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Thunderbird keeps downloading all my hotmail emails

  • 8 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 4 views
  • Last reply by Matt

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Hello everyone,

I just installed Thunderbird and linked to it my hotmail account with the IMAP setting. I had no idea of the Synchronisation & Storage settings which was set on "Synchronize all messages locally regardless of age".

Once I finished setting up my account Thunderbird downloaded all my messages going back 20 years. I then saw the option to synchronize only the most recent up to 30 days but it was too late and so I went ahead and deleted my hotmail account and tried to add it again while this time, before any synchronization happens, I specifically chose to fetch messages only up to 30 days but I noticed that even now Thunderbird again downloaded all my messages going back 20 years and I don't want this. I just want the latest ones.

What is happening and I can't stop Thunderbird from keep fetching everything? What I want is just emails from the last 30 days to show up not everything.

Thanks in advance folks!

Hello everyone, I just installed Thunderbird and linked to it my hotmail account with the IMAP setting. I had no idea of the Synchronisation & Storage settings which was set on "Synchronize all messages locally regardless of age". Once I finished setting up my account Thunderbird downloaded all my messages going back 20 years. I then saw the option to synchronize only the most recent up to 30 days but it was too late and so I went ahead and deleted my hotmail account and tried to add it again while this time, before any synchronization happens, I specifically chose to fetch messages only up to 30 days but I noticed that even now Thunderbird again downloaded all my messages going back 20 years and I don't want this. I just want the latest ones. What is happening and I can't stop Thunderbird from keep fetching everything? What I want is just emails from the last 30 days to show up not everything. Thanks in advance folks!

All Replies (8)

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One way is to access the account in webmail, create a new folder and move mail there that is older than 30 days, then add the account to TB. Right-click the account in the Folder Pane, Subscribe, and uncheck (unsubscribe) the folder with the old mail to it's never downloaded. Or, in the Synchronization & Storage settings, allow the folder to only download headers, not full message bodies.

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Is it not then possible as things stand now to stop TB from downloading all email in my inbox? I would like to add more email accounts and it would be nice if it didn't download everything.

What is the point of the time period setting in Synchronization & Storage if TB will download all regardless?

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I haven't used the time period setting before, so I can't say why it doesn't seem to work as expected. Maybe it only takes effect after the account is added and downloads everything. I generally add accounts in Offline mode so I can adjust the sync settings, to e.g. download headers only, before connecting to the server.

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Will try the offline mode as a work around, thanks.

Hopefully someone else can comment on why the time period setting doesn't work for me.

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I tried the aforementioned method and no luck. TB keeps downloading all messages in my inbox ignoring the setting in "Synchronisation & Storage settings". This is driving crazy. Can anyone shed any light here?

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Is TB downloading the full message bodies or just the headers? If it's just the headers, that shouldn't take much time. Adjust the Retention Policy by right-clicking Inbox, Properties, to keep only the last 30 days.

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It is downloading the full messages which I don't mind so long it doesn't download all of them. I tried adding another email account when I was on offline mode, and then setting the retention policy however upon coming online again it downloaded the entire inbox. Why does it ignore my up to 30days old setting?

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the list of mails is independent of the local synchronization of the message bodies is my understanding of how imap works. YOu will always see all mail in a particular folder, but only the last XX days will be stored locally.