Can you make a screenshot of what settings you have for disk/disc space and add it here? If you have TB v78 then on options / general / scroll down to disk space

Or... you can set there a big value (50000 MB - which is about 50GB) and it should not ask till that value is reached... :)

OK, then maybe I am confused. My understanding is that compacting folders did not purge any messages from my disk, only compacted the space used. Perhaps the message I am getting is confusing, because it says TB will purge the messages from my disk.

I changed the default "Compact all folders when it will save over" to 9999 MB in total. It would not let me go further than that. But again, am I confused? I have always compacted the folders and never lost a message because compacting was not purging the messages.

Thanks for your help. Alan

It used to be called 'compacting'. Learn what that means, and why it's needed. https://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com/2011/07/compacting-what-is-it-and-why-must-i-do.html

I have always compacted the folders and never lost a message because compacting was not purging the messages.

Actually that compact was always a "purge"... When you delete a message (or move to another folder which = copy + delete) then on the TB data-base (those mbox files w/o extensions) the mails still remained but were only "tagged" as deleted which is actually = hide. Only after a "compact" those emails were deleted for real = purge...

So, IMO, you should still compacting your folders, so you should purge them. I have set on my TB to compact also at 1GB because if I might need an old email and in this way I will be able to find it. Hard methods but still...

Thanks, I read that article and I did, indeed, based upon svlad2009's message above, increase the default for compacting to 9999. But, I am still inquiring about "purging" messages. I never received this message before this upgrade and never lost a message in TB. Is TB using the term "purge" the same as "compacting" or is there something else. I cannot click "yes" to purge unless there is a definitive answer here because I do not want to lose all of my Trash.

Thanks again.

So, when TB says it wants to automatically "purge" it means automatically compact? I don't see this as a problem, other than terminology. I always move my old Trash to separate archived folders anyway after a year so I never lose anything I might regret. Just tell me that purge = compact and I'm happy.  :)

Yes, compact = purge

I read that article and I did, indeed, based upon svlad2009's message above, increase the default for compacting to 9999.

I think this is bad advice. A threshold for compacting/purging of 9999 MB essentially disables it. After reading the article it should be clear what it does, and why it's needed.

So, when TB says it wants to automatically "purge" it means automatically compact?

Yes. Compacting/purging is not about deleting existing messages. It's about removing those parts from the Thunderbird mail file(s) belonging to messages which have already been moved or deleted.

Having said that, it's always recommended to create full backups of the Thunderbird profile folder on a regular basis. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data#w_backing-up-a-profile

I always move my old Trash to separate archived folders anyway after a year so I never lose anything I might regret.

Then why do you delete messages (to Trash) in the first place? If you never delete anything, you can archive them right away, and just skip the Trash step.

If the message is about compacting the file, it is extremely deceptive. One does not need to compact the Trash folder, as compacting is how the spaces taken by deleted messages are reclaimed. Trash, however, is emptied. I have compacting set to 50 MB, and when I first started up 78, it wanted to "purge" the trash, saving a lot more than that -- and I have a lot in Trash that I haven't emptied yet. So it really really sounds like it is talking about emptying the trash. It is just nagging that it really doesn't want you to keep the trash beyond a single session.

There is so much wrong with 78 that I did roll back to 68 and am much happier with it. I did have to find the real address book and rename it back into place, and reinstall Lightning, but now they work, as do the various vital extensions that were broken by the 78 rewrite. I'm sure the programmers had fun gratifying their urge to use all the latest kool kid programming techniques while breaking things for actual users.

I wondered the same thing too. I never saw this message with TB 68 but see it a lot with TB 78. I'm a bit confused as to why I'm seeing it as I have both Clean up ("Expunge") Inbox on Exit and Empty Trash on Exit checked for all my accounts.

Should that not already be doing the purging/compacting?

I am still confused. Why would purge = compact? The words are simply not equivalent. The lack of explicit definiton in Help surely is easily rectified - a five minute job! Be kind to users, people.

Having this same problem on an email account. The thread of this problem shows that a significant effort needs to be made: 1) to fix the perceived definition problem of "compress" or "compact" actually means (among other things) to delete permanently all messages in the trash folder. Exact meanings for "Compact", "Compress", "Delete", "Trash", "Purge", "remove", and maybe more need clear documentation. The definitions given need to be reflected in the options implemented and presented by the application. 2) Change Thunderbird to separate permanently deleting messages from trash (emptying the trash) from folder compression. From the comments above, these are clearly expected to be separately selectable actions and should be available to users as two separate functions.

So, I just started getting this message after installing Thunderbird upgrade to 78.7.1 (64-bit) Linux version. Here's my problem: when I "delete" an email, I am moving the email from the current folder to the "delete" folder. I keep "deleted" emails in my "delete" folder for 60 days, then, per the rules I set for the "delete" folder, "deleted" emails are automatically "deleted" from my "delete" folder. I know that this is different from "compacting", and I do compact my folders as soon as there is more than 1MB of space to recover. But the message uses the word "compacting", not "deleting".

Here's the rub... When I get the message, "The messages you have deleted can be purged from disk", it means to me that TB is going to take my "deleted" emails and purge them from my disk. But I have already said I want to keep my deleted emails for 60 days.

Are y'all saying that the message is really asking to "compact" my "delete" folder? If so, we should change the message to say exactly that. The phrase, "The messages you have deleted", means emails I have put into my "delete" folder, and, as I've said, I don't want to delete all those emails.

Note: I am using IMAP, and I've checked my email provider, and my "delete" folder contains only 60 days of deleted emails.

I have the same doubt because "purge" and "compact" are words with different meanings and I don't know what it is doing exactly, is it deleting or compacting and which folder would be affected? The documentation on TB 78 is insufficient and settings options are confuse.

Sorry, yes the wording is confusing. Thank you for the feedback.

Version 91 comes out in several weeks, in which the language of the compact dialog has been greatly improved to clarify. When you install version 91, if compact causes problems, please create a new support topic.

Just to be clear, compact/purge DOES NOT

• delete messages
• remove messages from Trash folder

If either of those two things are happening to you, then something else is amiss.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/compacting-folders now explains it MUCH better.

If you still have problelms please post a new support request.