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when i delete messages from earthlink inbox they are being deleted from thunderbird inbox

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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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i have a new mac notebook. when i delete selected messages from my earthlink inbox after moving them into my thunderbird inbox, they disappear from my thunderbird inbox as well. i am losing them in both places. although they remain in the earthlink trash they do not appear in either the thunderbird inbox or trash. once i downloaded messages on my previous mac notebook any messages i deleted from my server would remain in my inbox on thunderbird. please advise.

i have a new mac notebook. when i delete selected messages from my earthlink inbox after moving them into my thunderbird inbox, they disappear from my thunderbird inbox as well. i am losing them in both places. although they remain in the earthlink trash they do not appear in either the thunderbird inbox or trash. once i downloaded messages on my previous mac notebook any messages i deleted from my server would remain in my inbox on thunderbird. please advise.

All Replies (2)

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Sounds like you have created an imap mail account in Thunderbird. Imap mail accounts see a remote view of the server folders,

So the folders in Thunderbird and the server webmail folders are one and the same. If you delete an email from either Thunderbird or webmail, then it is deleted off the server and thunderbird.

If you want to keep the email on Thunderbird, but delete off server, then you need to synchronise your folders, go into offline mode and then right clickon email and choose to 'copy to' a folder in Local Folders. Then you delete the email in the imap folder. Go back to online mode and the folders will synch with server, thus removing the email from imap folder and the server.

Modified by Toad-Hall

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the alternative is to create a new mail account, but this time create a POP mail account. Pop mail accounts can only access and download from the server Inbox to thunderbirds mail account Inbox. By default they will delete off server after downloading, although there is a setting that can modify this action if required.