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Delete certain messages older than X-days?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by LeeGordon

LeeGordon
LeeGordon
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I receive reminder emails from a calendar, with the day's agenda. I want to keep these all day, then delete them the next day, automatically, from the "All Mail" (gmail) folder. I don't want to delete all messages from the folder, after a certain number of days, just the ones with certain phrases in the subject field. Yes, I could make a filter that first moves these emails to a separate folder, then put a retention policy on that folder, but that would only delete them from that folder, not from All Mail.

Filters lets you delete messages before or after a specified date, but the date is not dynamic, i.e., I would have to go in every day and set it for today's date manually, to get it to work. I need a filter that first evaluates the subject, then dynamically evaluates whether it's older than x-number of days, to delete it.

I wish TB filters had an "older than" in the Filter options, like it does for retention. Any add-ons that work with TB 60, that do this, or is there some other option or work-around for doing this?

Thanks.

I receive reminder emails from a calendar, with the day's agenda. I want to keep these all day, then delete them the next day, automatically, from the "All Mail" (gmail) folder. I don't want to delete all messages from the folder, after a certain number of days, just the ones with certain phrases in the subject field. Yes, I could make a filter that first moves these emails to a separate folder, then put a retention policy on that folder, but that would only delete them from that folder, not from All Mail. Filters lets you delete messages before or after a specified date, but the date is not dynamic, i.e., I would have to go in every day and set it for today's date manually, to get it to work. I need a filter that first evaluates the subject, then dynamically evaluates whether it's older than x-number of days, to delete it. I wish TB filters had an "older than" in the Filter options, like it does for retention. Any add-ons that work with TB 60, that do this, or is there some other option or work-around for doing this? Thanks.

All Replies (2)

Zenos
Zenos
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First of all, I'd say stop worrying about what's in All Mail. Most users don't ever need to see or use this folder.

I have several gmail accounts and all are set not to subscribe or synchronise All Mail. I see it it as part of google's arcane machinations and as such, not intended to be particularly useful to the end user.

My filters do have an "older than" option which is in units of days. If it isn't part of the standard toolset then you may need the FiltaQuilla add-on. However I suspect that by the way Thunderbird's filters run on incoming messages arriving in the Inbox, you may have to run an "older than" type filter manually.

Modified by Zenos

LeeGordon
LeeGordon Question owner
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Thanks for your response:

Zenos said

First of all, I'd say stop worrying about what's in All Mail. Most users don't ever need to see or use this folder. I have several gmail accounts and all are set not to subscribe or synchronise All Mail. I see it it as part of google's arcane machinations and as such, not intended to be particularly useful to the end user.

I'm not sure how ignoring the folder would keep it from bloating up with irrelevant, outdated email, since it automatically goes to All Mail, and your other folders are just labels that get deleted, when you delete messages from other folders.

My filters do have an "older than" option which is in units of days. If it isn't part of the standard toolset then you may need the FiltaQuilla add-on.

Unfortunately, it's not part of the standard toolset, and the FiltaQuilla add-on doesn't work on TB 60.0. I could toggle the extensions.strictCompatibility setting, to "false", and give it a try...

However I suspect that by the way Thunderbird's filters run on incoming messages arriving in the Inbox, you may have to run an "older than" type filter manually.

Wonder if there's already a feature request for this to vote on.

Update: I did disable strict compatibility, but Filtaquilla is definitely broken on TB 60. Had to use the task manager to shut down TB.

Modified by LeeGordon