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Converting from pop3 to imap inbox issues

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I work in Thunderbird on an iMac. I have recently converted my account from pop3 to imap. I have copied the files i need from my pop3 inbox and folders to the imap account. I would like to have both the old POP account alongside a new IMAP account as there are old emails I want access to (especially in the sent folder) but that I don't want to copy to my imap account as they are old files and there are many of them. I Stopped the POP account from checking for new messages (I Untickked the two boxes in Tools menu > Account Settings > Server Settings > Check for new messages...). My problem is this. New messages download to the imap inbox but then immediately and automatically transfer themselves to the pop3 inbox. I don't want to keep transferring these back to the imap inbox every time I download mail. Can you help by letting me know if this can be rectified?

I work in Thunderbird on an iMac. I have recently converted my account from pop3 to imap. I have copied the files i need from my pop3 inbox and folders to the imap account. I would like to have both the old POP account alongside a new IMAP account as there are old emails I want access to (especially in the sent folder) but that I don't want to copy to my imap account as they are old files and there are many of them. I Stopped the POP account from checking for new messages (I Untickked the two boxes in Tools menu > Account Settings > Server Settings > Check for new messages...). My problem is this. New messages download to the imap inbox but then immediately and automatically transfer themselves to the pop3 inbox. I don't want to keep transferring these back to the imap inbox every time I download mail. Can you help by letting me know if this can be rectified?

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So basically you're saying you just want to keep the POP account for accessing old messages not to be uploaded to the IMAP server.

I'd move those messages underneath the Local Folders account where they remain accessible, and just delete the then obsolete POP account.

Make sure to create a backup of your Thunderbird profile prior to moving stuff around. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile