what folders does "Compact Folders" compact?

[danll]

Simple question. It's never been entirely clear to me how to compact folders in Thunderbird. Can I select my Inbox, hit "Compact Folders", and have ALL the subfolders in my Inbox get compacted? Or do I need to compact each subfolder individually? In fact, can I select the icon for my whole mail account, hit "Compact Folders", and have ALL the folders (e.g. Inbox, Drafts, Templates, etc. and subfolders) be compacted all at once?

Of course, I could just tell Thunderbird to automatically compact folders when it needs to, and be done with it.

[DanRaisch]

The answer to your question depends on which "Compact" command you are using. If you right click on the name of a folder, such as Inbox, and select "Compact" from the context menu that displays, Thunderbird (TB) will compact only that particular folder and not any of its sub-folders. If, on the other hand, you use menu path File->Compact folders, TB will compact ALL folders in the profile, including those in all accounts that may have been created in that profile.

See this article for more information -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_: ... ng_Folders

[danll]

Thank you. I'm talking about the pull-down File->Compact Folders option. So that compacts *everything* in the profile, and not just the folder you selected. Good to know.