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Thunderbird is using 12.5GB of disk space. How can this be reduced?

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  • Last reply by christ1

joynercn
joynercn
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I took a look at this thread: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/999525?esab=a&as=aaq

However, I don't see any nstmp files, so the solution doesn't transfer.

I use Thunderbird to manage six email addresses. At present, Thunderbird is using 12.5GB in my AppData folder, which is roughly an eighth of my hard drive (SSD). I either need to reduce that or force Thunderbird to store these on a different hard drive. How can I do either?

I took a look at this thread: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/999525?esab=a&as=aaq However, I don't see any nstmp files, so the solution doesn't transfer. I use Thunderbird to manage six email addresses. At present, Thunderbird is using 12.5GB in my AppData folder, which is roughly an eighth of my hard drive (SSD). I either need to reduce that or force Thunderbird to store these on a different hard drive. How can I do either?

Chosen solution

first and foremost... Compact your folders. That is the only time space is freed. Deleted mail is marked as such but not purged until the compact occurs. So, File menu (Alt+F) > compact folders

Second move your profile, See for locating your profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb See for moving your profile using the profile manager. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder#Firefox_Thunderbird_and_SeaMonkey_2

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Matt
Matt
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Chosen Solution

first and foremost... Compact your folders. That is the only time space is freed. Deleted mail is marked as such but not purged until the compact occurs. So, File menu (Alt+F) > compact folders

Second move your profile, See for locating your profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb See for moving your profile using the profile manager. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder#Firefox_Thunderbird_and_SeaMonkey_2

joynercn
joynercn Question owner
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Compacting folders does nothing for me -- I don't know why. I compacted them today for the first time in about a year, and the folder size remained unchanged. I don't generally delete emails, so that's likely why, but that doesn't mean I need to keep local copies of 12.5GB of emails.

I'll try out moving the profile, thanks!

christ1
christ1
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You complain about the size of your profile, but at the same time you're saying you don't delete any messages. What's not entirely clear to me is whether you actually want to store emails locally in the first place. If so, I'd move the entire profile to another disk (assuming you do have one). http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_your_profile_folder_-_Thunderbird