278464 - Error in mail's archive management, mail's file keep growing ever!

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 183837

(Thunderbird :: General, defect)

Description

[fabiano]

I have experienced this problem since version 0.8 to version 1.0)
I have noticed my mozbackup needs too much time making its operations.
I have started looking in thunderbird/profiles/mail and I have noticed my mail
files are too big. (  I have over 300 megs and I have only few images and 2
songs in my archive and 1 hundred plain-text mail).

example: if inbox is 60 megs and I  delete all the mails from the thunderbird
interface and then I empty the trash too.... looking in the directory I can see
that the inbox's file is still 60 megs!!! By deleting, copying and moving simply
the file keep growing.(yes! if I empty the folder completely tooo!)

I have solved only by copyng a directory(inbox) in to an empty one (drafts) and
then I have emptied the  inbox&trash.Then I exit the thunderbird and manually I
have to delete inbox and inbox.msf (I have done this example but it is the same
procedure for all the folders!).
Let's Restart the thunderbird ..copying files from draftto the new inbox.
The old 60 megs inbox files became 12 megs without deleting any mail (I have all
the old mails nothing is  lost!!).

The problem came back again!! Yess after a while, after few days of honest work
I can notice this problem againg...keep growing..all the folder's files.
I think that somthing is broken while delting(moving or something else) mails.
The deletion is only done into index nor in the big file!!

My mail archive is same from version 0.6, perhpas something is broken by old
releases.But in such situation the thunderbird's corruption dectetion has to be
enhanced to find and fix this.

I have the perception I can lost something with a similar data managemente.
Hope you find out the problem.
Thanks 
Fabiano

Comment 1

[Doug Wright]

Try 'Compact Folders' (on the file menu), and see if that helps.

When you delete a mail, it is only marked for deletion. Compacting Folders
actually goes through and deletes the mail.

Comment 2

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 183837 ***