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Thunderbird's Weird Synch Behavior with Gmail "Folders"

user1390991
user1390991
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This applies to every version of Thunderbird I have ever used including Thunderbird 60.3.0 which I am currently using.

In the following Thunderbird Gmail refers to Gmail "folders" (i.e. labels) on the Thunderbird client. Web Gmail refers to "folders" on the Google GMail server. I use Thunderbird to connect to Web GMail "folders" Drafts, Sent Mail, All Mail, Spam and Trash.

Deletions from All Mail Never Sync -- Deleting individually or all with a ctrl a this "folder" (label) never syncs. The messages disappear in the current session but reappear in the next session. Deleted All Mail messages NEVER appear in Thunderbird Gmail Trash or in the Web GMail (Goolgle Gmail server) Trash.

Sent and All Mail Bizarre Behavior -- Messages deleted from Thunderbird Gmail Sent are deleted from Thunderbird GMail Sent and Web GMail Sent. However on Web GMail the deleted message never appears in Trash but it is removed in All Mail. Now here is the really weird part -- Deleted Sent messages still appear in Thunderbird Gmail All Mail whether in the current session or the next session.appears in

Trash Never Syncs -- No mail deleted in Thunderbird Gmail "folders" ever shows up in Thunderbird Gmail Trash or Web Gmail Trash.

In another forum question for the GMail Spam folder not synchronizing it was suggested that using "Compact" would solve the problem. It doesn't in my installed version of Thunderbird.

What gives? (I never had this problem with Yahoo Mail, time to go back?) Is Thunderbird is simply buggy garbage using GMail or am I doing something wrong?

This applies to every version of Thunderbird I have ever used including Thunderbird 60.3.0 which I am currently using. In the following Thunderbird Gmail refers to Gmail "folders" (i.e. labels) on the Thunderbird client. Web Gmail refers to "folders" on the Google GMail server. I use Thunderbird to connect to Web GMail "folders" Drafts, Sent Mail, All Mail, Spam and Trash. Deletions from All Mail Never Sync -- Deleting individually or all with a ctrl a this "folder" (label) never syncs. The messages disappear in the current session but reappear in the next session. Deleted All Mail messages NEVER appear in Thunderbird Gmail Trash or in the Web GMail (Goolgle Gmail server) Trash. Sent and All Mail Bizarre Behavior -- Messages deleted from Thunderbird Gmail Sent are deleted from Thunderbird GMail Sent and Web GMail Sent. However on Web GMail the deleted message never appears in Trash but it is removed in All Mail. Now here is the really weird part -- Deleted Sent messages still appear in Thunderbird Gmail All Mail whether in the current session or the next session.appears in Trash Never Syncs -- No mail deleted in Thunderbird Gmail "folders" ever shows up in Thunderbird Gmail Trash or Web Gmail Trash. In another forum question for the GMail Spam folder not synchronizing it was suggested that using "Compact" would solve the problem. It doesn't in my installed version of Thunderbird. What gives? (I never had this problem with Yahoo Mail, time to go back?) Is Thunderbird is simply buggy garbage using GMail or am I doing something wrong?

Modified by user1390991

Chosen solution

I never had this problem with Yahoo Mail, time to go back?

Up to you. Note that Gmail uses a special implementation of IMAP. See this article for more information. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-gmail

Deletions from All Mail Never Sync

Even though the article was written for Postbox, it's applicable for Thunderbird as well. https://support.postbox-inc.com/hc/en-us/articles/202200580-Delete-Behavior-for-Gmail-Accounts

Why would you want to have 'All Mail' in Thunderbird in the first place? If you don't need it, simply unsubscribe from it.

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All Replies (2)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

I never had this problem with Yahoo Mail, time to go back?

Up to you. Note that Gmail uses a special implementation of IMAP. See this article for more information. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-gmail

Deletions from All Mail Never Sync

Even though the article was written for Postbox, it's applicable for Thunderbird as well. https://support.postbox-inc.com/hc/en-us/articles/202200580-Delete-Behavior-for-Gmail-Accounts

Why would you want to have 'All Mail' in Thunderbird in the first place? If you don't need it, simply unsubscribe from it.

user1390991
user1390991 Question owner
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Thanks for taking the time to reply. The first link showed me my error and soved the problem. I was not going through the subscribe procedure.

Re: "Why would you want to have 'All Mail' in Thunderbird in the first place?"

I was linking to All Mail only to make sure that the "folder" was empty when all email has been sent to Trash.