Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Lolu chungechunge lwabekwa kunqolobane. Uyacelwa ubuze umbuzo omusha uma udinga usizo.

Can't permanently delete a folder

  • 4 uphendule
  • 0 zinale nkinga
  • 1 view
  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu coffent

more options

I permanently deleted all messages in a folder (call it "Unwanted"), then moved Unwanted to Trash, then deleted it permanently. It appeared to be gone. However the next time I opened Thunderbird, Unwanted was back. I tried this several times with the same result. I tried renaming it to "DeleteMe" but then I got the message "The folder could not be renamed. Perhaps the folder is being reparsed, or the new name is not a valid folder name."

Once again, I "permanently" deleted Unwanted and closed Thunderbird. Using a file manager, I found and deleted all relevant folders and files matching "Trash.*" and "Unwanted*.*" and rebooted the computer. However when I opened Thunderbird, an empty "Trash" folder was regenerated as expected, but the "Unwanted" folder was back.

How can I get rid of Unwanted? Thanks!

I permanently deleted all messages in a folder (call it "Unwanted"), then moved Unwanted to Trash, then deleted it permanently. It appeared to be gone. However the next time I opened Thunderbird, Unwanted was back. I tried this several times with the same result. I tried renaming it to "DeleteMe" but then I got the message "The folder could not be renamed. Perhaps the folder is being reparsed, or the new name is not a valid folder name." Once again, I "permanently" deleted Unwanted and closed Thunderbird. Using a file manager, I found and deleted all relevant folders and files matching "Trash.*" and "Unwanted*.*" and rebooted the computer. However when I opened Thunderbird, an empty "Trash" folder was regenerated as expected, but the "Unwanted" folder was back. How can I get rid of Unwanted? Thanks!

All Replies (4)

more options

Just a suggestion, as I had what may be similar: This might be a folder mandated by your email provider. Try deleting folder within Thunderbird and then log onto online account and see if it appears there. If it cannot be deleted, try unsubscribing from it.

more options

Thanks David. I just now (I think) solved the problem. With Thunderbird closed, I used a file manager to delete Trash.sbd, and found Unwanted and Unwanted.msf (in the expected location) and deleted them. This time, when I reopened Thunderbird, Trash was regenerated and Unwanted was gone. What is strange is that I'm almost certain that I'd tried this before and it didn't work. At any rate, at least for now, things are good!

more options

I think they will come back if your account is IMAP. So please check again tomorrow after you restart Thunderbird again and get mail and most importantly select the trash folder (for IMAP account it and the SPAM/Junk folder are not polled for new mail unless you change the defaults or select the folder.

more options

I'm using POP3. "Unwanted" is still gone, so I think things are good.