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I want to delete all files which are in the "outgoing" and "drafts" folder of a certain email (IMAP) account in my Thunderbird. Obviously it will by located in the /home/username/.thunderbird folder. But where exactly?

The background of my question is the following: I accidentally put the wrong recipient in my email, a recipient which under no circumstances should read this mail. While sending I noticed this accident and quickly clicked "cancel" and went offline. In my webmail interface the mail was in the drafts folder but not in the sent folder. So I hope it has not been sent. But I am afraid that locally it is still hanging somewhere in an "outgoing" or "to be sent later" folder. So before opening Thunderbird again I would like to delete all such folders on my hard disk.

Therefore I have to know how these folders are called and where they are located.

Quick help appreciated. It is an urgent matter!! Thx!

My OS: Ubuntu 13.10

Here is how my ImapMail folder looks like:

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1 Answer 1

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It is located at

/home/user/.thunderbird/Profiles/user.default/ImapMail/Server_Name/

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Note: Deleting these folders will delete all messages in them

I would recommend that you get a backup of the folders in question, before you delete anything. You can use the add-on ImortExportTools.

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  • Do I not have to go into the ImapMail folder instead of the Mail folder? It is an IMAP account ... Plus: Why do I also have to delete the sent folder?
    – lpdbw
    Sep 6, 2014 at 10:05
  • That is correct. I have updated that in the answer. Sent is the outgoing mail.
    – Mitch
    Sep 6, 2014 at 10:09
  • I see you have changed it to Imap now. But why do I have to delete the sent folder? Does sent not contain the list of mails I have sent? I wouldn't like to destroy all of them!
    – lpdbw
    Sep 6, 2014 at 10:09
  • I have added a screenshot how my Imap folder looks like!
    – lpdbw
    Sep 6, 2014 at 10:17
  • What is the file secureimap.t-online.de.msf ... are you sure that the folders indicated by you are the only relevant ones The point is that if I look into those files I cannot interpret their content. It is just code ... Isn't it possible to find single files and their contents in the thunderbird folder somewhere?? So that I can find my specific mail somewhere? perhaps using the search function of Ubuntu? Problem is that I do not understand at all this file system of TBird and how it saves mails ... :-(
    – lpdbw
    Sep 6, 2014 at 10:27

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