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Duplicate Folders & e-Mails

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From Time to Time, I find Folders containing saved e-Mails appear duplicated; but generally cannot delete these Folders. If it am able to delete them, they reappear immediately. How can I resolve this Problem. I have been using Thunderbird for many Years and am a consummate Hoarder, so almost everything is saved. Am I collecting too much Data in Thunderbird?

From Time to Time, I find Folders containing saved e-Mails appear duplicated; but generally cannot delete these Folders. If it am able to delete them, they reappear immediately. How can I resolve this Problem. I have been using Thunderbird for many Years and am a consummate Hoarder, so almost everything is saved. Am I collecting too much Data in Thunderbird?

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You cannot delete any folder that is a default folder eg: Inbox, Drafts, Sent, etc

You can delete any folder which you created.

However, if you have an Imap account then those folders are actually on the server and you have subscribed to see them.

You would need to unsubscribe from seeing the folder which you created.

  • Right click on mail account name folder in Folder Pane and select 'Subscribe'
  • Select folder you do not want to see
  • click on 'Unsubscribe'
  • click on OK

This removes the folder from the imap account, but then you need to remove it from the server. Logon to the webmail account via a browser and delete the folder.

You are not alone in believing you may be a hoarder. The world has plenty of people keeping tons of ancient emails and images that are of no consequence.

I can understand keeping some emails that may be important. Examples:

  • confirmations of orders placed online because if something goes wrong with whatever was purchased there may be a vaild warranty on the item. The order email would help to prove when you purchased the item.
  • Email from a relative mentioning information about a birth, marriage or death or a similar importance. It might prove to helpful to retain such information.
  • Emails that contained helpful information on solving a problem - you never know when you might need it again :)
  • Maybe a business would keep good documentation - customers - sales etc

But why do people keep dozens of emails that are just general chit chat, especially if they are more than 3 years old. It's just consuming space. It's likely you could have emails a decade old and will never need them. If any one sends me a lovely image as an attachment - do I really need to save it after viewing it? If it is a family member then perhaps save it somewhere suitable on computer and then delete the attachment.

There is healthy sense of freedom and control when you delete old stuff that you know is not important and then compact the folder to remove all the old traces. You gain so much space and things can work a lot more efficiently in some cases.

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Thanks Toad. How's Ratty? Unfortunately this doesn't solve my Problem. These are not Default Folders; but Folders I have created for Storage; but some are duplicated that I did not do. When I try to delete them, they just return as they were. My Thunderbird Data is in Dropbox, so, perhaps it is Dropbox that is returning them. Maybe, I shall look in Dropbox WebSite and see if deleting them from there has an Effect, that is, if I can find them.