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Spam mails are not deleted from the spam folder

  • 7 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 7 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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In the account settings, I have set the spam mail to be automatically deleted after one day. In spite of that, spam mail in the spam folder is not automatically deleted at any time, even if I restart Thunderbird. In the end, I always have to clean the spam folder manually.

In the account settings, I have set the spam mail to be automatically deleted after one day. In spite of that, spam mail in the spam folder is not automatically deleted at any time, even if I restart Thunderbird. In the end, I always have to clean the spam folder manually.

Chosen solution

No worries, your English is excellent.

Does the Pop mail account use it's own Inbox or is it set to use a Global Inbox and all incoming mail goes to Local Folders Inbox?

If it uses it's own Inbox: Confirm you have the following set up.

Pop mail account Tools > Account Settings > Junk Settings for that pop mail account

  • selected : 'enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account'
  • selected: 'Move new junk messages to'
  • selected : 'Junk folder on pop mail account'
  • selected: 'Automatically delete junk mail older than 1 day'
  • click on 'Global Junk Preferences' button
  • Options window opens on Junk tab
  • Selected: 'When I mark messages as junk'
  • selected: 'move them to the accounts 'Junk' folder'
  • selected: 'enable adaptive junk filter logging'
  • Click on OK to save Options.
  • Click on OK to save any changes to Account settings.


check Config editor preferences: Tools > Options > Advanced > General tab

  • click on 'Config Editor ' button
  • it will tell you to be careful :)
  • In top search type: purge

look for these lines -

  • mail.server.server1.purgeSpam Value = 'true'
  • mail.server.server1.purgeSpamInterval; Value = 1

Do these two settings look correct? where the '.server1' part is the correct server number for the account name/email address: thus: mail.server.server1.userName; = email address of account

Have you set up all your accounts to purge/delete junk after one day ?

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All Replies (7)

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Do you mean 'Spam' or 'Junk'?

Thunderbird can be set up to auto delete 'Junk' mail from the 'Junk' folder. It does not have a 'Spam' folder.

If emails are marked as 'Spam' then this has been done by either the Spam filter settings in the webmail account or you have software which is doing it. Thunderbird does not mark anything as 'Spam'.

Do you have an IMap mail account? Is the 'Spam' folder a subscribed folder which was created by the webmail account?

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It is the 'Junk' folder, the one created by Thunderbird (sorry for the mistake, but I'm a Spanish user, so I didn't know the word used by Mozilla in the original version; actually, the literal translation from the word used in the Spanish version would be 'undesired' mail).

The account is a POP account. It is the same one, and also the only one, with which I (still) have the problem that I posted here:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=606233

With the other two accounts I have none of the two problems.

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Chosen Solution

No worries, your English is excellent.

Does the Pop mail account use it's own Inbox or is it set to use a Global Inbox and all incoming mail goes to Local Folders Inbox?

If it uses it's own Inbox: Confirm you have the following set up.

Pop mail account Tools > Account Settings > Junk Settings for that pop mail account

  • selected : 'enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account'
  • selected: 'Move new junk messages to'
  • selected : 'Junk folder on pop mail account'
  • selected: 'Automatically delete junk mail older than 1 day'
  • click on 'Global Junk Preferences' button
  • Options window opens on Junk tab
  • Selected: 'When I mark messages as junk'
  • selected: 'move them to the accounts 'Junk' folder'
  • selected: 'enable adaptive junk filter logging'
  • Click on OK to save Options.
  • Click on OK to save any changes to Account settings.


check Config editor preferences: Tools > Options > Advanced > General tab

  • click on 'Config Editor ' button
  • it will tell you to be careful :)
  • In top search type: purge

look for these lines -

  • mail.server.server1.purgeSpam Value = 'true'
  • mail.server.server1.purgeSpamInterval; Value = 1

Do these two settings look correct? where the '.server1' part is the correct server number for the account name/email address: thus: mail.server.server1.userName; = email address of account

Have you set up all your accounts to purge/delete junk after one day ?

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Thanks for your quick answers!

I realized that I didn't select the option 'enable adaptive junk mail controls for this account', but, even selecting it, the junk mails are not automatically cleaned. I tried restarting Thunderbird, restarting the computer, and even manually changing the date and restarting Thunderbird, but nothing worked.

I checked the entries in the advanced configuration, and they are all correct.

My aim, as it was with the other problem I posted, is just to help to improve the development of Thunderbird by pointing the bugs. But they are actually really minor issues and not a real problem for me. So don't worry if the problem is not finally solved.

And thanks again!

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In the mean time, while I was writing the last post, the mails were cleaned. It seems that Thunderbird does that just at some particular moments.

So the problem is solved. Thanks one more time!

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Cpanel shows SPAM account is nearing capacity of 150MB with no files showing in the file list. Opening webmail, SPAM folder has thousands of messages. Deleting all these messages (finding the delete button is a weekend's work -- it is in the "other" list of message tools -- in Horde. I have yet to find a way to delete spam messages stored on the server via Thunderbird.

GW

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gwbill You have a different issue and are discussing a different folder, so really this should be a new question. However: Items placed in a server Spam folder have been filtered by the server.

If Pop mail account: Pop mail accounts can only see the server Inbox. This is not a Thunderbird quirk, this is how all pop mail accounts work no matter what email client. So you would need to logon to webmail in order to remove items in a server 'Spam' folder or see if the server has an auto empty facility.


If IMAP mail account: You need to subscribe to see that 'Spam' folder. Then you can set a folder retention policy.

  • Right click 'Spam' folder and select 'Properties'.
  • click on 'Retention policy' tab
  • deselect 'Use my account settings'
  • Select the options you require.
  • Click on OK.