re : trying to Archive emails, to clear up space on a near full email server.

I'm presuming you are using an IMAP mail account. If Imap: If the 'Archives' folder (with subfolders by year)is an imap account folder then you are not clearing anything off the server. All imap folders store emails on the server and they synchronise with server in order to display the same as on server. So ...Archive them where?

re :I've set Account Settings/Copies and Folders according to various posts on this forum.

That does not tell me anything. I need to know what you have set up for the 'Archives' settings.

What you need to do is get copies of emails that are currently on the server into your 'Local Folders' mail account.

First make sure all your folders and subfolders are set up to accept full downloaded copies of all emails regardless of age or size. Account Settings > Synchronisation & Storage Click on 'Advanced..' button Make sure every foldre and subfolder has the checkbox selected and click on OK

Then force a download sync and go into Offline mode. Menu icon > File > Offline > Download/Sync now select 'Mail Messages' select 'Work offline once download and/or synchronisation is complete' The 'Selet' button is just a means of checking all folders and subfolders are selected.

click on OK to start process and wait.

Once all is done, Thunderbird will go into Offline mode - you will see the offline/online icon change in bottom left of Status bar.

Create suitable folders in the 'Local Folders' mail account.

Get 'copies' of emails from imap folder into suitable folder in 'Local Folders' mail account. Select to highlight a batch of emails - right click on highlighted emails and use 'Copy to' and select the suitable folder in 'Local Folders' mail account.

Repeat until you have got all the copies you require. Then do several random checks on emails in 'Local Folders' mail account to check you can read the content of emails meaning you have a good copy.

Then go back to 'Online' mode by clicking on that offline/online icon in bottom left of Status bar. Now you can start to delete the original copies of emails you have in imap folders knowing you have got a good copy in 'Local Folders' mail account. Then after deleting - compact the folder.

This should then delete emails off the server.

Thank you for the response!

Sorry, I wasn't sure how much detail to provide.

I managed to get it done last night after attempting a few different approaches.

Here are my Archives settings and what happened...

Yes IMAP.

Account Settings > Synchronization & Storage - Yes all check boxes are selected, except Trash and Junk.

Account Settings > Copies and Folders > Message Archives - (checkbox selected) Keep message archives in: - "Archives" Folder on: (set to my email address)

Archive Options(button): - (selected) Yearly archived folders - (checked) Keep existing folder structure of archived messages

Folder Properties > Synchronization Checkbox is selected for "Select this folder for offline use" Also clicked the "Download Now" button.

Yes I realize that the Archive is on the server. I chose this process as a safeguard, after things were starting to get glitchy, to first organize the emails on the server before copying them to Local Folders and then deleting them from the server.

What I ended up working was closing Thunderbird, going back to my email providers Webmail, moving/organizing the emails into the Archive folders/subfolders in Webmail, and then opening Thunderbird again. Thunderbird synced correctly and matched what was on Webmail, with no errors. Then in Thunderbird I dragged/copied the Archive folders/subfolders to the Local Folders. Which also worked, without any errors. Then after double checking the copies in Local Folders, I deleted the originals from the server.

It appears that now that the server space has been cleared down, using the Archive button works again, without that error. As well, I can drag emails to folders in Archive, without the error.

Is it possible that because the server was near capacity, 98-99%, that it would cause issues between Thunderbird and the server? For example, in one attempt last night, after checking that emails had downloaded, clicking the Download Now button in Folder Properties, I went offline and used Thunderbird's Archive button to move and organize emails into the Archive's created folders ("Keep existing folder structure of archived messages"). This worked, without any errors. But as soon as I went back online I got that error again and then all the emails moved back into their original In and Sent boxes!!

Once again thank you for the detailed and clear help. Appreciated!

Brent