Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Is it possible to select individual messages to not be deleted from POP3 server

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 20 views
  • Last reply by Matt

dragonfuse
dragonfuse
more options

I am using Thunderbird version 45.4.0 on Windows and have a POP3 account with the following Server Settings checked:

- Leave message on server. - For at most 14 days. - Until I delete them.

These settings have the expected behaviour, which is that messages are deleted on the POP3 server 14 days after being downloaded or earlier if deleted in Thunderbird.

Is there a way, with these settings, that individual messages can be selected/marked so that they will not be deleted from the POP3 server? If not, is there a technical reason for this or is it just that it is not implemented.

Many thanks

I am using Thunderbird version 45.4.0 on Windows and have a POP3 account with the following Server Settings checked: - Leave message on server. - For at most 14 days. - Until I delete them. These settings have the expected behaviour, which is that messages are deleted on the POP3 server 14 days after being downloaded or earlier if deleted in Thunderbird. Is there a way, with these settings, that individual messages can be selected/marked so that they will not be deleted from the POP3 server? If not, is there a technical reason for this or is it just that it is not implemented. Many thanks

Modified by dragonfuse

All Replies (3)

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

As far as I am aware, the pop protocol has no provision for that sort of thing. Just as it has no provision or concept of folders.

dragonfuse
dragonfuse Question owner
more options

From my limited knowledge of the POP3 protocol, it is the mail client's responsibility to remove messages from the server by sending a DELE msg for each, with a message-id argument identifying the message to be deleted. From that perspective I would think it should be doable, but maybe just not a feature that has been implemented?

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

If it has been implemented in any mail program it would be news to me.

the standards are delete on download, delete after a certain time and when I delete. I have never seen any other options in mail client.

I would guess if you copied the mail somewhere and then deleted the original you would see a simulacrum of what you seek.