Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Does compacting affect IMAP servers ?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by Raphari

Raphari
Raphari
more options

So, I have been looking for a while on the internet to find an answer to that question but didn't find anything that really answered my doubts.

My thunderbirds has slowly been getting slower as I get more and more emails, and I keep getting the question about compacting folders, and I thought that might help it. Before clicking yes though, I want to make sure that it won't affect my email on my IMAP servers.

Like, I don't want my emails in my inbox to disappear off the server because of the compacting, since I also use those accounts on my cellphone and I need the inbox to sync on all my devices.

So, does compacting affect anything on the server or it's only locally ?

Thank you so much for your answer all.

So, I have been looking for a while on the internet to find an answer to that question but didn't find anything that really answered my doubts. My thunderbirds has slowly been getting slower as I get more and more emails, and I keep getting the question about compacting folders, and I thought that might help it. Before clicking yes though, I want to make sure that it won't affect my email on my IMAP servers. Like, I don't want my emails in my inbox to disappear off the server because of the compacting, since I also use those accounts on my cellphone and I need the inbox to sync on all my devices. So, does compacting affect anything on the server or it's only locally ? Thank you so much for your answer all.

Chosen solution

Compact is a local operation and does not touch the server. The message delete process on the PC does not physically remove the message from the message file. The compact process completes" the delete process by removing "deleted" messages from the local physical message file.

If you are getting frequent compact requests that don't jive with the number and size of messages you delete, then you might have a problem.

As for your increasing slowness, have a look at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems and post your results here

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (2)

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Compact is a local operation and does not touch the server. The message delete process on the PC does not physically remove the message from the message file. The compact process completes" the delete process by removing "deleted" messages from the local physical message file.

If you are getting frequent compact requests that don't jive with the number and size of messages you delete, then you might have a problem.

As for your increasing slowness, have a look at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems and post your results here

Raphari
Raphari Question owner
more options

Thanks Wayne, clear and quick answer!