Hello,to delete messages right click on the email to delete and then click delete message. If that does not work get access to your email account from your browser and delete the messages from them

MozillaHelper said

Hello,to delete messages right click on the email to delete and then click delete message. If that does not work get access to your email account from your browser and delete the messages from them

That is fine if I want to spend the rest of my life deleting email messages. However I'd like to slect more than one, for example, all emails from "John Smith" because I don't like him anymore and I have dozens of emails from him. I reorder the display to show all "John Smith" and cannot delete them all but can only delete them one at a time. Intensely tedious. Not an option.

Can't you select multiple messages? If they are adjacent in the list, click on the first to select it, then hold shift and click on the last. If they are not adjacent, click on each while holding ctrl. These are the normal Windows shortcuts, don't they work on your computer?

I am a Linux user, the same key sequences work as well on Linux as on a Mac and WIndows. I have computers and other devices that cover the majority of O/S. My issue is that I can sort the items in TBird so that they are adjacent, then I can select them all using the Ctrl-Shift keys, however the Delete button is greyed out or doesn't work when more than one email is selected. Even deleting one at a time doesn't work, I laready tried that, the email remains no matter what I do. Perhaps there is something in the User.js?

Try to rebuild the index file of the troubled folder. Right-click the folder - Properties - Repair Folder

Note, not being able to delete messages can be an indication for mail folder corruption. Rebuilding the index may cause messages to be removed from the view which are already gone. In that case you'd need to restore them from an earlier backup.

Thanks Christ1, I did that and compacted my folders and I was unsuccessful turning on delete for multiples and for single. However the ones I deleted prior to Repair Folder were gone. So it seems that I have to do something like that.

What I did do after sorting was to move the files into new folder. I was then able to easily delete them and the folder. It is a workaround and will take me longer because there are more steps, I only need to create one folder though. It is a pity because otherwise TBird is an emminently able program. Too bad it is connected to Firefox though because on my Linux machine links in my email that go to pages with Flash don't play the flash and Flash is no longer available for Linux.

What I did do after sorting was to move the files into new folder.

That was the right thing to do. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders#Real_fix

It is a pity because otherwise TBird is an emminently able program.

Mail folder corruption is mainly caused by anti-virus software. There is little Thunderbird can do until people learn the hard way how to properly configure their anti-virus software, so that it will leave the Thunderbird profile alone.

links in my email that go to pages with Flash don't play the flash and Flash is no longer available for Linux.

This has got nothing to do with Thunderbird. You may ask about this in the Firefox support forum. I believe an older version of Flash is still maintained for Linux though.