==

You could mark them as Junk and send them to the junk folder. The junk folder can be set to delete contents after one day.

The reason I am defaulting to the Trash folder is that I don't want to have to go into two folders (Junk and Trash) to get rid of all the spam. I clear out all the spam every day. I'll have to find out if there is a way to delete mail without it going into the Trash folder.

Of course you can delete email permanently with Filters. You can even delete it on the server before it is even sent to your computer. You know, your really should experiment and explore all the menus and features and find out what Thunderbird can do before asking an elementary question of others. That is exactly how the rest of us have learned what Thunderbird can do.

Purebeads said

The reason I am defaulting to the Trash folder is that I don't want to have to go into two folders (Junk and Trash) to get rid of all the spam. I clear out all the spam every day. I'll have to find out if there is a way to delete mail without it going into the Trash folder.

Look under Server Settings for the account to control what happens with deletions, and 'Empty Trash on Exit'.

David Spector said

Of course you can delete email permanently with Filters. You can even delete it on the server before it is even sent to your computer. You know, your really should experiment and explore all the menus and features and find out what Thunderbird can do before asking an elementary question of others. That is exactly how the rest of us have learned what Thunderbird can do.

The very last thing I am interested in hearing from you or anybody on this forum is a scolding for asking a question. If you were a moderator, you would have more sense than that. A lot of people come here for help who do not fully understand the program. If you are going to say things like that, then just keep your mouth shut.

sfhowes said

Look under Server Settings for the account to control what happens with deletions, and 'Empty Trash on Exit'.

Thanks, but this is not the best-designed program I have ever used, and using Empty Trash on Exit may cause me to lose an occasional message that I want to keep. Besides, I always put my computer in Sleep mode, and I may not exit Thunderbird more than once a month.

Purebeads, I may have been a bit frustrated with you, because I'm not a saint, but you don't have to be uncivil in return ("If you are going to say things like that, then just keep your mouth shut.").

I DID answer your question about how to delete email completely in Thunderbird filters. If you are going to abuse people who try to help you because you believe they are scolding you, how does that help make your communications with others more effective? What will come next? Foul language or insults? Be nice.

No, you didn't give me an answer. When I select "Delete" in a filter, it isn't deleted. It is merely moved to the Trash folder. That is apparently what Delete does in Thunderbird.

sfhowes says that I can delete it on the server, but I don't know what that means. When mail is downloaded, isn't it deleted on the server after being downloaded? I'm a user, not a technician.

So, David, how does one delete an email with a filter without it being moved to the Trash folder? When I select "Delete" in a filter, I want it to be GONE from my computer.

When you make your filter, instead of selecting "Delete Message" in the "Perform these actions" section, click the little down arrow or press the down-arrow key to select "Delete from POP Server". POP is the mechanism for receiving email. The POP Server is the mailserver that is sending email to your computer. The deletion will happen on the mailserver, so the email should never reach your computer. I have never tested this myself, but I would expect this option to work that way.

In the future, you could experiment with options like this yourself, and get your answers much quicker. Also, you could free up time for those of us who volunteer to help people. Usually, people try things themselves before they ask questions. Please try this in the future; you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that you can learn things on your own.

You may believe that Thunderbird is poorly documented, and you would be correct. Once a software product has been created, it is unlikely that other people will have time to write documentation if the original creator failed to do so. That's part of the downside of free open source software.

Thank you for being civil in your last posting. I hope this satisfies your questions.

I haven't confirmed this, but if 'Remove it immediately' is selected for deleted mail in Server Settings in Account Settings, a Delete action in a filter should do that and not move it to Trash. Just like Shift+Delete applied to a message bypasses Trash.

As I said, I'm not a technical person. I didn't know that "Delete from POP server" meant it would be deleted BEFORE it was downloaded. I don't know how servers work, especially since I have heard that items can remain on the server after they have been downloaded. Maybe now I won't have to look at that word "Viagra" again.

As for you, David, you are still scolding me. If you don't enjoy being a volunteer, then maybe you SHOULDN'T BE ONE. NOW, STOP GIVING ME UNSOLICITED ADVICE ABOUT WHAT I CAN DO IN THE "FUTURE". I would prefer that other people answer my questions than you. Your attitude makes you a jerk.

sfhowes, I didn't know that the "Delete It Immediately" option existed. I did look through all of the settings (or I thought I did), and I didn't see it. I'll try it, thank you.

