Enabling Certain Accounts Online when in Offline Mode

[BorgInvasionReturns]

I have several email accounts in Thunderbird. Offline mode is the only way to not have them downloading a bunch of messages at once. Is there a way to make Thunderbird, while in offline mode, to only allow some accounts to go online to download emails when I want to check? Either always online (like if Thunderbird were in online mode) or at will (on demand to check emails manually)? Offline mode seems to be a none or all thing, but I am looking to make at least three accounts go online while the others stay off.
Thanks for any advise.

[tanstaafl]

Are you using POP or IMAP accounts?

You can configure a POP account to "fetch headers only". That's not much to download (basically just what you see in the folder listing) . If you do that and open a message it gives you some canned text with a link that says click here to fetch the message.

If you use a IMAP account you can disable offline folders and global search/indexing. If you do that it only fetches the mail that you open.

Its also possible to impose download limits in an accounts "synchronization & storage" settings (IMAP) or "disk space "settings (POP).

Why don't you want them to download a bunch of messages at once? Performance, exceed some bandwidth limit or ...?

[BorgInvasionReturns]

All using POP.

It is an OCD reason I guess. During the week, I like to keep mails on Gmail in the inbox folder and tag as UNREAD the ones I need to attend to during the week. Then when home on the weekends, I will let Thunderbird download everything, and of course everything on Gmail server goes into the archive folder automaticvally after that.

I know I could make a folder online called "read_later," and move emails there instead of being kept as unread, but then I have to move them to archive's folder later and move them offline in Thunderbird as well. Overthinking, but that is my ADHD.

[Gone Postal]

You talk about moving emails and imply that it is an extra secretarial task that you do not want to take on. Would it work for you to automate this bit of the process by setting up message filters for each of the "hibernated" accounts so that whenever you go on line each of those POP accounts has instructions to move the e-mail to local folder "read_later" then delete message from POP server? You can then read them at your leisure and move them to wherever is appropriate in your local folder structure.

[BorgInvasionReturns]

Yea, doing that in Thunderbird is easy and I do that already. I just want to keep the weekly important (personal) Gmails online and noticeable until I download them all into Thunderbird. I could just start moving them to another folder online for the important ones for the week, and then see how TB downloads them later.
I figured I just ask the selective-offline question first.
I will do some testing when the added folder on Gmail into TB.

[tanstaafl]

Why not tag them with a specific tag? Then you could quickly search for that tag using the quick filter bar, read them and then delete or move them.