Specify different Trash folder?

[slippytoad]

I'm trying to get some guys to use Thunderbird at work instead of Outlook, however they are used to the Exchange system folder names such as "Deleted Items", "Sent Items". I know there is a way to set the Sent, Draft and Templates folders in the "Mail & Newsgroups Account Settings" but is there a way to set the Trash folder? It would be cool if Thunderbird allowed the special folders (with the special icons) to be overridden with other folder names, for example set the Trash folder and its icon to be Deleted Items instead. Is this possible?

Thanks.

[tanstaafl]

I don't think so. I searched a list of netscape communicator preferences (prefs.js) at http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~dowdy/netscape_cfg/ns6/ and found several trash related entries, but none that let you specify the trash folder.

Many programs store text strings in a seperate file to make it easier to support multiple languages. It looks like Thunderbird uses en-US-mail.jar to do this, specifying it in "trashFolderName=Trash". I expect you could change the value by extracting the files with a zip utility program, editing the appropiate file, and then replacing it in the jar. Just backup en-US-mail.jar before you experiment.

# LOCALIZATION NOTES (inboxFolderName): OK to translate all foldernames, bugzilla #57440 & bugzilla #23625 fixed
inboxFolderName=Inbox
trashFolderName=Trash
sentFolderName=Sent
draftsFolderName=Drafts
templatesFolderName=Templates
unsentFolderName=Unsent Messages
junkFolderName=Junk

As a sanity check I noticed that msgimap.xpt appears to use trashFolderName, rather than a hardcoded value.

[Thomas Stache]

Can anyone confirm if this is the way to "move" the trash folder? And that that DOES work?

On my German IMAP account the trash is called "Geloescht", so every time TB "moves a message to the Trash folder", the message goes to la-la-land.

BTW: Thunderbird does not allow to create a new folder called "Trash" to be used instead. And as I created this folder via the web interface, Thunderbird does not list this folder for subscription.

Any recommendations?

[holmanders]

A couple of weeks ago I found the solution for this in a post here.
Here´s the relevant info (I can't find the post anymore). The solution worked for me with our Exchange 5.5 server.

Thunderbird trash
Joined: 10 May 2003
Location: Munich, Germany Posted: Mon 13th Oct 2003 8:37pm     
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Bug 24064 implemented the backend. Bug 182274 is about implementing the frontend.

But you don't have to wait:

1. Exit Thunderbird.
2. Add this line to your prefs.js in your profile:

Code:
user_pref("mail.server.server3.trash_folder_name", "Papierkorb"); You've got to replace server3 with the real number in your prefs.js. Search for hostname to find out which one.
Replace Papierkorb with the trash folder name you want.
* Restart Thunderbird. Note that you've got 2 trash folders.
* Restart again. Now only the new folder has got the trash icon.
* Delete the "Trash" folder. I had to do this in the web frontend of my mail provider.

[slippytoad]

Yep, that works, thanks a lot holmanders!

[mfl]

holmanders: thanks a lot, solved my problem too!

[icheyne]

This worked for me. I had to change the name of the trash folder, because Outlook, which I use at work, calls it Deleted Items. This meant I was getting two copies of everything on my IMAP server when I deleted something. This gets very boring with a 15MB limit!

[Jesco]

I tried this procedure with the mail client of the mozilla suite, but it didn't work?! I thought both programms are quite similar.

Does anyone has an idea how to do that in the mozilla suite as well?

Thanks in advance,
Jesco

user_pref("mail.server.server3.trash_folder_name", "Papierkorb"); You've got to replace server3 with the real number in your prefs.js. Search for hostname to find out which one.
Replace Papierkorb with the trash folder name you want.
* Restart Thunderbird. Note that you've got 2 trash folders.
* Restart again. Now only the new folder has got the trash icon.
* Delete the "Trash" folder. I had to do this in the web frontend of my mail provider.

[hansen]

it does work in moz - but please post at mozilla's forums when it's an issue with mozilla and not with thunderbird

[Don Bastiano]

As I tried that solution, I encountered Problems with the german character "ö" as the Trash folder on my Account is called "Gelöscht" rather than "Geloescht" or "Trash". While adding the line without those umlauts, it works. Has anyone an idea, how one could counter that problem. Renaming the folder through the web frontend is impossible.
Thanks a lot

1. Exit Thunderbird.
2. Add this line to your prefs.js in your profile:

Code:
user_pref("mail.server.server3.trash_folder_name", "Papierkorb"); You've got to replace server3 with the real number in your prefs.js. Search for hostname to find out which one.
Replace Papierkorb with the trash folder name you want.
* Restart Thunderbird. Note that you've got 2 trash folders.
* Restart again. Now only the new folder has got the trash icon.
* Delete the "Trash" folder. I had to do this in the web frontend of my mail provider.

[hansen]

remember to save the prefs.js file with UTF-8 encoding

[tanstaafl]

From http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... ash+german

"Ah. The german Umlaute have to be encoded differently.
user_pref("mail.server.server1.trash_folder_name", "Gel&APY-scht");
works for the 'Gelöscht'-folder.

PS: I discovered that the german name of the drafts folder (Entwürfe) was encoded somehow. I just googled for the encoded ü and found the code for an encoded ö. "

[Don Bastiano]

Thanks a lot for the quick replies.

Though it is still not working as supposed to be.
When using <i>user_pref("mail.server.server1.trash_folder_name", "Gel&APY-scht");</i>
I get two folders with the Trash icon, one called "Gelöscht" and one called "Gel&APY-scht" and the later one used as Trash by TB.
I saved the prefs.js in UTF-8 as well.

Could it be, that TB always tries to create a new Trash Folder regardless if a folder of that name already exists?

Thanks again

[Marcus Mast]

--

I am having the same difficulties with the "ö" character now. What is interesting, with Thunderbird 0.6 it was all working perfectly. Sometime after 0.7 I could not use the trick anymore (don't remember exactly which version/build it was). So I believe this is actually a bug and someone should file it at Bugzilla. Very annoying!! If somebody has a workaround, please post it here. I just installed 0.8 and the problem still persists. The line I am adding to user.js is:

user_pref("mail.server.server1.trash_folder_name", "imap://xxxxxx@imap.gmx.net/Gel&APY-scht");

In TB 0.7+ as well as in 0.8, adding this line generates a new folder called "Gel&APY-scht" instead of TB using the existing "Gelöscht" for Trash (like it did in earlier versions).

--

[Marcus Mast]

--

For your information:

I have now filed this issue as a bug in Bugzilla:

http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=259581

Someone will hopefully have a deeper look into it soon.


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