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Prevent moving messages between IMAP accounts

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

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Hi!

I use a lot of different IMAP accounts within Thunderbird with the unified inbox view. As a result, I often make a mistake and drag e-mail from the unified inbox to a folder on the "wrong" account (which didn't actually receive the original e-mail). Outlook (which otherwise drove me crazy) would prevent this, but Thunderbird allows it so I end up with e-mails scattered across different accounts which they don't really belong to. This later causes all sorts of problems for me.

I understand that for others this flexibility may be a feature, but for me it is not. Is there any sort of setting or add-on which I could use to force Thunderbird to reject an attempt to move an e-mail message outside the original account? Or at least to warn me it's happening?

Thanks very much!

Hi! I use a lot of different IMAP accounts within Thunderbird with the unified inbox view. As a result, I often make a mistake and drag e-mail from the unified inbox to a folder on the "wrong" account (which didn't actually receive the original e-mail). Outlook (which otherwise drove me crazy) would prevent this, but Thunderbird allows it so I end up with e-mails scattered across different accounts which they don't really belong to. This later causes all sorts of problems for me. I understand that for others this flexibility may be a feature, but for me it is not. Is there any sort of setting or add-on which I could use to force Thunderbird to reject an attempt to move an e-mail message outside the original account? Or at least to warn me it's happening? Thanks very much!

All Replies (3)

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I'm not aware of a setting or add-on, but an incorrect move can be undone with Ctrl+Z, and errant moves might be less frequent if done from the Move To option in the context menu, instead of drag and drop. Also, consider using filters to perform move operations that are done often.

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Hi! I'm sorry to hear there's no easy fix. Context menu seems like quite difficult with multiple accounts and folders - do power users have any super fast way to use the Move To option and quickly find the right account / folder? Moving e-mails between folders is something I do a lot so inefficiencies add up.

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