How can I force Thunderbird to download all emails by IMAP?

I just created a new Thunderbird profile. Unfortunately Thunderbird only downloads recent messages. I need to get all my messages and subfolders. Any idea?

Solution 1:

Go to Tools/Options/General/Config Editor or in more recent versions Edit/Preferences/Advanced/General/Config Editor. This may vary between operating systems.

If presented with a

This might void your warranty!

dialog, click on the button "I'll be careful, I promise!".

Type folders_for_new in the filter box.

Look for an option called mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new or on newer versions mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new.

Change this setting to true. This has the effect of not treating inbox as special, but all folders are "inbox", so all folders will be checked and downloaded.

If this key does not exist, then add it (right click / new) exactly as it is written above as a boolean preference. When you add the preference, you will be asked for the initial value. Choose true.

Next, in Account Settings/the account you are referring to/Synchronisation & Storage ensure that "Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age" and "Keep messages for this account on this computer" are selected.

Solution 2:

There should be a menu or button to "go offline"

In my current Thunderbird 17.0.2 (on Ubuntu 12.04), the button is at the lower-left corner of the whole application.

Clicking the button will start the download and if everything is configured correctly (i.e. has keep all messages regardless of age local) then that is what it will download