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My deleted folder has appeared as a subfolder of Junk

  • 12 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by perrancott

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The location of the Deleted folder is not a problem but emails that I delete do not appear in the Deleted folder. What have I done wrong?

The location of the Deleted folder is not a problem but emails that I delete do not appear in the Deleted folder. What have I done wrong?

All Replies (12)

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re :My deleted folder has appeared as a subfolder of Junk....The location of the Deleted folder is not a problem

It is a problem because it should not be in 'Junk'. At some point you have dragged the Deleted folder into Junk. Thunderbird does not expect 'Deleted' to be in 'Junk', so cannot locate it. Left click and keep depressed on 'Deleted' folder to grab folder. Drag to hover over mail account name and release to drop it back into the mail account hierachy instead of within a folder.

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Thank you Toad-Hall. The first few times I tried that I got a message that permission was denied but in the end it worked.

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Sorry I spoke too soon. The deleted folder is back in the right place but deleted emails do not go into it. I restarted Thunderbird but it made no difference.

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First check to see if the index folder needs a repair.

right click on 'Deleted' folder and select : 'Properties' click on ' Repair Folder' button click on OK.

Close and restart Thunderbird.

Please report back on results when you delete an email.

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I did as you said but nothing appears in my deleted folder.

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make hidden files and folders visible:

In Thunderbird

  • Help > Troubleshooting Information
  • click on 'Show folder' button
  • a new window opens showing contents of profile folder.
  • Close thunderbird now - this is important.
  • click on 'Mail' folder
  • click on the pop mail account name
  • Look for 'Trash' mbox file - no extension - What size is this file?
  • Delete the Trash.msf file.
  • If you have 'Junk.sbd' folder - delete that folder as you should not have any Junk subfolders.

Close window - top right X Restart thunderbird and report back on results. Post info on 'Trash' file size.

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Thunderbird restarted but still nothing in deleted folder when I delete email. Trash file showed 0kb

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Should have said that there was Trash.spd but I left it alone

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The Trash file showed 0kb means there is currently nothing in it, so nothing would display. However, after selecting to delete a message you would expect something to show.

I am assuming that when you delete, you either click on 'Delete' button or select it from a drop down menu. If you are holding down 'Shift' when you press Delete then it is 'marked as deleted' and hidden; it will not appear in 'Trash' folder.

I'm thinking that something may be wrong in the Inbox.

Please try this: Move all good emails out of 'Inbox' into other suitable folders for organising/storage. Right click on Inbox folder and select 'Compact'. Please do not proceed or stop the compacting - let it finish, it should not take very long.

When it has finished compacting, try to delete an email and report back on results.

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Thanks for the help Toad Hall. I do not have time to sort this out now. I will try again when I get back from my holidays.

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No worries. Have a good holiday, I'll keep watching this question.

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Hi Toad hall. I have solved the problem. I subscribed to the folder Junk and my Deleted folder reappeared in working order. Thanks for all your help.