I have had the same email address for about 30 years. Since it was free and not with an ISP, there was never a need to close it.
On an average day, I get about 150 emails… most of which I delete without reading.
I have considered starting a new email account/address.
But after 30 years the folks I care about, know it.
Just wondering how others have handled the problem.
I would really like some sort of auto delete for emails 7 to 30 days old that I never opened.
I installed Thunderbird on my PC and use it to filter messages. I move some to folders and if I wanted to do what you suggest, I could.
I could tell Thunderbird to automatically move messages from certain users to a folder and the rest to a different folder. For example, I created a COSTCO folder and all messages from COSTCO go there. I can then say if the message is older than 45 days, delete it. Suspected spam can go into another folder, etc.
Thunderbird is free.
You may be able to use Outlook the same but I don’t use that one.
Hello.
Related to this topic:
Do you have any experience about IMAP vs POP on setting up an email on Thunderbird? My host is saying POP, but I want to keep everything online and use Thunderbird (or another program) to download my whole mailbox for records/offline.
Thanks for any tips
Thunderbird uses either IMAP or POP for each individual email account. However, connecting to a Gmail account it will use a specialized protocal.
There also is an option (although most people I think don’t use it) allows for each message to be in an individual file unlike a single file with pointers. This is a technical issue most people will not encounter.
You also have the ability to leave the messages on the server or not.
I have 30 or so account, a mixture of Gmail, and ISPs like my own domains and other hosted services using Pop and Imap.
Thunderbird can automatically try to find the correct connection criteria however you can override that and manually use supplied information also.
Thanks. Yes, I can/will use the host’s specific supplied info in Thunderbird setup.
Are you saying even if I select POP, I have an option to keep everything online as normal with no change?
Or that applies only starting now when I send/receive new emails?
I don’t want to loose all my emails online when I do this.
Depending on your email client…you could setup mail rules for the behavior that you want.
Maybe route all of the email addresses you care about to a specific folder and leave everything else in Inbox. You could just review Inbox once a week to see if you need to tweak your message rules. Maybe you could also look into aliases for your email address.
I have my own domain and use a specific catch-all address for unknown senders and then refine my rules accordingly.
You might think I’m crazy, but I have several emails for different purposes–very compartmentalized, but actually really easy to access.
I have my main email (from my provider) for bills, insurance, taxes, etc.
A second email with my provider for family/friends.
Outlook on my computer and Blue Mail on my phone allows me to see my accounts easily.
I also have a Gmail account, because sometimes I need access to shared Google Drives, and because of my Android phone. Total memory for Google is 15GB, so you have to watch your usage for files/photos/emails.
I got a Yahoo email for all of my stores, purchases, websites, receipts, so it doesn’t clutter my main email. Yahoo has a lot more memory than Gmail–1 TB. It has a phone app, so it’s easy to check there, too. When I need to shop, I check Yahoo. If I don’t need shopping info, it is not clogging up my other emails.
I’ve also unsubscribed from vendors/sites that bombard me with more email than I could ever read. And I use filters/message rules in all of my email addresses to sort incoming into folders–many skip the Inbox, but I see them as “unread” in my folders. This keeps the Inbox manageable.
Sounds complicated, but it’s not. Works for me!
Not crazy at all. Before retiring, my last work was as a contract employee with more than one company, and had separate email addys. In addition, we had four addys at home for various reasons.
Retired now, I don’t need them all, but for separate purposes I still have about five.
Yes, under TOOLS, ACCOUNT SETTINGS there is a tab SYNCHRONIZATION and STORAGE which allows for saving on your local computer.
There are plenty of Youtube videos about Thunderbird like this one: How to configure a POP3 email account in Thunderbird with SSL? - YouTube
Thanks! Does it store emails from the time when you select it or all existing/old emails? (I want to download all emails.)
It can download all messages currently on the server.
You can also have the software move messages to a specific set of local folders if you want.
This probably does not interest you, but I also have a second computer in the house which runs Thunderbird, has all the same email accounts configured but that system is often offline. Since filters and some other items are not automatically duplicated onto the second computer, I just copy my whole profile (which includes all filters and all messages and preferences) from the main computer to the backup one and that makes both systems in synch. Otherwise, I would have to create some new filters and allows the backup computer to synch for quite some time to download all those missed messages. Then again, if I deleted some messages from the main computer and emptied the trash, the second system would not see those messges.
Although it takes a bit of tech experience, I found Thunderbird will also load on my Chromebook. I have not yet tried adding email accounts, but may try that tonight. Then again. Clark would suggest that is not a good idea as I may use the Chromebook in the future for Banking and so I may limit its use to just that. Email and general web browsing would be a Bozo no-no ( A mistake or rule broken. Made famous by Bozo the Clown. Usually made by a child but sounds funny when you tell an adult they made one.)