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Thunderbird and Gmail Synchonization

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  • Last reply by sfhowes

spurfilm
spurfilm
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I have successfully installed Thunderbird and linked it by IMAP to my Gmail account. All working fine. Mail has all been downloaded. However, I want Thunderbird to always download new mail, but never delete anything, even if it was deleted from within Gmail. This is because Thunderbird will be my archive of everything. Then I will be able to delete old messages from Gmail, and know I still have archived copies in Thunderbird. Can you please tell me how to set this up?

I have successfully installed Thunderbird and linked it by IMAP to my Gmail account. All working fine. Mail has all been downloaded. However, I want Thunderbird to always download new mail, but never delete anything, even if it was deleted from within Gmail. This is because Thunderbird will be my archive of everything. Then I will be able to delete old messages from Gmail, and know I still have archived copies in Thunderbird. Can you please tell me how to set this up?

Chosen solution

With IMAP, if you delete from TB or the gmail website, it's deleted from both, as IMAP is a synchronized system. To keep messages permanently in TB, copy them to subfolders of Local Folders, either manually or automatically with a filter. Filters only run automatically on Inbox, but can also be run manually on any other folder such as Sent Mail.

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sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

With IMAP, if you delete from TB or the gmail website, it's deleted from both, as IMAP is a synchronized system. To keep messages permanently in TB, copy them to subfolders of Local Folders, either manually or automatically with a filter. Filters only run automatically on Inbox, but can also be run manually on any other folder such as Sent Mail.