Date
1 - 12 of 12
cleaning old messages out of thunderbird
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Troy Burnham
Hi all,
I only have a gmail address in thunderbird and I see under the file menu an option to empty the trash. Is there a quick way to delete messages from the sent mail folder and the spam folder, other than going into each folder and selecting the messages and deleting them that way that is? Thanks. Troy
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Gene
I don't think there is a delete all mail. I've never seen such a command in the programs I've used. But if you have an IMAP account, I'm not sure if deleting mail removes it from the server, in GMail. Or perhaps you have to usen some sort of setting in Thunderbird to do so. I don't know enough about this to say one way or the other but when I first started fooling around with an IMAP account in Thunderbird that is a GMail account, I tried to delete a lot of trash mail and my recollection is that it wasn't deleted, but it came back because it was still in the folder. But GMail has such enormous storage capacity that I don't worry about it and sometimes, its nice to have old messages for reference.
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Gene
-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Burnham Sent: Monday, November 23, 2020 7:10 PM To: main@TechTalk.groups.io Subject: [TechTalk] cleaning old messages out of thunderbird Hi all, I only have a gmail address in thunderbird and I see under the file menu an option to empty the trash. Is there a quick way to delete messages from the sent mail folder and the spam folder, other than going into each folder and selecting the messages and deleting them that way that is? Thanks. Troy
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Gerald Levy
No, there is no option for emptying the Sent or Spam folders. The easiest way to accomplish this is to focus on the list of messages in each foler, perform a select all command (control-A) and then press the delete key to move them all in one fell swoop to the trash folder. Then when you empty the trash folder, all the sent and spam messages will also be deleted along with the rest of the trash.
Gerald
On 11/23/2020 8:10 PM, Troy Burnham
wrote:
Hi all,
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Gene
You are talking about using the e-mail program, not the web site, which, as I understand the question, is what is being asked about. Also, the person didn't say he wanted to delete all the messages from the various folders. Your procedure will delete all messages from every folder where this is done. What is wanted needs to be clarified. Also., you are talking about emptying the messages on the machine. If you want to actually delete the messages from the web site, when using GMail, I'm not at all sure that works when using an e-mail program.
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Gene
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Levy via groups.io Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 5:52 AM To: main@TechTalk.groups.io Subject: Re: [TechTalk] cleaning old messages out of thunderbird No, there is no option for emptying the Sent or Spam folders. The easiest way to accomplish this is to focus on the list of messages in each foler, perform a select all command (control-A) and then press the delete key to move them all in one fell swoop to the trash folder. Then when you empty the trash folder, all the sent and spam messages will also be deleted along with the rest of the trash. Gerald On 11/23/2020 8:10 PM, Troy Burnham wrote: Hi all, I only have a gmail address in thunderbird and I see under the file menu an option to empty the trash. Is there a quick way to delete messages from the sent mail folder and the spam folder, other than going into each folder and selecting the messages and deleting them that way that is? Thanks. Troy
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Gene
I misunderstood the question. It is asking about emptying messages using the e-mail program, not using the web site. We don't know if an IMAP account or a POP3 account is being used. We don't know if it matters whether the messages are emptied from the e-mail program or from both the e-mail program and the web site.
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Gene
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerald Levy via groups.io Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 5:52 AM To: main@TechTalk.groups.io Subject: Re: [TechTalk] cleaning old messages out of thunderbird No, there is no option for emptying the Sent or Spam folders. The easiest way to accomplish this is to focus on the list of messages in each foler, perform a select all command (control-A) and then press the delete key to move them all in one fell swoop to the trash folder. Then when you empty the trash folder, all the sent and spam messages will also be deleted along with the rest of the trash. Gerald On 11/23/2020 8:10 PM, Troy Burnham wrote: Hi all, I only have a gmail address in thunderbird and I see under the file menu an option to empty the trash. Is there a quick way to delete messages from the sent mail folder and the spam folder, other than going into each folder and selecting the messages and deleting them that way that is? Thanks. Troy
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Troy Burnham
I know that it won't save a lot of space but I want to delete messages from not only the trash folder in thunderbird but from the spam folder and the sent mail folder. I've been doing what Gerald suggested and just wondered if there was a quicker way.
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Troy
On 11/24/2020 7:21 AM, Gene wrote:
You are talking about using the e-mail program, not the web site, which, as I understand the question, is what is being asked about. Also, the person didn't say he wanted to delete all the messages from the various folders. Your procedure will delete all messages from every folder where this is done. What is wanted needs to be clarified. Also., you are talking about emptying the messages on the machine. If you want to actually delete the messages from the web site, when using GMail, I'm not at all sure that works when using an e-mail program.
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Gene
Are you using a pop3 or an IMAP account? If you are using a POP3 account, I don't know how much disk space you would save, it depends on how many messages you delete. If you are using an IMAP account, you won't save any disk space that matters because messages aren't downloaded until you open a message. Then they aren't kept on your machine after you read them ieven if you don't delete them. Just the message headers are stored on the machine which takes up so little room that its negligible.
