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Delete only stored offline emails

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by Erzé

Erzé
Erzé
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Hi everyone, I am a little bit confused with this synchronization option (attached) and I hope you could help me.

Currently I am using Thunderbird set up with IMAP because I need preserve emails on the server, in addition I have disabled automatic offline emails synchronization. I would like to turn on, however It would make grow the local database a lot. For that reason, I have looking for an automatic way to delete old emails and I found the attached one, but the wording is confusing and the [documentation] too. So my questions are:

Will this automatic task remove local database and remote database (using IMAP)?

If the above answer is 'yes':

Where exactly are emails stored on Linux to delete them periodically with a script? I have been looking an answer for this question also in the [documentation], however it just talks about the user's root directory.

Thanks you in advance.

Hi everyone, I am a little bit confused with this synchronization option (attached) and I hope you could help me. Currently I am using Thunderbird set up with IMAP because I need preserve emails on the server, in addition I have disabled automatic offline emails synchronization. I would like to turn on, however It would make grow the local database a lot. For that reason, I have looking for an automatic way to delete old emails and I found the attached one, but the wording is confusing and the [[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization#w_synchronization|official documentation]] too. So my questions are: '''Will this automatic task remove local database and remote database (using IMAP)?''' ''If the above answer is 'yes':'' '''Where exactly are emails stored on Linux to delete them periodically with a script?''' ''I have been looking an answer for this question also in the [[https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization#w_synchronization|official documentation]], however it just talks about the user's root directory.'' Thanks you in advance.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (2)

Matt
Matt
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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You appear to be making assumptions and expecting answers based on them.

1. Thunderbird stores all mail for a folder in an mbox file. So forget scripts deleting anything. 2. The old email bodies will be removed when the settings say they should, but that will not affect cached bodies and it will not change what you see in the user interface. This will still be a listing of all mail. 3. for storage locations see https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_where-is-my-profile-stored

Erzé
Erzé Question owner
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Hi Matt, thanks you for your answer.

Yes, I am making assumptions because I don't understand how it work exactly and I have not found good wording about this.

You talk about "cached body" but, what does it mean? do you mean the IMAP server database?

So, If I am not wrong, you mean that old email bodies just will be removed from local database and I will be able to download them again in the future from the IMAP server cache (database).