emailimapthunderbird
I deleted about 2000 emails in Thunderbird, which is now nice and clean, but they are all still visible on the outlook.com web portal client.
I have Thunderbird configured using IMAP settings. I have Thunderbird set to move deleted items to the same folder outlook uses as trash. I emptied the trash also.
I would really like to avoid having to go through and delete them all in outlook as well. Is there a way to set Thunderbird to delete messages on outlook.com when deleted locally?
Slight correction, you can change the Trash/Deleted folder as well, indicated by the screenshot below. The only folders you can't remap is the Drafts and Junk Mail folders.
As for the rest of the question:
No
There is no workaround. I have found this frustrating myself and the same behavior exists in Office 2011 for the Mac. There was a workaround for 2003 but it fails in 2007 and higher.
As for why, any reasons except an official response from Microsoft would be purely speculative. I am guessing it is due to the way office rules are linked to the folder locations.
Until a better solution is found, I guess that the best workaround is to manually archive older messages when needed (e.g. when IMAP server quota limit is approaching). Of course you have to activate messages archiving to a local folder, for each IMAP account (this is necessary to make the "Archive" command button appear when you select messages).
I've also tried some add-on like Awesome Auto Archive and AutoarchiveReloaded, but both were unsatisfactory: the first gave me an error during configuration, the second is safer if run manually.
I hope some day Thunderbird will add a "simple" option for IMAP accounts able to automatically archive older messages when quota limit is approaching. I really wonder why such an important feature for IMAP accounts has not already been implemented.
Best Answer
Thunderbird does not delete messages from the POP server
Go to Options -> Advanced -> Config Editor.
Settings:
mail . pop3 . deleteFromServerOnMovemail . imap . expunge_after_deleteSet it to True.
That's it, restart Thunderbird. You need to press 'Get Mail' everytime you want to sync with the email server, in order for you to make sure messages in the application is in sync with the email server.
The following should be emphasized to realize the sync with the server. You will not see your server message disappear upon the initial Get Mail download (new messages downloaded). After you process your Inbox in Thunderbird by deleting/moving a new message, then do another Get Mail which will delete the new messages previously downloaded on the server (put in sync).
Note: If you have older messages in your Thunderbird Inbox, they will not be deleted from Server. Delete them manually from server. From then on, any new messages you download, then process (delete/move), and then do the sync by doing Get Mail again WILL be deleted.