Lets just say it you really really demand to loose data, this is a good way. Hence the refusal.

The path in and of itself requires the user to have administrator privileges to access it. Even the accounting programs have finally got with the program and stopped requiring that.

I suggest you move your "history" to where it is stored now, or to a D: drive.

Lets just say it you really really demand to loose data, this is a good way. Hence the refusal.

Hi. Thanks for your reply, but I do not understand this comment. My C: drive has been the destination for my mail for decades. I've never lost any mail data from it. In fact, as the drive with automated scheduled backups, it is my most protected drive.

Are you saying Thunderbird does not now allow any location on C: to be the Local Folders storage?

That's contrary to what I've been doing for years. Has something changed?

The path in and of itself requires the user to have administrator privileges to access it.

"C:\Thunderbird" is not an OS-managed directory. Why would admin privs be required to access it? (And I do have admin privs anyway ...)

And as I wrote, the Appdata/Roaming area, supposedly the correct area, has the same problem!

Thus, I am still mystified ...

FWIW, trying to set up here:

E:\Thunderbird\Profiles\rxd7d4d1.default\Mail\Local Folders

produces the same error.

Situation I am trying to fix -

Multiple email accounts from provider #1 seem to work fine, and I see the emails under my Unified Folders in Local Folders, as expected and desired. The actual storage is inside Local Folders in Inbox.

A single (very important) email account from provider #2 seems to work fine on it's own, (I can send and receive and accumulate mail), but the emails from this account do not appear in Local Folders in InBox. I want them to. But when I attempt to set the path, I get the error shown above.

IOW, some accounts successfully "automatically" copy their emails into Local Folders in InBox (as desired), and some do not. I don't understand the difference in behavior.

Situation I am trying to fix - Multiple email accounts from provider #1 seem to work fine, and I see the emails under my Unified Folders in Local Folders, as expected and desired. The actual storage is inside Local Folders in Inbox.

If thunderbird is using a folder for mail from one account. It will not let you mess it up by forcing the same folder to be used for another. It does not work that way.

A single (very important) email account from provider #2 seems to work fine on it's own, (I can send and receive and accumulate mail), but the emails from this account do not appear in Local Folders in InBox.

So you have to use POP mail to even have that choice! IS the account configured as such?

If the account is configured as POP, you select the Server settings in account settings and using the advanced button Select to use the inbox for a different account.

when I attempt to set the path, I get the error shown above.

IOW, some accounts successfully "automatically" copy their emails into Local Folders in InBox (as desired), and some do not. I don't understand the difference in behavior.

Clearly you do not understand the difference. I am guessing your accounts are "older" and probably predate both the change in defaults to IMAP and the change in defaults to using the global inbox for new pop accounts.

Thanks for your reply.

Yes, all these accounts are POP.

Yes, all these accounts are many years old. Presumably they do predate both the change in defaults to IMAP and the change in defaults to using the global inbox for new pop accounts. (When was that?)

What i need to understand better, I think, pertains to the Message Storage area and the relationship between the settings under the Advanced button and the setting in the Local Directory field.

Are these supposed to be one-or-the-other, but not-both?

Put another way, what is the relationship between the concepts of 'Global Inbox' and 'Message Storage'?

Put another way, what is the relationship between the concepts of 'Global Inbox' and 'Message Storage'?

There is none.

steve.johns said

Put another way, what is the relationship between the concepts of 'Global Inbox' and 'Message Storage'?

There is none.

Well, OK. Two separate things then.

But these two separate things exist in the same program, in the same UI, side-by-side.

I have not found a good explanation anywhere about when one is or should-be used, when the other is or should be used, when both are or should-be used.

My 'Message Storage' fields have a path in them. This may be a historical relic, but it is my situation. The path itself constantly throws the error being discussed, and I cannot clear that path.

This situation does not make sense to me.

If there is anyone here who clearly understands the two separate things 'Global Inbox' and 'Message Storage' and could parse them out for me, I would appreciate the further enlightenment. Thanks.

Global inbox overrides the message storage location and placers messages in the chosen inbox. That is all you need to know really. Storage location is irrelevant if you want to share an inbox among more than one account.

The fact you can not set the same storage location for two or more accounts is just that a fact of how it works. Having multiple accounts share a storage location will mess in the storage locations nest so Thunderbird refuses to play if you attempt to do so.

I suggest you spend a lot of time reading the source code if you want to understand how the two things interact. There is no "spec" that can be consulted to determine how tings work, or even how they are expected to work. As this is a user peer support forum, not a teaching venue I doubt even if someone understood the implications fully they would be unlikely to invest the time in writing documentation just for you.

My personal view is that there should be no user accessible access to edit the storage location. My view is the entry should be removed from the account settings because I have spent far to much time over the past decade fielding questions from people who have managed to loose all their mail messing with the setting. It is a support nightmare because it is easy to use and easy to get so very wrong. just as you did.

Bit-by-bit I'm getting it. I much appreciate your reply(s).

Global inbox overrides the message storage location and placers messages in the chosen inbox. That is all you need to know really. Storage location is irrelevant if you want to share an inbox among more than one account.

That's very helpful, and I confirm it!

In more detail:

What I find is that if I do set the message storage location to some "acceptable" path then some status files there will get their date stamps updated as mail passes thru to the Global Inbox (Local Folders) location. The incoming mail itself however winds up stored -only- in the Global Inbox (Local Folders) location in this case. (IOW, no copy is left at the message storage location.)

I also find that with the message storage location set to the legacy "un-acceptable" path, the very same thing happens. Some status files at the "un-acceptable" path location get their date stamps updated as mail passes thru to the Global Inbox (Local Folders) location and the incoming mail itself winds up stored -only- in the Global Inbox (Local Folders) location, (same as the case above).

What I'd still like to understand is if/how I could a) use the Global Inbox (Local Folders), b) not have extraneous "acceptable" message storage path directories scattered about willy-nilly, and c) not have Thunderbird complain about "un-acceptable" message storage paths (e.g. when I try to simply delete them).