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Gene
-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Burnham Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 3:03 PM To: main@TechTalk.groups.io Subject: Re: [TechTalk] cleaning old messages out of thunderbird I know that it won't save a lot of space but I want to delete messages from not only the trash folder in thunderbird but from the spam folder and the sent mail folder. I've been doing what Gerald suggested and just wondered if there was a quicker way. Troy On 11/24/2020 7:21 AM, Gene wrote: You are talking about using the e-mail program, not the web site, which, as I understand the question, is what is being asked about. Also, the person didn't say he wanted to delete all the messages from the various folders. Your procedure will delete all messages from every folder where this is done. What is wanted needs to be clarified. Also., you are talking about emptying the messages on the machine. If you want to actually delete the messages from the web site, when using GMail, I'm not at all sure that works when using an e-mail program.
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Jim Wohlgamuth
Hi there! When I wish to delete old mail, I simply select all messages in a given folder and press delete. When I wish to empty the trash, I press alt-F arrow up to empty trash and press enter. I will occasionally compact the boxes using the alt-F and arrowing up to compact folders and pressing enter.This does keep my system running somewhat faster in thunderbird. Give this a try and see. Good Luck! and Have A Great Day! de <wohlggie@...><KF8LT><Jim>.
On 24-Nov-20 16:03, Troy Burnham wrote:
I know that it won't save a lot of space but I want to delete messages from not only the trash folder in thunderbird but from the spam folder and the sent mail folder. I've been doing what Gerald suggested and just wondered if there was a quicker way.
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Troy Burnham
Thanks Gene, I use an iMap account.
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Troy
On 11/24/2020 3:18 PM, Gene wrote:
Are you using a pop3 or an IMAP account? If you are using a POP3 account, I don't know how much disk space you would save, it depends on how many messages you delete. If you are using an IMAP account, you won't save any disk space that matters because messages aren't downloaded until you open a message. Then they aren't kept on your machine after you read them ieven if you don't delete them. Just the message headers are stored on the machine which takes up so little room that its negligible.
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Gene
Aside from disk space on the machine, its an interesting qquestion about whether, when you delete a message on the machine, if that message is deleted from the actual Gmail site. I'm not sure and I'm not sure if you can set the e-mail program to do that. I haven't seen any discussion of that in this thread exce;pt for what I said and it would be interesting to find out.
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I would rather have my old messages on the site because, at times, I want to go back and look at something I might have no idea I would have wantted to when I got the message. Sometimes, I want to reply to something I delete after I delete it and it remains on the server and I can look at it in my IMAP account. Gene
-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Burnham Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 7:02 PM To: main@TechTalk.groups.io Subject: Re: [TechTalk] cleaning old messages out of thunderbird Thanks Gene, I use an iMap account. Troy On 11/24/2020 3:18 PM, Gene wrote: Are you using a pop3 or an IMAP account? If you are using a POP3 account, I don't know how much disk space you would save, it depends on how many messages you delete. If you are using an IMAP account, you won't save any disk space that matters because messages aren't downloaded until you open a message. Then they aren't kept on your machine after you read them ieven if you don't delete them. Just the message headers are stored on the machine which takes up so little room that its negligible.
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Troy Burnham
Gene,
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This actually gives me another idea, most of the time after I read a message I immediately delete and then like you there are times when I realize either right away or later on that I should've sent a reply to that message. Up to now I've always just gone into my trash folder in thunderbird trying to find the message and sometimes I find it and sometimes I don't, but since you mentioned going back to the site and searching there for messages I want I'll try that next time. Hopefully what I'm looking for will be easier to find on gmail.com than it often tends to be in thunderbird's trash. Troy
On 11/24/2020 7:53 PM, Gene wrote:
Aside from disk space on the machine, its an interesting qquestion about whether, when you delete a message on the machine, if that message is deleted from the actual Gmail site. I'm not sure and I'm not sure if you can set the e-mail program to do that. I haven't seen any discussion of that in this thread exce;pt for what I said and it would be interesting to find out.
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Gene
Its much more efficient to look through the folders in the program itself. Since it is an IMAP account, all mail on the server will, I think, be there. Look in the all mail folder, which is a folder in GMail where all your mail may be. I'm not sure just how things are organized but trash may not have mail that is in all mail.
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Gene
-----Original Message-----
From: Troy Burnham Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2020 9:10 PM To: main@TechTalk.groups.io Subject: Re: [TechTalk] cleaning old messages out of thunderbird Gene, This actually gives me another idea, most of the time after I read a message I immediately delete and then like you there are times when I realize either right away or later on that I should've sent a reply to that message. Up to now I've always just gone into my trash folder in thunderbird trying to find the message and sometimes I find it and sometimes I don't, but since you mentioned going back to the site and searching there for messages I want I'll try that next time. Hopefully what I'm looking for will be easier to find on gmail.com than it often tends to be in thunderbird's trash. Troy On 11/24/2020 7:53 PM, Gene wrote: Aside from disk space on the machine, its an interesting qquestion about whether, when you delete a message on the machine, if that message is deleted from the actual Gmail site. I'm not sure and I'm not sure if you can set the e-mail program to do that. I haven't seen any discussion of that in this thread exce;pt for what I said and it would be interesting to find out.
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