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The system tells me there not enough disc space. i deleted +4000 items

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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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"there is not enough disc space, to download new messages. Try deleting old mail, emptying the trash folder, and compacting your trash folders, and then try again" This is the message I get, I have deleted ALL in trash folder and all in Sent folder and many in box mails, in total more than 4000. It still gives me this message. What do I do? My service provider informs me that the problem is with mozilla

"there is not enough disc space, to download new messages. Try deleting old mail, emptying the trash folder, and compacting your trash folders, and then try again" This is the message I get, I have deleted ALL in trash folder and all in Sent folder and many in box mails, in total more than 4000. It still gives me this message. What do I do? My service provider informs me that the problem is with mozilla

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When you delete an email, it is 'marked as deleted' and from your viewpoint it disappears from the eg: Inbox folder and reappears in the Trash/Deleted folder. In reality it is still in the Inbox. just 'marked as deleted' and hidden. This is important as sometimes people delete in error and need a mechanism for getting those emails back quickly.


re: I have deleted ALL in trash folder and all in Sent folder and many in box mails, but you do not state whether you followed the advise and compacted all of your folders. To remove all traces of 'marked as deleted' emails and free up space, you need to compact your folders.

To compact all folders: File > Compact Folders

To compact a specific folder: right click on Folder and choose 'Compact'

Please read info on compacting, what it does and why it is important and what sort of errors can arise if you don't.

General Advise: The inbox should only have a few emails as it is the Inbox for new incoming mail and not designed as general storage. Here is a good link on how to keep a healthy Thunderbird:


In addition: If you use a Pop mail account, please make sure you do not have loads of old emails using up your server quota. Logon to webmail and delete old mail off server. OR set up preferences to delete old mail. Note you do not have to do ths, it is only a suggestion. it is one way of removing older mail off the server, but not from Thunderbird. example:

  • Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings for the mail account
  • select 'Leave messages on server'
  • select 'For at most eg: 90 days'
  • select 'Until I delete them'
  • click on OK

If you have an IMAP mail account, the server usually affords more space on the server. But it is possible to move emails into Local Folders account and then delete off the server if you need to make space on server.

In all cases if you have emails stored on the computer you need to ensure backups are made in case of emergency.