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How can I delete a single message from Inbox without permanently deleting contents of my Trash folder?

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I have several messages in my Trash folder that I am not ready to delete permanently. I also have some new messages in Inbox that I want to delete. It's ok (and always true in the past) that when I delete selected messages from the Inbox they go to Trash. But I don't want all the existing contents of Trash to be permanently deleted. I don't know why the program has made this change. I don't seem to be able to move the selected messages to Trash -- my only options are to leave them in Inbox or deleting them along with all existing Trash. (I'm using Windows 10. I don't know what version of Thunderbird I have, but it was last modified in September 2015.)

I have several messages in my Trash folder that I am not ready to delete permanently. I also have some new messages in Inbox that I want to delete. It's ok (and always true in the past) that when I delete selected messages from the Inbox they go to Trash. But I don't want all the existing contents of Trash to be permanently deleted. I don't know why the program has made this change. I don't seem to be able to move the selected messages to Trash -- my only options are to leave them in Inbox or deleting them along with all existing Trash. (I'm using Windows 10. I don't know what version of Thunderbird I have, but it was last modified in September 2015.)

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> I don't know why the program has made this change. Made what change? If you have not changed any options, when you hit delete a message should go to trash. Are you saying that does not happen?

Also, sept 2015 is very old version. Do help | about. It should offer to update, or have a "check for updates" button.

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That is not quite what I was saying. I did not hit delete a message because I was asked whether I really wanted to empty the Trash folder. I didn't want to delete the trash folder, so I didn't delete the new message.

However, good news. For some reason, without any action I'm aware of on my part, the correct action is now occurring -- when I delete a new message in my Inbox, the program no longer says it will empty the Trash folder. So the problem is solved, at least temporarily.

Thank you for the suggestion to update the Thunderbird program.