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GMAIL: I don't want to download ANY messages

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  • Last reply by alucidwake

alucidwake
alucidwake
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Hello,

I really want Thunderbird to work for me, but I'm not sure if it can. I have three email addresses, one gmail personal and two work, and I have been using gmail itself to coordinate the three. It's not working for me so I'd like to use Thunderbird. The problem, is, whenever I try to add my gmail account to my Thunderbird it downloads all of its messages. I thought IMAP is designed so that the email messages are NOT downloaded?! My gmail account takes up over 50gb of space and I can't afford to download it. So is it possible to have Thunderbird act as an INTERFACE for my gmail account WITHOUT downloading ANY of the messages?

Thank you..! Best, Nick

Hello, I really want Thunderbird to work for me, but I'm not sure if it can. I have three email addresses, one gmail personal and two work, and I have been using gmail itself to coordinate the three. It's not working for me so I'd like to use Thunderbird. The problem, is, whenever I try to add my gmail account to my Thunderbird it downloads all of its messages. I thought IMAP is designed so that the email messages are NOT downloaded?! My gmail account takes up over 50gb of space and I can't afford to download it. So is it possible to have Thunderbird act as an INTERFACE for my gmail account WITHOUT downloading ANY of the messages? Thank you..! Best, Nick

Chosen solution

You can set Thunderbird not to save local copies, but then it may become unbearably slow when browsing your messages.

Tools|Account Settings|{choose your gmail account}|Synchronisation & Storage

Uncheck "Keep messages for this account on this computer". Also look at Advanced, on the same settings page, and make sure all folders are unchecked.

And it may speed things up a tad if you right-click the account, select Subscribe, and select only those folders you want to see.

For most people with your query, I'd say "use webmail" (i.e. the google website) but I must say I find it unpleasant to use. I presume you are also less than satisfied with it?

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All Replies (2)

Zenos
Zenos
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Suluhisho teule

You can set Thunderbird not to save local copies, but then it may become unbearably slow when browsing your messages.

Tools|Account Settings|{choose your gmail account}|Synchronisation & Storage

Uncheck "Keep messages for this account on this computer". Also look at Advanced, on the same settings page, and make sure all folders are unchecked.

And it may speed things up a tad if you right-click the account, select Subscribe, and select only those folders you want to see.

For most people with your query, I'd say "use webmail" (i.e. the google website) but I must say I find it unpleasant to use. I presume you are also less than satisfied with it?

alucidwake
alucidwake Mwenye swali
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Thanks for your reply Zenos, that gives me the flexibility I need! I'm not opposed downloading any messages really, it's just I need to specify which I want to download and which I don't.