read imap mail all devices even if moved to local folder on one device
When T-bird downloads email on desktop and filters mail to my local Family folder on the desktop, that email does not show up on my laptop T-bird.
The email account is a Gmail account, both computers have latest T-bird, account is using IMAP.
The email filters on both are set to MOVE, not copy, the email to the local folder (Family).
I can see in Gmail webmail that when T-bird moves a message to a local folder, the label INBOX is removed.
IMAP on T-bird is not set to synchronize Gmail's All Mail, and that's the only place the email can be found after it's been moved to the local folder.
So, my brother sends me an email. T-bird running on my desktop gets it and moves it to the local Family folder. I'm traveling with my laptop and open T-bird. It shows new mail that has or hasn't been retrieved by the desktop EXCEPT the email from my brother. The only way to discover that is to log on to Gmail webmail and look in the All Mail folder.
What I want is to use T-bird on the desktop and laptop and manage incoming email on either. The messages filtered and moved to local folders tend to be important and kept for a long time. I have many local folders and would rather not use Gmail or other cloud servers for all.
Chosen solution
The border of an IMAP mail account is "in the account". Local folders is not "in the account" so moving mail to local folders is like an international migration, not a move. What happens is a delete on the mail server and copy in Thunderbird to the desired location..
The short is if you move an email out of your gmail account to local folders then Thunderbird will do it's best to delete the email on the server. This is not an accident, it is how IMAP is intended to work. The server is the canonical representation of your mail, so if you move it away from the servers management, it is no longer IMAP synchronized.
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The border of an IMAP mail account is "in the account". Local folders is not "in the account" so moving mail to local folders is like an international migration, not a move. What happens is a delete on the mail server and copy in Thunderbird to the desired location..
The short is if you move an email out of your gmail account to local folders then Thunderbird will do it's best to delete the email on the server. This is not an accident, it is how IMAP is intended to work. The server is the canonical representation of your mail, so if you move it away from the servers management, it is no longer IMAP synchronized.
Thanks for the explanation. I've been accomplishing this using POP3 by leaving all mail on the server until I have it on the client (Eudora) on all computers.
In Gmail's IMAP, these messages filtered to local folders do still appear in the All Mail folder. I stopped syncing that folder in T-bird because of the bulk. Maybe I will just resume doing that and check it when it shows an unread message. There are a lot of those since most of the email I get is filtered to local folders.
I know every time in the past I've tried going from POP to IMAP, something like this happens and I switch back to POP. What I really like about IMAP is the junk/spam folder that syncs to Thunderbird and is so much easier to find and keep messages that are not junk.
When you want your messages being available on all devices, why are you filtering messages to 'Local Folders' in the first place. That pretty much defeats the whole idea of using IMAP. You could also filter to a folder on the server if that is important.
IMAP on T-bird is not set to synchronize Gmail's All Mail, and that's the only place the email can be found after it's been moved to the local folder.
This is the way Gmail works.
The messages filtered and moved to local folders tend to be important and kept for a long time.
Turn on synchronization and create backups of your Thunderbird profile folder on a regular basis. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/imap-synchronization https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile
I stopped syncing that folder in T-bird because of the bulk. Maybe I will just resume doing that and check it when it shows an unread message.
Good luck. You may also want to look through this forum to see how much fun other people are having when doing this.
Trip Beattie said
Thanks for the explanation. I've been accomplishing this using POP3 by leaving all mail on the server until I have it on the client (Eudora) on all computers.
I certainly hope you are not using Eudora OSE. A troubled and buggy product if ever there was one. Now suffering from serious security issues.
If you are using earlier versions of Eudora you are sending email that wil at best be difficult for others to read.
Never used that OSE Eudora, The older 7.1 has worked for me a long time. I even have a black Tshirt with Eudora logo on it. Faded.
It all seems to be about the header flags and how clients and servers use them. Beyond my KB.
I'll monitor this post but consider your help sufficient to mark this solved.
Thanks