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.

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

In Thunderbird 45.2, how do I keep messages on my computer?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by nopenope

more options

Others have asked this question, but the answers I find appear to refer to older versions of Thunderbird.

When I delete a message from the server, it disappears from Thunderbird. I want messages to stay in Thunderbird regardless of what happens on the server.

How I've set up Synchronization & Storage: Keep messages for this account on this computer = checked Synchronize all messages locally regardless of age = selected (I had to select one of the three options, and that one looked likeliest) Don't delete any messages = selected Under Folders and Newsgroups, Inbox, Drafts, and Sent are checked under "Download"

What else do I need to do?

Thanks.

Others have asked this question, but the answers I find appear to refer to older versions of Thunderbird. When I delete a message from the server, it disappears from Thunderbird. I want messages to stay in Thunderbird regardless of what happens on the server. How I've set up Synchronization & Storage: Keep messages for this account on this computer = checked Synchronize all messages locally regardless of age = selected (I had to select one of the three options, and that one looked likeliest) Don't delete any messages = selected Under Folders and Newsgroups, Inbox, Drafts, and Sent are checked under "Download" What else do I need to do? Thanks.

Chosen solution

Move them to Local Folders.

The wording about local copies is not very clear. It's offering to make local temporary copies which make browsing and searching faster, and allows you to review existing messages even when offline. The assumption is made that when you delete a message, you really don't want it.

Move a message out of the account folders to Local Folders in Thunderbird and you have detached it from the server and it's yours to keep.

Read this answer in context 👍 3

All Replies (2)

more options

Chosen Solution

Move them to Local Folders.

The wording about local copies is not very clear. It's offering to make local temporary copies which make browsing and searching faster, and allows you to review existing messages even when offline. The assumption is made that when you delete a message, you really don't want it.

Move a message out of the account folders to Local Folders in Thunderbird and you have detached it from the server and it's yours to keep.

more options

Zenos said

Move them to Local Folders. The wording about local copies is not very clear. It's offering to make local temporary copies which make browsing and searching faster, and allows you to review existing messages even when offline. The assumption is made that when you delete a message, you really don't want it. Move a message out of the account folders to Local Folders in Thunderbird and you have detached it from the server and it's yours to keep.

Perfect. Thanks.