This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

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

How do I stop Thunderbird from creating additional folders when I add a new mail account?

  • 1 reply
  • 3 have this problem
  • 14 views
  • Last reply by Matt

more options

I've been using Thunderbird for about 8 years now, migrating the configuration from version to version. Currently I have two accounts it picks up email from. I want to add a third account but everytime I do this, it creates a bunch of new folders with the name of the account in my folder tree. This is undesirable, mainly because it looks terrible and it's also dodging the default filtering I have set up globally for received messages.

How do I create a new mail account without it making new folders and just using the local folders like the other accounts already do?

I do not use Thunderbird's internal spam filtering, I use popfile and use message filters to sort the emails by headers Popfile adds to my messages. I do not understand why it won't let me make a new account like the other accounts without making a special folder for the new account. Please help?

I've been using Thunderbird for about 8 years now, migrating the configuration from version to version. Currently I have two accounts it picks up email from. I want to add a third account but everytime I do this, it creates a bunch of new folders with the name of the account in my folder tree. This is undesirable, mainly because it looks terrible and it's also dodging the default filtering I have set up globally for received messages. How do I create a new mail account without it making new folders and just using the local folders like the other accounts already do? I do not use Thunderbird's internal spam filtering, I use popfile and use message filters to sort the emails by headers Popfile adds to my messages. I do not understand why it won't let me make a new account like the other accounts without making a special folder for the new account. Please help?

Chosen solution

Item 1. Global inbox only works with POP mail accounts. Tools menu > account settings >server Settings > advanced and select use global inbox to turn it on. Note the folder will disappear, so move the mail you want from them before you change the settings.

Item 2. IMAP accounts must have their own folders. The View menu > folder > unified view was designed to overcome that as much as possible,

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (1)

more options

Chosen Solution

Item 1. Global inbox only works with POP mail accounts. Tools menu > account settings >server Settings > advanced and select use global inbox to turn it on. Note the folder will disappear, so move the mail you want from them before you change the settings.

Item 2. IMAP accounts must have their own folders. The View menu > folder > unified view was designed to overcome that as much as possible,