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

Add new IMAP mail account with syncing disabled

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 10 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

more options

I use Thunderbird with IMAP mail accounts and don't sync any mail locally. When adding a new IMAP gmail hosted account the default at account creation is to start syncing mail locally. Once syncing starts (usually the inbox) it won't stop until the sync is complete.

My current procedure to add a new account is to add the account, leap into settings, turn off "Keep messages for all folders for this account on this computer" and then quit Thunderbird before syncing starts. I then restart Thunderbird and repeat the procedure for the next account.

Is there a way to start Thunderbird so the default on creating a new IMAP account will NOT be "Keep messages for all folders for this account on this computer" to save having to quit and restart each time.

Thanks.

I use Thunderbird with IMAP mail accounts and don't sync any mail locally. When adding a new IMAP gmail hosted account the default at account creation is to start syncing mail locally. Once syncing starts (usually the inbox) it won't stop until the sync is complete. My current procedure to add a new account is to add the account, leap into settings, turn off "Keep messages for all folders for this account on this computer" and then quit Thunderbird before syncing starts. I then restart Thunderbird and repeat the procedure for the next account. Is there a way to start Thunderbird so the default on creating a new IMAP account will NOT be "Keep messages for all folders for this account on this computer" to save having to quit and restart each time. Thanks.

All Replies (1)

more options

If you add the account offline, from File/Offline/Work Offline, or clicking the icon at the left end of the Status Bar, all the settings, including "keep messages..." can be set in the Advanced config. window of the account setup (Manual config.), before going online. This useful for adding accounts whose settings aren't in the TB database, or avoiding the download of full messages.