The simple answer is to turn auto-save off and tap Ctrl+S every few minutes to save what you've typed. But check first with an email addressed to yourself that Ctrl+S isn't having the same effect.

btw, are you getting emails from the recipients that they are receiving multiple emails? Are there multiple Sent emails in the Sent emails folder?

Hello "Frisee,"

I did try to manually save, however that still sent the drafts to the recipient.

Yes, the recipient does get the multiple emails.

For now, I have copy-pasting the messages I want drafts of into a word document.

I still hope for a way to fix the underlying issue.

Sincerely, -MK

I'm sorry that no one else has got back to you - I'm not participating anymore but have just come back this morning to sort out if any of my threads needed a response.

The only thing I can suggest (until someone can help you) is to remove or not enter the name of the recipient. Just a work round, yes. But it may save your sanity.

I was watching this thread because I think I know what could be going on, but needed confirmation that the messages are indeed being sent and not just being saved in a Sent folder… :)

Something that could be causing this is Thunderbird somehow saving your drafts in Outbox, which is a special folder in Local Folders it uses to keep messages waiting to be sent. Now, I don't think you're really saving your drafts there and the possible explanation may end up being a little funnier, but just to be sure, what are your account Copies & Folders settings for Drafts? Where are your drafts supposed to be stored according to those settings?

If they're being saved in the right Drafts folder, what could be going on here is that somehow (presumably a bug) has caused that folder to be flagged as if it was an Outbox folder, thus causing the strange behaviour you're observing…

Install the following add-on in order to be able to see and change folder flags:

https://addons.thunderbird.net/thunderbird/addon/folderflags/

After installing it, in Thunderbird right-click on the folder that's being used to store your drafts, choose Properties and select the Flags tab. Does it show the Outbox flag ticked there? If so, uncheck it, click OK, and that should fix the problem.