Problems Deleting Gmail Folders in Thunderbird

[Shadefrozen]

Greetings;

I have a strange problem when deleting folders from within Thunderbird (deleting actual emails works as expected). I have only noticed this behaviour recently on my fathers machine (as deleting folders isn't a frequent occurrence) so I can't say for sure how long this problem has affected the machine in question.

Technical Details:
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Windows 7 64-bit (intel pentium P6200 with 6Gb RAM)
Thunderbird 52.2.1 (32-bit)

Gmail imap config:
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Server name: imap.gmail.com
Connection Security: SSL/TLS
Authentication: OAuth2
When I delete a message: Move to this folder -> bin on henderxxx@gmail.com (this appears to map correctly as the bin folder is showing as a system icon and not a normal folder)

Within the gmail web interface language is set as English UK (hence the bin and not trash label). I can delete messages just fine and everything else is working as expected, but as an example, deleting a folder named 'test' results in the creation of a folder called '[gmail]/bin/test' with the label '[gmail]-bin-test' when viewing through the web interface.

In Thunderbird, the Bin folder maps to imap://hender1946%40gmail.com@imap.gmail.com/%5BGmail%5D/Bin

Under options -> advanced -> about:config the value mail.server.server1.trash_folder_name is set to [Gmail]/Bin.

I tried just setting this to Bin to no avail. I've also removed the imap account and recreated it, unsubscribed and resubscribed to the Bin folder, and completely reinstalled Thunderbird (after a full uninstall, including the deletion of all config files and folders).

The Thunderbird config is the same as on my Linux machine, and I do not have this problem (using my own email address of course).

EDIT: I was mistaken, a default gmail setup on Thunderbird 52.1.1 (64-bit) running on Xubuntu Xenial 16.04 (and pointing the TB bin folder to the gmail Bin) suffers from the same problem!

Any ideas on how to fix this?

TIA

--
Mark

[tanstaafl]

Is [Gmail] set as the IMAP server directory in server settings -> advanced? That remaps the namespace (changes the folder hierarchy in the folder pane) to make it more useful.

You can specify the trash folder in server settings -> when I delete a message -> move it to this folder. That does not have to match the trash folder used by gmail webmail.

[Shadefrozen]

Hi and thanks for the response. I meant to add that I've already attempted creating my own _trash folder and pointing to that, with the same results. What is odd is that when I empty the bin (or the _trash) itself, the extraneous labels that are created in the web interface are actually removed. So it knows they are in the trash and they do actually map to thunderbird's bin folder (which to my mind means the labels are a potential bug in the Gmail web interface).

If I set [Gmail] as the IMAP server directory, then all Thunderbird displays are the system folders - inbox, sent, drafts, spam, and bin - but nothing else. I use the flat folder tree addon to solve the hierachy problem (although this is not and has never been installed on my father's machine so it isn't a factor).

[tanstaafl]

Did you try either subscribing the other folders or unchecking "show only subscribed folders" in the account server settings -> advanced?

[Shadefrozen]

^^ I did. Tried toggling the server override for namespaces as well, but I didn't expect that to do much. After disabling 'show only subscribed folders', when going back in to File->Subscribe I am only shown the system folders as options.

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced it isn't a Thunderbird problem. I was however hopeful there was a TB solution, but it's no biggie really since emptying the TB trash solves the issue.

Thanks anyway, your assistance is appreciated

[tanstaafl]

If you want to make one last try, log into gmail webmail and go to the settings. In one of the tabs there are checkboxes to control whether certain labels are hidden from the email client. Check that none of them are hidden.