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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Files related to removed email accounts are not deleted.

  • 1 reply
  • 2 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Matt

rob623
rob623
more options

Thunderbird (currently 24.6.0, Windows) current Account Settings window shows Local folders and RSS folders for rss feeds. I used to have 2 email accounts, but a long time ago I stopped using Thunderbird for them. At that time I removed them using the "Remove account" button. They were (and are) no longer displayed. The other day, I went to transfer Thunderbird settings using MozBackup to another system. On that system I could see the two email accounts (including mail messages). Then, I checked in the Thunderbird Profile folder in Application Data. The accounts were still there. So my question is - How can I completely delete the old email accounts. I read elsewhere that the primary email account cannot be deleted. But can the account sub-folders in the Profile folder be deleted without causing other problems?

Thunderbird (currently 24.6.0, Windows) current Account Settings window shows Local folders and RSS folders for rss feeds. I used to have 2 email accounts, but a long time ago I stopped using Thunderbird for them. At that time I removed them using the "Remove account" button. They were (and are) no longer displayed. The other day, I went to transfer Thunderbird settings using MozBackup to another system. On that system I could see the two email accounts (including mail messages). Then, I checked in the Thunderbird Profile folder in Application Data. The accounts were still there. So my question is - How can I completely delete the old email accounts. I read elsewhere that the primary email account cannot be deleted. But can the account sub-folders in the Profile folder be deleted without causing other problems?

Chosen solution

Folder 

mail \server name
IMAPMail\server name

Deleting the server name folders removes any residual mail for an account.

Note deleting such a folder for an active account is something of a disaster.

see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_deleted_mail_accounts not what you ask, but explains folder naming a little

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (1)

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Folder 

mail \server name
IMAPMail\server name

Deleting the server name folders removes any residual mail for an account.

Note deleting such a folder for an active account is something of a disaster.

see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_deleted_mail_accounts not what you ask, but explains folder naming a little