Trash problem

[geohei]

Hi.

TB 45.7.1 on Windows 7.
IMAP account.

Trash folder is shown, but as regular folder, not as Trash icon.

When I delete an email in TB, it is just purged and not moved to Trash folder, despite my Server Settings, which say that deleted emails should be moved into the Trash folder of present account.

Now ... when I delete an email on my provider's email web interface, the email is moved to the Trash folder.

Somehow, TB doesn't recognize the Trash folder despite the fact it is present.

On a different IMAP account at the same provide, I tested with exactly the same account settings. All works fine there as expected. The Trash icon is shown properly in TB, TB and web interface moves emails into the Trash folder when deleted. All fine.

What goes wrong here?

Thanks,

[tanstaafl]

IMAP accounts have three options for what to do when you delete a message. Only one of the choices is to move the message to a trash folder. You need to change Tools -> Account Settings -> account_name -> Server Settings -> "When I delete a message" to "Move it to the Trash folder" if you want it to use webmail's trash folder. Otherwise its just an ordinary folder. Your "trash" folder doesn't have to be called "trash".

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Deleting_mess ... P_accounts

[geohei]

1. The option is not called "Move it to the Trash folder" but "Move it to this folder", and next you have to select the mailbox Trash folder in the combobox on the right. This is also what I did as explained in my OP.

2. The first point of my posting is about the Trash folder not being shown with a Trash icon, as other IMAP accounts on TB are displayed.

I strongly believe the the structure of the files, TB uses for this IMAP account is messed up. Besides this ... it's not the only one showing exactly the same symptoms (=no Trash icon & deleted e-mails not moved to Trash).

3. What I said in 1 is not quite true. I have an IMAP where deleted messages are "Move it to folder", but the selected folder combobox shows "Choose folder". Hence, no folder is selected, but nevertheless e-mails are in fact properly copied to the Trash folder in the mailbox !!!

All by IMAP accounts I talked about are on the same server with teh same provider and configured server & client side identically!

... later ...

Is it not possible to rebuild all local e-mail files from an IMAP account?

[DanRaisch]

Who is the email provider for that account? Some servers do not conform to the settings selected in Thunderbird.

[geohei]

Dreamhost

But as I said, some accounts work and others don't.
Hence, the provider can't really be the reason.

[tanstaafl]

My main email account is a Fastmail IMAP account. I'm configured to "just mark it as deleted" any deleted messages. It does not move deleted messages to the trash folder, it just marks them as deleted (you see a line drawn through the entry in the folder listing). The Trash folder is displayed using the normal folder icon, not the Trash icon. That is because it is not a trash folder as far as Thunderbird is concerned. If I wanted to I could create a folder called deleted items and configure Thunderbird to treat it as a trash folder. There is nothing special about calling a folder Trash. I'm not aware of any way for a IMAP server to indicate a specific folder is a Trash folder (i.e. the one used by webmail), which I suspect is why you have to specify that folder in the accounts server settings if you want to use it a trash folder.

If things get messed up you could try designating the Trash folder using the FolderFlags add-on but I suspect you just have errors in your accounts server settings.

[geohei]

I know that I can create manually a folder called Trash. This one can also be configured as Trash folder where deleted messages are supposed to be moved into, but at the end of the day, messages are NOT transferred to this folder. Also the icon isn't a Trash. There seems to be a connection between the Trash icon and its IMAP functionality.

Another issue I discovered is, that the webmail interface shows 3 folders which TB doesn't show. How is that possible and how can I get TB to sync these with the IMAP server?

Thanks for the hint with the Add-On FolderFlags. It indeed restores the icon and (!) the functionalities.

Remains the question ...
Is it not possible to rebuild all local e-mail files from an IMAP account?

[tanstaafl]

"This one can also be configured as Trash folder where deleted messages are supposed to be moved into, but at the end of the day, messages are NOT transferred to this folder."
If its really being used as a trash folder when you delete the message it should be immediately moved there, not at the end of the day.

"Another issue I discovered is, that the webmail interface shows 3 folders which TB doesn't show. How is that possible and how can I get TB to sync these with the IMAP server?"
Right click on the account name in the folder pane, choose Subscribe, expand the folder listing and check the checkbox for the hidden folders.

"Is it not possible to rebuild all local e-mail files from an IMAP account?"
I don't understand the question. If a message exists in a remote folder in a IMAP account you can copy it to "Local Folders" or a POP accounts folders. If you enable offline folders using synchronization&storage it should also exist in the mbox files (offline folders) whose contents are only viewed when you switch Thunderbird to use offline mode using the File->Offline menu.