Removing downloaded messages and uninstalling Thunderbird
Hello!
I accidentally made the jerk move of allowing Tbird to download all of my many thousands of messages for offline use. Now I'm about out of startup disk space on my Air. Sigh.
As I understand it, if I delete anything from Tbird, it simultaneously deletes it from the server—the very nature, of course, of the two-way sync. But can I delete the DOWNLOADED FOR OFFLINE USE messages to free up hard disk space without losing them forever/having them also be deleted from the server?
If yes, please tell me how. I really need to free up this disk space and get rid of these downloaded messages but I'm afraid.
Running Thunderbird 24.5.0, all accounts Gmail-based and IMAP.
Many thanks in advance!
Solución elegida
Ok, the account wizard makes non synchronising difficult but possible.
I would recommend you just get rid of everything and restart Thunderbird from new. I also get the feeling that is what you want.
Go to the Help menu and select troubleshooting information. click on the button that shows the profile folder. close Thunderbird. now this should have placed you in ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/
Navigate to ~/Library and delete the Thunderbird folder.
Your profile and everything personalized is now gone.
Restart Thunderbird and it should create a new empty profile and offer to setup your accounts again.
Allow the wizard to do it's thing and at the end select to advanced configure configure the account, modify the entry under synchronization and storage to your preference. I also suggest you unsubscribe from the all mail folder as it is only a duplicate of what is in the other folders.
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Solución elegida
Ok, the account wizard makes non synchronising difficult but possible.
I would recommend you just get rid of everything and restart Thunderbird from new. I also get the feeling that is what you want.
Go to the Help menu and select troubleshooting information. click on the button that shows the profile folder. close Thunderbird. now this should have placed you in ~/Library/Thunderbird/Profiles/<Profile name>/
Navigate to ~/Library and delete the Thunderbird folder.
Your profile and everything personalized is now gone.
Restart Thunderbird and it should create a new empty profile and offer to setup your accounts again.
Allow the wizard to do it's thing and at the end select to advanced configure configure the account, modify the entry under synchronization and storage to your preference. I also suggest you unsubscribe from the all mail folder as it is only a duplicate of what is in the other folders.
Ah, help exists! Thank you for being here!
If I follow the instructions above, however, will it make all those messages disappear from the servers on which they live as well? Certainly don't want to lose all of my email from there—only remove the downloaded/offline versions from the hard drive.
And yes, starting anew in Thunderbird does seem...appealing. Ha.
Of course it does not affect the servers. Thunderbird is the mediator that sends the delete requests. You did see where I said close it. So Thunderbird knows nothing but it closed, and when it awoke, it was a whole new world. ie no profile so lets start over, just like having Alzheimers really. It can not remember the last session.
Amazing. *supplicates*
What do you know about the ~/Library/Caches/Metadata/Thunderbird files? Can they be deleted before rebooting Thunderbird as well? Not ginormous per se (418.8 MB), but if I don't need it, I'd like to wipe ALL the Thunderbird files from this machine if I can before I go about starting all over again.
I know nothing, but if the worst happens you download and install Thunderbird again. I just do not see it as a biggie
i am all good. you saved my sanity. grazie mille!