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Moving mass emails from imap to local folders

  • 1 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by Zenos

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Hi. Over the years I have let my AOL account grow to an enormous size. About 80,000 emails. Unfortunately AOL web interface is useless, and always has errors, very limited search and filtering etc. so I decided to give Thunderbird a shot to help me get my 80000 down to a reasonable amount and then go on an unsubscribe kick and create rules .

Anyway, I do want to keep a backup of many of my emails in local folders. I have already started doing this and I referred to this an old thread from 2015 that unfortunately is closed so I cant reply there. I have two questions about by Toad-Hall.

Synchronise your subscribed folders to get a copy in thunderbird.
Then go into offline mode.
Highlight emails you want to move
...
right click on highlighted emails and select 'Copy to' choose a folder in Local Folders account.
Check you can access those emails via Local Folders.
If you have got a copy into Local Folders, you can then choose to delete the emails that are in the imap folder.
then go back to 'online' mode.
imap folders will synch with server to update the server.


Why is it necessary to copy vs move? Is it so that the actual process of "delete" after is more likely to trigger a delete on the server than a move? Also, why is it necessary to go in offline mode to do this procedure?

Thanks.

Hi. Over the years I have let my AOL account grow to an enormous size. About 80,000 emails. Unfortunately AOL web interface is useless, and always has errors, very limited search and filtering etc. so I decided to give Thunderbird a shot to help me get my 80000 down to a reasonable amount and then go on an unsubscribe kick and create rules . Anyway, I do want to keep a backup of many of my emails in local folders. I have already started doing this and I referred to this an old thread from 2015 that unfortunately is closed so I cant reply there. I have two questions about by Toad-Hall. <blockquote>Synchronise your subscribed folders to get a copy in thunderbird. <br> Then go into offline mode.<br> Highlight emails you want to move<br> ...<br> right click on highlighted emails and select 'Copy to' choose a folder in Local Folders account.<br> Check you can access those emails via Local Folders.<br> If you have got a copy into Local Folders, you can then choose to delete the emails that are in the imap folder.<br> then go back to 'online' mode.<br> imap folders will synch with server to update the server. </blockquote> <br> Why is it necessary to copy vs move? Is it so that the actual process of "delete" after is more likely to trigger a delete on the server than a move? Also, why is it necessary to go in offline mode to do this procedure? Thanks.

Modified by jmsnyc

All Replies (1)

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I suspect it's just about being cautious. Occasionally a move fails and the message just disappears.