Delete / Purge Messages

By default, Thunderbird is configured to move your deleted messages to the Trash folder. To change this setting; follow these steps:

1. Select Tools > Account Settings.
2. Select Server Settings.
3. In the drop down menu next to When I delete a message, select one of the following:
   • Move it to the Trash folder
   • Mark it as deleted
   • Remove it immediately
4. To further customize your settings, you can select the checkboxes for:
   • Cleanup("Expunge") Inbox on Exit
   • Empty Trash on Exit.
5. Click OK to save your settings.

To remove a deleted message manually, select File > Compact Folders.

In Thunderbird (at least the Mac version) compact folders is the command equivalent to Mulberry's Expunge command. In the Mac version of Thunderbird you find Compact Folders as a command under the File menu.
There is no keyboard equivalent. You have to manually pull down the File menu and choose Compact Folders from the list.

You can choose a preference setting to Compact Folders upon logout. I do it manually and frequently to more easily be able to see unread mail. Looks as though most Thunderbird help is in the form of questions and answers in a forum at mozilla.org website.

Also the warning below may be of interest: They mean be sure to copy Thunderbird to disk before launching it.

Do NOT run Thunderbird from the Disk Image! - doing this will cause an infinite restart loop (the symptom of which is a Thunderbird icon that bounces briefly in the Dock then disappears and reappears, bounces and disappears, over and over). To break Thunderbird out of this loop, open a Terminal and type "killall thunderbird-bin" and press enter. Install Thunderbird to a location you have write access to and try again. When installing on a multi- user limited access system, install it into a shared location as administrator, run it once and then all users should be able to access it.

Last Updated: 6/2/06