How to Make Thunderbird Delete Gmail

Thunderbird can delete emails in your Gmail account when you delete them in Thunderbird.

A desktop email client like Mozilla Thunderbird can help you keep on top of your incoming emails in Gmail if you set Thunderbird to check your email on a regular schedule. In many cases, there's no need to save an email after you've read and responded with Thunderbird. The Gmail Auto-Expunge feature that lets you immediately delete an email from your Gmail account when you delete it in Thunderbird Auto-expunge can also be set to delete the email the next time Thunderbird connects to the Gmail server.

Instructions

1. Open a browser window and navigate to your Gmail account. Log in with your username and password.

2. Click the "Gear" icon and select "Mail Settings." Click "Forwarding and POP/IMAP."

3. Click "Enable IMAP" in the "IMAP Access" panel. Click "Auto-Expunge On" to immediately connect to the Gmail server and delete the email when you delete it in Thunderbird. Click "Auto-Expunge Off" to delete the email when Thunderbird connects to the Gmail server to check mail.

4. Open Thunderbird. Click "Tools," then "Account Settings" and click the "Account Actions" drop down menu. Click "Add Account."

5. Enter your name, your Gmail email address and your Gmail password. Click "Continue." Click the "IMAP (Remote Folders)" radio button, then "Create Account."

6. Click "Get Mail," then read and delete emails in your Gmail in-box in Thunderbird. The emails are deleted on the server according to your settings.

Tips & Warnings

• Click "Immediately Delete the Message Forever" to delete emails when Thunderbird connects if Auto-Expunge is off. Click "Move the Message to the Trash" to put the message in the Gmail Trash folder. Messages in the Trash folder are automatically deleted in 30 days.

References

• Google; Gmail - Getting Started With IMAP for Gmail; July 2011
• Google; Gmail - Thunderbird 3.0; July 2011

Resources

• Gmail
• Mozilla: Thunderbird