T-BIRD FOR APPLE MAC & IPHONE ?

[rodhudson]

Does T-Bird offer the same ‘Delete from server in X days, or Until I Delete them’ utility when running Apple Mac Laptop, and synced with an Ipad and Iphone, using either POP or IMAP ?

I’m happy with my setup.

This is for a friend who is struggling with Mac Mail, and thinking of changing to T-Bird.

I said I’d ask !!

[tanstaafl]

"Delete from server in X days, or Until I Delete them" is a feature of a POP account, its not supported by IMAP accounts. It doesn't matter what operating system you are using. You could use a message filter to test the age in days of a message and automatically delete it if it exceeds the specified value, in a IMAP account. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Message_aging for some other ways to get similar functionality.

They should be able to use the same mailbox (email address) using Thunderbird with a POP account on a Mac laptop and a IMAP account using a native email client on a iPad or iPhone. It would be simpler if they used a IMAP account in Thunderbird too (it would let all of the email clients share all of their mail), but in general you should have no problems other than the POP account can only access the inbox on the mail server. So you can't do things like use a common Sent folder because the one the POP account uses is stored on the hard disk, not on the mail server. That's not a limitation of Thunderbird, that's a limitation of the POP3 protocol used by POP accounts.

Its much easier to migrate to Thunderbird if you are using IMAP accounts because there is no need to import mail. You just need to configure Thunderbird to use a IMAP account for the same mailbox/email address.

[rodhudson]

I think the basic problem is that friend seems to have no way to set an 'Auto Delete' in terms of older emails, and keeps getting warnings that the Mailbox is over 80% full.

And then has to go through a whole rigmarole to find old ones and delete them.

So are you saying there is nothing like the POP 'Number of Days Deletion' on IMAP ?

The 'Warnings' are coming from INMOTION HOSTING by the way. But I imagine all Providers would be similar ?

[tanstaafl]

"So are you saying there is nothing like the POP 'Number of Days Deletion' on IMAP ?"

No. I'm saying that exact feature doesn't exist in a IMAP account but you can accomplish the same thing either by using a message filter or by setting the retention policy in the folders properties. Neither requires him to go through the rigmarole of identifying the old ones.

[rodhudson]

OK. Thanks for that.

Good to know. I'll relay it on !