local vs IMAP server remote copies

[crenelle]

Recently my copy of Thunderbird for Mac started to wholesale download all my mailboxes from the mail server to the client laptop. Many of these mailboxes are non-trivial in size, for example sqlite is around 2 GB.

I did not and would never click on that checkbox to do that, and have no idea what process was used to determine that I needed all my mail locally. My mail server and clients are configured for IMAP use.

So I unchecked that box. And I ran through many of the largest mailboxes and unchecked the more local mailbox-specific checkboxes as well.

How do I safely remove local copies of the mail without deleting the server-side copies?

[tanstaafl]

Disable syncing of offline folders. Uncheck tools -> account settings -> account_name -> synchronization & storage -> keep messages for this account on this computer. However, Global search/indexing will download the same folders in the background if its enabled and the mbox files are available due to offline folders being enabled. So consider unchecking tools -> options -> advanced -> global search/indexing too and using one of the other searches such as the quick filter bar. Note: OS X uses preferences instead of tools -> options.

If you are a belt and suspender type person temporarily also unsubscribe the remote folder (right click on the account in the folder pane, select subscribe, expand the folder hierarchy and refresh, and then unsubscribe what folders you want hidden) before you exit Thunderbird and delete its mbox file.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Menu_differen ... x,_and_Mac
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Minimize_the_ ... _a_profile (read this if you have a gmail account, it also has a good overview of what you are trying to do)

Also take a look at http://kb.mozillazine.org/Entire_messag ... AP_message . mail.imap.mime_parts_on_demand_threshold should normally prevent downloading large attachments unless they're opened though I haven't tested whether that only applies to opening a message or also effects offline folders for a good while.

[crenelle]

Yeah, ok, but I have over a hundred mailboxes. I can't just shut off the whole dang thing in one titanic triple-throw switch closure?

[tanstaafl]

You could do that for all of them at the same time.