Stop TB from checking for new emails

[justmegt]

I setup my 5 TB email addresses on a 64 bit Win 10 computer. I want to keep the emails on my old 32 bit Win 7 but stop checking for new ones when connecting to the internet. I can only find 11 year old instructions on this.

I've been into Tools, Account Settings, Server Settings for each account and unchecked 'Check for new messages at startup' and 'Check for new messages every 5 minutes'. The 11 year old instructions mention 'Under Advanced, uncheck "Use IDLE command if the server supports it"'. Can't find that one. There was another command which I can't find or remember. I tried to change the mail server settings with commas instead of full stops, as suggested by a post. TB just changed these back to full stops. Seemed like a good idea but didn't work.

My TB is 68.1.2

Is there anything else I need to do?

[tanstaafl]

I assume you have POP accounts, which store the mail on the hard disk. Look in tools -> account settings -> account name -> server settings and confirm the server type is "POP mail server" for each account (other than "Local Folders").

In tools -> options -> advanced -> network & disk space -> connection -> offline UNcheck "automatically follow detected online state" and check manual state when startup -> offline. In offline mode Thunderbird is supposed to not access the network, and temporarily disable any features that require network access.

If you have any IMAP accounts let me know and I'll suggest some alternatives.

[justmegt]

I assume you have POP accounts, which store the mail on the hard disk. Look in tools -> account settings -> account name -> server settings and confirm the server type is "POP mail server" for each account (other than "Local Folders").

In tools -> options -> advanced -> network & disk space -> connection -> offline UNcheck "automatically follow detected online state" and check manual state when startup -> offline. In offline mode Thunderbird is supposed to not access the network, and temporarily disable any features that require network access.

If you have any IMAP accounts let me know and I'll suggest some alternatives.

TB set them up as IMAP accounts.

[tanstaafl]

Then copy (NOT move) all of the mail to folders in the "Local Folders" special account, delete the IMAP accounts and add a bogus POP account that doesn't check for new mail.

You can add a bogus POP account using tools -> account settings -> account actions -> add mail account. Enter a bogus username and password (the username needs to use a real domain, such as gmail.com). Press the manual config button, enter a bogus server name, and then press the advanced button. That should add the account as is, without checking if its valid. Uncheck the two check for new mail settings. Alternatively, add a real POP account for one of your email addresses (if they support IMAP they should also support POP) and uncheck the two check for new mail settings.

The reason for the bogus POP account is on startup Thunderbird wants you to add an account if you just have Local Folders.