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How can I turn the Archive Feature to OFF for all accounts and restore emails back to their original location

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I don't want to use the Archive feature at all, so how do I turn it off for all email accounts I use.

Then how do I restore any emails that were archived back to where they were in the first place.

Why is this default on?

I don't want to use the Archive feature at all, so how do I turn it off for all email accounts I use. Then how do I restore any emails that were archived back to where they were in the first place. Why is this default on?

Chosen solution

A large email database can be quite unwieldy. Archiving allows it to be broken into a large number of smaller files, which in my experience has significant operational advantages.

What catches most people out is that archive function is bound to the 'a' key. For this, I can only suggest the keyconfig addon which allows you to set and unset such key assignments. Having done this, is harder to accidentally archive as you would have to explitly click on menus or toolbar buttons.

I don't have a solution for undoing the archive action. The pragmatic approach is to set archive up to retain the file system structure so inadvertent archiving can be undone. I don't think there is a way to disable it altogether.

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Chosen Solution

A large email database can be quite unwieldy. Archiving allows it to be broken into a large number of smaller files, which in my experience has significant operational advantages.

What catches most people out is that archive function is bound to the 'a' key. For this, I can only suggest the keyconfig addon which allows you to set and unset such key assignments. Having done this, is harder to accidentally archive as you would have to explitly click on menus or toolbar buttons.

I don't have a solution for undoing the archive action. The pragmatic approach is to set archive up to retain the file system structure so inadvertent archiving can be undone. I don't think there is a way to disable it altogether.

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Zenos said

A large email database can be quite unwieldy. Archiving allows it to be broken into a large number of smaller files, which in my experience has significant operational advantages. What catches most people out is that archive function is bound to the 'a' key. For this, I can only suggest the keyconfig addon which allows you to set and unset such key assignments. Having done this, is harder to accidentally archive as you would have to explitly click on menus or toolbar buttons. I don't have a solution for undoing the archive action. The pragmatic approach is to set archive up to retain the file system structure so inadvertent archiving can be undone. I don't think there is a way to disable it altogether.

What happens when I un-tick Keep Message Archives In?

Is there a way to set when to archive? As in age of emails themselves?

Modified by gwmbox

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Is your account gmail? They archive for you into the all mail folder.

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Yes for one, no for 4

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Archive function in Thunderbird is a manual operation. Select the messages and Press the letter a to archive. There is no automatic archive function in Thunderbird. Don't want Thunderbird to archive messages? Do not do the above.