the last year of inbox and sent emails. The way to do that is:

  • Keep messages for this account on this computer: Checked
  • Synchronize the most recent 365 days

Is that OK?

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That would work, but as the days go by more downloads are added, so maybe compact at least once a week, so the oldest are removed as fully downloads, but kept as headers only.

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