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Tonight I am unable to delete messages. Thunderbird says I am out of disc space. It tells me to empty the trash, but the trash is already empty. It also tells me to compact folders but I cannot find a way to do that. Please help.

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As of this evening, 3/1/22, my Thunderbird e-mail account says I am out of disc space. It will not allow me to delete any emails. It gives me a message to empty the Trash folder, but that is already empty. It also asks me to compact folders, but I don't know how to do that. Please help.

As of this evening, 3/1/22, my Thunderbird e-mail account says I am out of disc space. It will not allow me to delete any emails. It gives me a message to empty the Trash folder, but that is already empty. It also asks me to compact folders, but I don't know how to do that. Please help.

Chosen solution

One suggestion is to go to tools>preferences>general and on Disk Space, click the button to 'Clear Now.' I also suggest highlighting each folder, right-click and select 'compact' - (there is an addon, xpunge, that also does that).

However, that may only be a temporary solution, given that you're almost out of space. You may need to look at other disk-intensive applications or files.

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Chosen Solution

One suggestion is to go to tools>preferences>general and on Disk Space, click the button to 'Clear Now.' I also suggest highlighting each folder, right-click and select 'compact' - (there is an addon, xpunge, that also does that).

However, that may only be a temporary solution, given that you're almost out of space. You may need to look at other disk-intensive applications or files.

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Hi David, Thank you very much for your suggestions!

Actually, after reading some of the other links on your help pages last night, it occurred to me that my AVG Antivirus package might be part of the problem, as well as part of the solution. I was right! After posting my request to you, I ran a couple of the scans AVG has available, and also the "clearing system junk" features I have set up. That gave me some wiggle room to delete more unwanted messages.

Next, I spent quite a bit of time deleting messages in my in box that I often keep to "refer to later". It needed to be done anyway, just hadn't taken the time yet. Today when I logged in, messages loaded normally and the prompt to "compact folders" popped up automatically like it used to do. So things are working again.

One thing I still don't understand is why the "compact folders" prompt hasn't been popping up regularly like it used to. It is set up in my settings to do that. Ah, well!! Computers are great when they work!

Thank you again for your kind response. Sincerely, Molly M.

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I am pleased all is well again. For compacting, you may benefit from reviewing your settings at tools>preferences>general and scrolling down to Disk Space, where you can adjust frequency of compacting.

There are also some quality disk cleaners available to help in disk cleanup. Freeware products such as CCleaner and Wise Diskcleaner can reclaim unneeded disk space. I use both at least once a month.