There is no call for your acting so uncivil with me after I tried so hard to help you. I hope never to encounter you again.

Somebody suggested that I use "Delete From Pop Server" instead of just "Delete" (in my filters), since Delete does not actually delete an email; it just moves it to the Trash folder. The idea is that "Delete From Pop Server" would delete an email before it is downloaded to my computer -- but that does not appear to be happening. I just got an email from this email address:

[email protected]

My filter instructs TB to delete emails from the pop server that have either "viagra" or "viaqra" in the From field, but it was still downloaded to my computer. I assumed that "viaqra" would work for "Viaqra" too (i.e., that the filters are not case-sensitive). So what went wrong? Why wasn't the email deleted? (The filter was set to "Match any of the following".)

Are the filters case-sensitive? I thought they weren't.

Thanks.

Purebeads said

Somebody suggested that I use "Delete From Pop Server" instead of just "Delete" (in my filters), since Delete does not actually delete an email; it just moves it to the Trash folder. The idea is that "Delete From Pop Server" would delete an email before it is downloaded to my computer -- but that does not appear to be happening. I just got an email from this email address: [email protected] My filter instructs TB to delete emails from the pop server that have either "viagra" or "viaqra" in the From field, but it was still downloaded to my computer. I assumed that "viaqra" would work for "Viaqra" too (i.e., that the filters are not case-sensitive). So what went wrong? Why wasn't the email deleted? (The filter was set to "Match any of the following".) Are the filters case-sensitive? I thought they weren't. Thanks.

See my reply in the other current thread on this subject:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1273741#answer-1269561

Thank you, sfhowes. I didn't realize there was another thread on the topic.

So I have unchecked "Leave message on server" for all of my email addresses. You say, however, that you don't believe that a mail client can even delete messages on a pop server, so I guess we'll see what happens.

In my opinion, the problem is the way TB is designed. "Delete" (either the key or the filter command) doesn't actually delete -- it just moves a message to Trash. Only when it is in the Trash folder does Delete actually delete. I don't see why both the filter command "Delete" and the key "Delete" don't actually delete, no matter what folder the message is in.

Unfortunately, TB's spam filters don't work very well. To a large extent, TB is designed to be similar to Eudora, but Eudora had far superior spam filtering. I wonder why TB can't filter spam the way Eudora did.

"Delete from Pop Server" isn't working the way I hoped, but I may have discovered a solution. I set the Trash folder to delete emails that are more than a day old. My real irritation was that I had to be constantly deleting emails I didn't want. I'll just let the program delete them. However, I'll keep looking for a solution via the filters.

God, I hate spam.

Purebeads said

Thank you, sfhowes. I didn't realize there was another thread on the topic. So I have unchecked "Leave message on server" for all of my email addresses. You say, however, that you don't believe that a mail client can even delete messages on a pop server, so I guess we'll see what happens. In my opinion, the problem is the way TB is designed. "Delete" (either the key or the filter command) doesn't actually delete -- it just moves a message to Trash. Only when it is in the Trash folder does Delete actually delete. I don't see why both the filter command "Delete" and the key "Delete" don't actually delete, no matter what folder the message is in. Unfortunately, TB's spam filters don't work very well. To a large extent, TB is designed to be similar to Eudora, but Eudora had far superior spam filtering. I wonder why TB can't filter spam the way Eudora did.

Delete moves the message to Trash and marks it as deleted in the source folder mbox file. A message isn't permanently removed until the folder is compacted. While you may find this process unnecessary, it's by design to allow deleted messages to be recovered. I expect there are many more users who want this kind of recovery option than there are who would like immediate removal.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Undelete_a_message

I can imagine that you are right. In my case, however, I have always checked both the Junk AND Trash folders every time my mail comes in to make sure I'm not missing something. But since I don't like looking in two folders, I now have everything sent into the Trash folder.

It's possible that the Delete From PoP Server command is working at least sometimes, judging by the fact that I am seeing fewer of the messages that have that in the filter. I'll let you know.

Thank you for the non-judgemental help you've given me.

Why isn't this filter working? I just created it, but already the incoming emails with ENQUIRY in the Subject line are not being marked as junk. It seems to me that this is a very simple and straightforward filter.

Never mind! I figured it out.