Don't understand synchronization with IMAP. I do not want what I do with emails on my computer to match how I manage emails on the server.
I use my emails on my computer as a historic log of my communications for different projects over time. The "synchronization" in Thunderbird does not seem to allow me to do this any longer. Simply, I don't want what I do with emails on my computer to match what I do on the server. I want to download all my emails to my computer where I can then read, process, file, print, etc. them over time - because many change in useful status over time. This email management required that the server be my backup should I make a mistake when handling those emails. Should I misplace an email, accidentially delete it, I could count on going to the server to retreive it. Part of my email management involved periodically going to the server to delete batches of emails to clear the server ONLY after I was sure I had dealt with those emails successfully. This "synchronization" prevents all this. How do I re-create my email management methods with IMAP?
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Set your accounts up using POP then. IMAP is not, generally speaking, compulsory.
If you find yourself with a provider who makes it impossible to use POP, then the trick to making IMAP behave like POP is to move the messages to a local store, such as the Local Folders account in Thunderbird. Or switch to a more suitable provider who does support POP.
I trust you have a regime of regular and cyclic backups. You're potentially trusting everything to the HDD on your computer.
Since this email account was initially set up, wihtout my realizing it, as IMAP, how do I switch to POP without losing my email address or the emails on my computer and on the server? Also, I described my long-time practice of how I manage my work-related emails in my initial questions- such that my emails remain permanent or managed as I see fit for as long as I want; It would seem that there are no real permanent ways to save emails using IMAP. I certainly need to keep my webmail server clear and not allow it to grow and grow in size so that would be unacceptable as a permanent respository. You mention "local folders": where are the "local folders" kept on my hard drive and are they completely separate from the server with IMAP? Can I place the Inbox in Local Folders? When one creates folders using Thunderbird with a POP account, where are they located in the email hierarchy compared to those downloaded in IMAP?
Just add the account again. If the set-up wizard offers only IMAP then you need to select "Manual Configuration" and enter the appropriate POP settings from your provider's website. Then you can move messages from the older IMAP-connected account into the new POP-connected account. Finally you can remove the IMAP-connected account from Thunderbird as you see no value in it.
Moving or copying messages from the IMAP-connected account's folders to the Local Folders account makes permanent local copies on your own storage medium - by default this is on your hard disk. Copying them to Local Folders would be very close to your accustomed but unusual manual practice of keeping copies both locally and on the server, without you having to go through the additional effort of visiting the account in your web browser to manage it. The copy or move can be automated by a simple Message Filter.
I very carefully wrote "the Local Folders account in Thunderbird" - I don't know how to make that any clearer. The Local Folders account is stored on your computer.
If your emails are mission critical then you should be doing something better than using a free personal account. A business grade provider would make off-site backups of your mails on his server and this would be a whole lot more secure than your manual to-and-fro checking procedure, and he'd provide more than enough space for your growing accumulation of messages. Filling up a server should never be a concern for the end user; that's for the server operator to worry about.
Both POP and IMAP store messages locally in Thunderbird's profile. The difference is that the POP account copies are the only permanent record of the message, whereas in IMAP the local copy is a cache, maintained just to speed up access and permit off-line searching and browsing of the email archive. Being a cache, it is not permanent and will be added to and subtracted from as messages come and go on the server.
The Local Folders account, as with POP, is stored locally. Hence the name.
POP and IMAP are both long-established email protocols. Many email ciients are deprecating POP and offer only IMAP. Some email providers are pushing IMAP hard and discouraging POP. Your tone suggests that you consider Thunderbird to blame but it is simply reflecting a broad shift in emphasis from POP to IMAP. At least it still offers you the opportunity to use POP; a few new email clients do not.
Thunderbird prefers to keep accounts separate. So each account you add would by default have its own set of Inbox, Sent, Trash and Junk folders. A great many users don't use or need Local Folders and often query its value.
A few users who were brought up on Outlook Express use a configuration where all the POP-connected accounts use a common, shared Global Inbox in Local Folders and so there is no differentiation between accounts.
So there is plenty of choice in how you use Thunderbird.
For myself, I deliberately keep valuable messages on one or more providers' servers, specifically for the protection this gives me against local hardware failure, and as a side benefit, taking advantage of the accessibility of those message via my various computers, phone and tablet.
I shall not write any more here in response to you as I see no sign you have tried to read or understand what has been said to you. You're asking the same questions again. I have to the best of my ability tried to explain the difference between POP and IMAP. If my explanation was inadequate then I am sorry but you do have the whole internet at your fingertips.
Short and simple:
Add the account to Thunderbird again but use POP this time. Copy the messages from the old IMAP account to the new POP account. Delete the IMAP account when you have done with it.
In my opinion. IMAP would serve you better. But you seem intent on asking theoretical questions rather than going ahead to try it out. You understand IMAP well enough to understand the implications, and you have clearly used POP before because you have developed your idiosyncratic back and forth methodology. IMAP would let you manage both server and local copy in one place and at the same time. Win win.