1. Right-click your e-mail address in the normal folder view in Thunderbird and choose Settings.

2. If your e-mail account is set up as IMAP in Thunderbird, then select Synchronization & Storage under your account, and adjust the settings on the right side.

These settings will apply to all e-mails.

If you want to quickly delete old e-mails from just certain e-mail addresses (like your eBay stuff), then you can create a Message Filter in which you can specify in the conditions, "Age in Days" as well as the "From", then in the action, to move the message to the Trash.

The filter will not run automatically. You will have to select the e-mail folder in question, then run the Filter.

You can install the add-on quickFilters which will allow you to add a "Run Filters" button to the toolbar. This will make running the filter easier.

Thanks for this - very clear.

But also clear that Thunderbird won't actually do what I want, which is to delete specific emails automatically, without me having to think about it?

Wolstan_Dixie said

Thanks for this - very clear. But also clear that Thunderbird won't actually do what I want, which is to delete specific emails automatically, without me having to think about it?

That is correct.

HA! Now I have a philosophical problem - does the 'Solved the problem' button mean that my question has been satisfactorily answered, or that my problem has been 'solved' ie I no longer have the problem. Clearly the problem has *not* been solved, though the question has been answered - so on balance I am *not* going to press the button!

Most people never click on that "Solved the problem", even if the problem is solved. It is annoying.

If you really want to "solve" your problem, go back to Outlook.com