Is it possible to delete junk emails off POP3 server but leave them in Thunderbird Junk folder?
I have a POP3 server with spam filtering disabled at the ISP's end, so Thunderbird handles all spam to my accounts via adaptive filtering to the Junk folder. I have mail retention set at 14 days to give adequate email history on my phone when away from home.
Unfortunately that means while my desktop inbox looks great - as Thunderbird's adaptive filter is pretty good at diverting spam to the Junk folder - my phone inbox shows everything INCLUDING the spam emails. That's starting to get a bit painful.
Moving to IMAP isn't an option, so I'm hoping there might be a way to set Thunderbird to:
1) continue diverting spam to the Junk folder using adaptive filters as it is presently doing; 2) remove those spam messages from the POP3 server immediately on classification as Junk; and 3) retain the Junk messages within Thunderbird indefinitely as a safeguard should a valid email be misclassified as spam.
I'm aware that I can set Junk to delete immediately which would tidy up my phone inbox, but that would leave me without a local desktop copy of the Junk messages should I need to search them for an incorrectly classified email.
Is this possible?
Chosen solution
Have you tried the following: Via 'Menu Bar' toolbar: 'Tools' > 'Message Filters' OR Via 'Mail Toolbar' toolbar 'Menu icon' > 'Message Filters' > 'Message Filters'
- click on 'New'
- Give filter suitable name like 'POP Junk'
- select 'Getting new mail'
- Select 'Filter after Junk Classification'
- select 'Match all following'
- Select : 'Junk Status' and 'is' and 'Junk'
Perform these actions:
- 'Delete from pop server'
- click on 'OK'
- Make sure filter is enabled
All Replies (6)
Moph said
Moving to IMAP isn't an option
Why not? POP on mobile phones just doesn't make sense.
I think your best bet would be to make use of your email provider's filtering. If you want Thunderbird to use its filtering capabilities you need to have it running 24/7. Even then there would be a race to decide whether a message got to your phone before Thunderbird did something about it.
My mail folder is 20.6GB but I have a 1GB maibox limit. Hence IMAP isn't possible without moving service providers completely, which is a fair bit of hassle given they host my web services as well. Two weeks of mail history on my phone is more than I need for the work I do.
Historically I have used the service provider's spam filtering but have had issues with emails being misclassified as spam or simply not turning up at all. I had them turn off spam filtering a few weeks ago and everything that should be is coming through now which is great, but obviously a huge amount of spam is coming through also. Thunderbird is handling the spam great apart from the above issue.
Thunderbird runs 24/7 on my NAS and checks for email every minute, so the 'race' you speak of isn't really a problem. My phone only polls when I manually sync as I prefer not to be distracted by email alerts.
If it can't be done then I'll have to look at other solutions, but I thought it worth asking =)
Modified by Moph
Moph said
Thunderbird runs 24/7 on my NAS and checks for email every minute, so the 'race' you speak of isn't really a problem. My phone only polls when I manually sync as I prefer not to be distracted by email alerts.
Checking mail every minute is more than likely to cause many more issues than it is ever likely to fix. Thunderbird has a default 10 times that for a reason. Connecting, checking , downloading etc usually take significantly longer than 1 minute.
Your NAS should be running a mail server software implementation (perhaps dovecote) and hosting your mail in an imap format locally. Your phone should also be connecting to the NAS through your local router. Either through static IP address to your location or through a dyndns type connection. The NAS in it's capacity as a mail server should be getting your mail from the current hosting service.
I see folk trying to do networking with cheap domestic hardware and consumer products all the time, rarely with any real long term success.
But now to ask the truly serious question. Do you really need 209GB of mail at your fingertips? Sure I probably have that much from my many accounts, but I am lazy in archiving and storage. I also use IMAP on my phone and POP on my local machine with Thunderbird.
I have a 100 Mbit link so checking for mail never takes more than a couple of seconds, regardless of what's coming down. My total mailbox is also only 20.6GB not 209GB - but yes, I do need those archive folders handy as it's quite common that I have reason to search them.
Running a local mail server on my NAS isn't something I'd considered - thanks. I didn't realise that I could POP3 from my provider to a mail server on my NAS and sync my other devices to it using IMAP. Makes sense now that I think about it =)
From a quick search it looks like hMailServer would do the job? I'm running Win 10 Pro x64 on the NAS.
I see your point about consumer grade hardware but I'm running a single person consultancy from a home office with no plans for expansion. Running enterprise level equipment would be overkill for my needs.
Chosen Solution
Have you tried the following: Via 'Menu Bar' toolbar: 'Tools' > 'Message Filters' OR Via 'Mail Toolbar' toolbar 'Menu icon' > 'Message Filters' > 'Message Filters'
- click on 'New'
- Give filter suitable name like 'POP Junk'
- select 'Getting new mail'
- Select 'Filter after Junk Classification'
- select 'Match all following'
- Select : 'Junk Status' and 'is' and 'Junk'
Perform these actions:
- 'Delete from pop server'
- click on 'OK'
- Make sure filter is enabled
That ... looks perfect! Thanks =)
Have implemented it and will see how it goes over the next few days. It looks like it should absolutely sort out my issue though.
Cheers
Edit: Works brilliantly. Thanks again!
Modified by Moph