Using Pop3, can I delete messages from server while keeping the local copy?
I recently had to give up on my old version of Eudora when it started failing to update SSL certificates properly. I'm fairly conversant with Thunderbird but there is one feature Eudora had that is very important to me that I can't find on Thunderbird,
Note: Using Pop3... There are a number of reasons I don't want to use IMAP, so please don't suggest that as the only solution.
In Eudora, viewing the list of messages pane, I can right click any, all, or multiple selected messages and a dialog box pops up that allows me to choose "Change Server Status" then choose between: - "Leave" (just leave it on server and don't download
- "Fetch" (i.e. download the message to local machine while leaving it on server); or
- "Fetch then delete" (download to local then delete from server).
-- In other words, I didn't have to delete the local message in order for it to be deleted on the server, and I didn't have to wait for some number of days for the messages to be deleted by the client.
I know I can use Settings to delete mail from server after "x" time, but I often prefer to do this on the fly. I find this very handy and used it all the time. I can't find the equivalent feature in Thunderbird. I did find an old message/help thread that discussed an option that would delete the message on the server when it is moved to a local folder. That would work almost as well as what Eudora can do. But I can't find that option anywhere in Settings or Options. Did I miss it somewhere?
Many thanks, Eddy
Όλες οι απαντήσεις (3)
The default configuration of a POP account is to download the message to the client and then immediately delete the copy on the server. That's your "Fetch then delete".
Alternatively you can choose to leave messages on the server, as a kludge workaround for users who want to use multiple devices but don't/won't/can't use IMAP.
The "delete when moved to Local Folders" is only relevant to IMAP-connected accounts.
Zenos said
The default configuration of a POP account is to download the message to the client and then immediately delete the copy on the server. That's your "Fetch then delete". ....
Well, no, it's not the same as Eudora's fetch and delete which gives the user the choice to download all messages but not delete them, then later choose which ones should be deleted selectively from the server, yet still remain intact locally.
No, with Thunderbird you'd have to manage the server another way. Some have a "master" machine which is set to delete on downloading, while their other devices leave it on the server. Others resort to webmail.
Most avoid all this and use IMAP. ;-)
But the whole business of leaving messages on a POP server is a kludge and outside the simple principle of POP; mail arrives at the server, you download it, server is emptied.
When POP was the standard way of getting email, servers were small and couldn't store many messages. It was in the user's interest to download and delete so as to free up space for more incoming.
Why do you use POP if you specifically want to leave messages on the server?