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thunderbird keep telling me the local folder is full, even I have deleted 1/3 of the emails inside

  • 1 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 11 views
  • Last reply by Gnospen

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I have about 12K~16K emails a year, I archived them in local folders. Now I need to add some new emails in these local folders, it keep telling the folder is full, I need to delete some email and compact it, I did, for example I deleted 4000 emails from a local folder it originally has 13K+ emails, so I guess after that I could regain some space, but no, after the deletion and compaction, I still cannot copy/move any single emails to it. All local folders are like this, after archive emails from inbox to it, I can only delete email inside, not allowed to add new emails.

How can I fix this?

I have about 12K~16K emails a year, I archived them in local folders. Now I need to add some new emails in these local folders, it keep telling the folder is full, I need to delete some email and compact it, I did, for example I deleted 4000 emails from a local folder it originally has 13K+ emails, so I guess after that I could regain some space, but no, after the deletion and compaction, I still cannot copy/move any single emails to it. All local folders are like this, after archive emails from inbox to it, I can only delete email inside, not allowed to add new emails. How can I fix this?

All Replies (1)

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How much space does the folder take? and how much free space do you have? A folder is one single file with all mails stacked one after another incl all image and attachment. With 15k mails I guess its a very large file. When deleting you only mark mails as "to be deleted" in that file. When you then compact the entire file is rewritten into a new temporary file. When that is done the old file is deleted and the temp file renamed. So part of the time there is a need for twice the space. If the process is halted or unsuccessful, the rename will not take place. And the temp-file might still be there taking up space. Filename: nstmp, nstmp-1 or likewise in your profile, those can be deleted.