4.3.3.6. Delete old emails using Thunderbird

Quite often, old messages that are no longer relevant and no longer needed can be stored in email, but still take up space. From time to time you need to delete them, and this process can be automated. In Thunderbird, you can use filters to configure automatic message deletion.

1. Sign in to Thunderbird, click mailbox name, and go to the "Message filters" menu:
2. Select required mailbox and click "Create":
3. Configure filter:
   1. Enter custom name for the filter.
   2. Select required items for filter launch methods. To automate old email deletion, specify "Periodically, every 10 minutes".
   3. Select "Fulfillment of all conditions".
   4. Specify required filter action trigger conditions. To avoid deleting important emails, add conditions that ignore emails with high priority or required labels. You can add new conditions by clicking +. We recommend setting the following conditions:

      Condition	Parameter	Value	Description
      Importance	lower than	High	Filter will be applied only to those emails for which "Importance" value is normal or lower.
      Labels	does not contain	Important	Filter will not be applied to emails with "Important" label. You can add many similar conditions to keep emails with other labels.
      Age in days	greater than	365	Filter is applied only to emails older than 365 days. You can specify any value.

   5. Specify required actions when performing filter:

      Action	Parameter	Description
      Copy message to	Remote to local folders	This action is required only if emails must be saved. Target directory for saving can be different.
      Delete message	—	Action for deleting email. Place this action last in action list.

4. Save the filter by clicking "OK" and check its operation. For testing, you can run it manually in the filter window by selecting the required filter and target directory: