Deleted unused accounts, but all the folders are still taking up space.
My Thunderbird profile is in serious need of trimming, after having used the program for many years (since version 1, I think!) I had a number of email accounts I no longer used, so I deleted them in the program. However, it seems that this does not also remove the folders on disk that are associated with these accounts, and the profile is still taking up just as much space. I am going to be moving to yet another new computer, and once again moving my profile folder. I'd like it to be a lot less chunky when I do. :-)
Is there a way, from within Thunderbird, to remove the folders and emails that were associated with the now-deleted accounts? I have already moved anything I want to save to Local Folders, but it seems that all this did was increase the amount of disk space the profile is hogging.
Thanks in advance!
All Replies (7)
In Thunderbird Help > Troubleshooting Information click on 'Open Folder' button a new window opens showing the contents of the 'profile name' folder.
Exit Thunderbird now.
For Pop accounts: Click on 'Mail' folder Delete any old pop mail account name folder that you do not use any more. Be careful to remove only those not used, as deletion is somewhat final.
You can check what it contains: click on pop mail account name folder. mbox files (no extension) can be opened using a text editor program like Notepad++ It will show emails one after the other, oldest at top. (assuming there are emails in file). You would be able to see email address etc.
Once deleted, empty the Recycle Bin and start Thunderbird.
Thank you! I appreciate your reply, and will work on this today. I'm glad to know that just manually deleting the folders won't "break" anything in Thunderbird.
Thanks for asking this question, as I just ran into the same thing myself. I deleted a mail account I no longer needed, and then just happened to check the folders in my profile, and as Gayzen discovered, the folders were still there. I considered doing what Toad-Hall suggested and simply delete the folders associated with that account, but....!
I'm wondering why, if Thunderbird created the necessary mail folders when I created the account, why oh why couldn't it simply delete those folders when I deleted the account?
I, too, have been using Thunderbird for years, but I'm only just now learning that folders don't get deleted when I delete an account. Luckily, I've not deleted accounts until now, so there are no stray folders still hanging about.
I will delete the folders for the account I deleted, but I would love it if Thunderbird learned how to do it itself.
re :why couldn't it simply delete those folders when I deleted the account?
Pop mail accounts only get access to download emails from the server Inbox. By default, those 'popped' emails are then deleted off the server (unless you select the option to 'Leave message on server'). This means the only copy maybe on your computer in the profile folders assuming you do not have a complete backup.
If the pop mail account was deleted in error, the current situation means you can recover everything. Some people delete the account not realising this will remove all the deleted pop mail account folders from view. They thought it would just not connect any more or remove account name but not the folders. In those cases the user just wants to see those emails, but not have the pop mail account. As the pop account is still in the profile, the mbox files containing emails can be recovered and placed in the 'Local Folders' mail account.
Over the years, I have helped several people to recover accidentally deleted pop mail accounts or emails from deleted pop mail accounts.
I hope this explains the advantage of still having pop mail account folders and files therein after deleteing the pop mail account from the Thunderbird view rather than assume the user has already made a complete backup.
Yes, I understand what you were saying, thanks Toad-Hall. The only thing I would add to it is that when I delete an account and it goes away from what I can see in Thunderbird, it would be good if Tbird would also pop up a dialog box explaining that the data is still available (POP3 in my case) and where to find it, and that I can choose to leave it there as backup (just in case), or move it somewhere else, or I can delete the files.
I knew where to look for the mail files, but I didn't know they'd still be there after deleting the account. Of course, given the size of today's hard disks, it's not a big deal that the files remain. Although there might be privacy issues involved if the files remain without the user realizing it, that's something to consider, too. But I do agree that Tbird's not deleting them is certainly a safer way to go.
The profile is within the computer User Account, so from a privacy issue, you would need either Admin access to computer or know the password of the User Account to get access.
But I do see your point about not knowing automatically about the deletion of pop account not fully deleting from profile.
Well, today I used my laptop and one of the things I needed to do was delete that one account from Thunderbird. At least now I was well familiar with the process, EXCEPT - Tbird surprised me when I chose to delete the account, it popped up a dialog box asking me if I wanted to delete the mail data, too. (see attached) Was that added to the program in the last week just to close off this discussion??? I sure don't remember it the when I deleted the account 3 days ago, nor did any of us, it seems.
I just checked the version of Tbird I'm using - on my desktop (from which I entered this discussion) it's version 68.4.2 (64-bit). On my laptop, I had already updated to 68.5.0 today before I deleted the account. But I just checked and the version on my desktop also offers the option to delete mail data, too.
Were we simply missing the check-box "Remove message data"or did it magically appear in Tbird today? Whatever, I'm glad to see that option (just wondering if I missed it before)
