Tried deleting 10 000 mails from an imap account, now
thunderbird

After I marked the 10.000 e-mails and hit delete, I quickly realized
that this was a bad idea. I let Thunderbird have a go at it for quite
some time, but eventually gave up and killed the application.

I then logged into my webmail and deleted the mail messages that was
clogging up my inbox, and then restarted Thunderbird. But Thunderbird
just crashes when I try starting it. It is as if it is still trying to
delete those 10.000 messages. It just stops at the main interface and
nothing happens.

So is there a way I can delete the account that had those 10.000
emails from Thunderbird without starting up Thunderbird? I figured I
could remove the account and restart Thunderbird, and then add the
account again, now that it is empty.

Any advice? I'm on OSX Tiger by the way.

On 4/14/2008 7:43 AM, torkil.johnsen@gmail.com wrote:
> After I marked the 10.000 e-mails and hit delete, I quickly realized
> that this was a bad idea. I let Thunderbird have a go at it for quite
> some time, but eventually gave up and killed the application.
>
> I then logged into my webmail and deleted the mail messages that was
> clogging up my inbox, and then restarted Thunderbird. But Thunderbird
> just crashes when I try starting it. It is as if it is still trying to
> delete those 10.000 messages. It just stops at the main interface and
> nothing happens.
>
> So is there a way I can delete the account that had those 10.000
> emails from Thunderbird without starting up Thunderbird? I figured I
> could remove the account and restart Thunderbird, and then add the
> account again, now that it is empty.
>
> Any advice? I'm on OSX Tiger by the way.
>
> - Torkil

Is the account pop or imap?
Problem improved if you remove the .msf file for that folder from the 
profile?  Or the file for the folder itself?  (Thunderbird must be down 
when removing files)

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

torkil.johnsen@gmail.com schreef:
> After I marked the 10.000 e-mails and hit delete, I quickly realized
> that this was a bad idea. I let Thunderbird have a go at it for quite
> some time, but eventually gave up and killed the application.
> 
> I then logged into my webmail and deleted the mail messages that was
> clogging up my inbox, and then restarted Thunderbird. But Thunderbird
> just crashes when I try starting it. It is as if it is still trying to
> delete those 10.000 messages. It just stops at the main interface and
> nothing happens.
> 
> So is there a way I can delete the account that had those 10.000
> emails from Thunderbird without starting up Thunderbird? I figured I
> could remove the account and restart Thunderbird, and then add the
> account again, now that it is empty.
> 
> Any advice? I'm on OSX Tiger by the way.
> 

First, locate your IMAP mail folder:
In Tools/Account Settings, select the account Server Settings. Note the 
location for the mail folder in local directory at the bottom.

Secondly, while in Account Settings remove the account. This will not 
remove the account data, including the IMAP mail folder.

Now, quit from Thunderbird.

Find the mail folder, of which you noted the access path earlier.

Delete the imapmail folder's contents.

Start Thunderbird and create the IMAP account again.

That's it.

Be aware that the Inbox is immediately mirrored from the server, after 
opening the Inbox.

Regards and Good Luck,

Forced Thunderbird to "forget" the password to the account by
removing
the account and it's password from signons.txt. Upon restarting
Thunderbird, no login is done and I am prompted for a password
instead. I cancel the password request, edit my accounts and remove
the account and re-add it again, making Thunderbird re-read my newly

On 16-04-2008 09:55 CET, torkil.johnsen@gmail.com composed this 
enchanting statement:
> Forced Thunderbird to "forget" the password to the account by
removing
> the account and it's password from signons.txt. Upon restarting
> Thunderbird, no login is done and I am prompted for a password
> instead. I cancel the password request, edit my accounts and remove
> the account and re-add it again, making Thunderbird re-read my newly
> emptied folder. Problems gone. :)
>   
 
Is this the solution for the problem raised in the thread (refer to 
subject)?

-- 
Kind regards,
Melchert