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

How to sync deletion of messages with Gmail

  • 3 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by david

more options

I've read several similar questions that say to follow Google's recommendation to choose "Just mark as deleted" when deleting an email in Thunderbird. I tried that, and it doesn't work. Initially, nothing at all happens when I either hit the delete key on my keyboard or click the delete button in Thunderbird. If I manually sync Thunderbird, the email goes away from the inbox, but it's still in my inbox in Gmail. What is the real solution to this?

I've read several similar questions that say to follow [https://support.google.com/mail/answer/78892?hl=en&sjid=9725878114600369371-NA#zippy=%2Cthunderbird Google's recommendation] to choose "Just mark as deleted" when deleting an email in Thunderbird. I tried that, and it doesn't work. Initially, nothing at all happens when I either hit the delete key on my keyboard or click the delete button in Thunderbird. If I manually sync Thunderbird, the email goes away from the inbox, but it's still in my inbox in Gmail. What is the real solution to this?

Chosen solution

I discovered the problem: I usually prefer to look at the "All mail" view of Gmail on my phone. This (evidently) doesn't properly reflect the deleted status from Thunderbird (and perhaps from Gmail as well).

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (3)

more options

Chosen Solution

I discovered the problem: I usually prefer to look at the "All mail" view of Gmail on my phone. This (evidently) doesn't properly reflect the deleted status from Thunderbird (and perhaps from Gmail as well).

more options

Most users unsubscribe All Mail (see All Mail). On my setup, when a message is deleted, with 'just mark as deleted', it's shown with a strikethrough, and is made invisible at the next folder sync. As mentioned in the kb article, if a message is in multiple folders, deleting it by just marking, does not delete it from the other folders. This is a gmail-only property.

more options

That is because trash and deleted are part of all mail. I generally recommend not using it as it increases the disk space and causes extra overhead for Thunderbird to update. Your reported problem also happens if you have not specified to Gmail to expunge when marking as deleted.