Gmail: Moving and archiving won't delete from the server
Basically, I'm trying to use Thunderbird to clear some space on my Gmail account. I'm using IMAP. However that just won't work (most of the time). If I archive emails to a local archive or move it to a local folder, a) nothing happens, b) the files are actually moved (and appear in the archive folders)... but the mails remain on the server when checking through Gmail itself. Also, the mails reappear after 10-20 minutes. c) mails are actually moved and they are removed from the server. Mostly it's a or b.
I have tried all deletion options... delete directly (doesn't appear to work), mark as deleted (won't free up space) or move to Trash. Depending on the folder it used to work for a short while, with the mails appearing in the trash folder, ready for deletion. But that stopped working again.
This is all super frustrating and I have no idea if this is a bug or expected behaviour.
All Replies (4)
Do the developers interpret the word move as copy or what is happening? In some threads it appears that way. Yes, I CAN delete manually, and that appears to work, however it's a TERRIBLE solution. What, if something goes wrong with moving the maisl and I delete it without having actually created a copy in a local folder? What if the search function hasn't found all mails? etc.
Move should mean move, i.e. the email is in the new (local) location and removed (or moved to trash) in the previous location. That's the definition of the word...
Unfortunately I'm very much in a hurry to clear up space on Gmail and all I get is 10 copies of the same emails on my hard drive, with yet another copy on the server...
Hi Wayne, I was on 128.2.2. However neither 128.2.1 nor 128.2.3 work any better.
I'm really wondering if this is the expected behaviour and I need to first copy the emails and then delete them by hand, because move is supposed to ignore the meaning of the word, or if this is actually a bug.
I found out that for POP3 there is a hidden option to force it to delete the emails from the server when moving to local storage (leading me to think that it's intended behaviour). Sadly, this setting seems to be missing for IMAP.
Endret av kadajawi
General Info:
In gmail there is only only way to delete emails.
First you need to make sure the 'Trash' folder you see in the gmail account in Folder Pane is the same 'Trash' folder used by gmail as default for deleted emails. I have come across people who actually had more than one Trash and even someone who manually created a Trash folder - not the same.
How to check you are using correct Trash.
- Logon to webmail account and delete an email.
- Make a note of the name of the folder.
In Thunderbird
- Right click on gmail 'Trash' folder and select 'Properties'
- Select checkbox 'When getting new messages for this account always check this folder'
- clickon 'OK'
Select the gmail Trash folder which may be called Bin or Trash. Look for the email which you just deleted in webmail account. If it appears then you know you have the correct folder.
If IMAP
- Account Settings > Server Settings
- When I delete a Message:
- Select 'Move it to this folder ' and choose the default TRash folder on gmail account.
Gmail will auto remove any emails that are 30 days old from the server 'Trash' folder. When it does this, gmail will delete the email from the 'All Mail' folder.
If you do not put deleted email into the gmail server 'Trash' folder, eg: do a direct delete by passing the Trash - then gmail perceives this as just remove the label and archive in 'All Mail' folder. So, email still lurks in 'All Mail' and you are not freeing up any space.
So bare this in mind - if you have a copy of same email in more than one imap folder on the account, then using the Shift+Del will mean you can remove the label from that particular copy and retain the other copy. Otherwise, a delete to Trash will delete all copies.
It's also advisable to compact the folder after deleting a load of emails because that removes all the old traces of the email from the mbox file. If deleting from Inbox then you can set up the Inbox to get auto expunged on Exit. That settings is also in Account Settings > Server Settings.
I always advise that if you want to get a copy of email in the 'Local Folders' account then use the Right click > 'Copy to' > select suitable folder in 'Local Folders' account.
There is much jibber jabber between imap/thundrebird and server when you move etc any email and if you have an Anti-Virus scanning files that opened or scanning incoming and outgoing mail then the AV might intervene and cause a slight delay maybe even timeouts occur. The point being if you are doing a Copy to and it fails you can repeat the action. Once you have a good copy outside of the imap account the you can delete the copied emails from the imap account and compact the folder.
The 'Move to' out of imap account action - you would imagine is a delete off server, so if something goes wrong you could end up losing the email. But, it's possible that 'Move to' is actually only removing a label because email did not get put into the Trash. So it's always worth loging on to webmail account and checking to see if that 'moved' email is still in the 'All Mail' folder - archived by gmail not deleted. Gmail is very particular when it comes to deleting.
You will find the same applies to any server that uses the gmail model of storing all emails in just one folder called 'All Mail' and then applying 'labels' to faciliate a view which looks more like normal folders.
Hope info is useful.
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