Questions about emptying the Trash in Gmail & Outlook
Hi, I'm new to Thunderbird and I have some questions regarding emptying the Trash folder for both Gmail and Outlook.
For Gmail, when I empty the Trash, the emails will be gone in Thunderbird but will still be in the Trash folder when I check Gmail via webmail. The only way I can get the webmail Trash folder to be in sync with Thunderbird is if I either completely exit out of Thunderbird, or if I right-click the Trash folder and select "Compact". It seems as if Thunderbird isn't sending the server a signal to permanently delete Trash emails unless one of these methods are used. Is this normal behavior?
As for Outlook, in webmail the Trash folder has a "Recover items deleted from this folder" section. When I empty the Trash folder, all emails in the folder will be sent to this section. I have to delete all emails a second time from this section in order for them to be permanently deleted. In Thunderbird, I can't find a way to access this special section. Does anyone know if there's a way to access it? Or maybe even a way to skip it altogether and permanently delete emails straight from the Trash folder?
Thanks!
Chosen solution
re :Is there no way to tell Thunderbird to automatically expunge/compact the Gmail Trash folder when emptying Trash?
No. (not without the addon) If you compacted at same time there would be no means of recovering an accidentally deleted email.
The delay which occurs between you manually emptying the Trash and performing a manual compaction or exit allows you time to ensure no error in deleting occured. The Gmail auto empty will ensure everything gets cleared even if you don't.
I have come across plenty of occasions when people delete something and then realise it was a mistake, so having a delay mechanism can be useful.
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Is anyone able to help with this?
IMAP contains a command called Expunge and it is the command that tells the server that changes (deletions) are "final". Google recommend that folk use the mark as deleted not move to deleted when using Thunderbird because then there is no deleted folder to manage, only marked messages in their original location that are removed on expunge. (ext or compact)
Thunderbird does not often use expunge, usually on exit and on compact. Both of which call it explicitly. I would suggest you ensure the setting for auto expunge is on at google. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/fwdandpop
You outlook issue is also most likely a web setting in your account there. Many years ago on POP accounts at Hotmail, Microsoft decided that mail that was deleted via POP would be moved to a sub folder of the deleted folder called ironically POP. This setting is controlled in the outlook web settings under sync email (perhaps they really don't want people to find it.)
If your account is IMAP. All bets are off as Microsoft implementation on IMAP is about as odd as Googles. Neither is very standards complaint and Thunderbird already has loads of code specific to those two providers in attempts to make their idea of what the standard says actually work in a standards compliant way.
Hi Matt,
Is there no way to tell Thunderbird to automatically expunge/compact the Gmail Trash folder when emptying Trash? I'm not sure why Thunderbird only sends the expunge command when exiting and on manual compact. Also yes, Gmail's Auto-Expunge is turned on.
I have found an addon called "Xpunge" that empties specified trash folders and compacts them at the same time, which is what I needed, but surely there's a way to do this without needing an addon?
Chosen Solution
re :Is there no way to tell Thunderbird to automatically expunge/compact the Gmail Trash folder when emptying Trash?
No. (not without the addon) If you compacted at same time there would be no means of recovering an accidentally deleted email.
The delay which occurs between you manually emptying the Trash and performing a manual compaction or exit allows you time to ensure no error in deleting occured. The Gmail auto empty will ensure everything gets cleared even if you don't.
I have come across plenty of occasions when people delete something and then realise it was a mistake, so having a delay mechanism can be useful.