Simple Steps to Fix Mozilla Thunderbird Cannot Delete Messages

Hello, everyone! I am using Mozilla Thunderbird for the past couple of years. Yesterday when I tried to delete some irrelevant email message from my Thunderbird account it doesn’t allow me to delete emails. And all of a sudden I got an error message stating “Mozilla Thunderbird cannot delete messages”. Can anyone please suggest how to resolve this thunderbird can’t delete messages issue effectively?

Are you experiencing the same issue and unable to delete emails in Thunderbird? And finding a solution to fix this problem? Then, stay tuned with us because in this post, we are going to provide a step-by-step process to troubleshoot the error.

Initially, we will find out the all the factors that may lead to the Thunderbird cannot delete emails. Afterward, we will share the feasible solution to resolve this issue.

Reasons Behind Occurrence of Unable to Delete Emails in Thunderbird

These are few common factors that will cause issues in the .mbox files due to which you are unable to delete messages.

1. Corrupt or damaged MBOX Files.
2. Mozilla Thunderbird application not updated.
3. Bugs in the Thunderbird.
4. Software Conflicts.
5. Missing Files from Directory.

Now, let’s discuss the some manual methods to fix the error.

How to Fix Thunderbird Cannot Delete Messages Error Manually?

Here, we are providing you few manual tricks that might help you in resolving the Mozilla Thunderbird not deleting messages error. If you unable to Delete Emails in Thunderbird, the Trash folder likely to corrupt.

1. Click the “Menu” button. Select Help>>Troubleshooting Information.
2. Go to the “Application Basics” >> Select “Open Folder”.
3. Now, close the Thunderbird application.
4. Open the “Mail” or “ImapMail” folder in your file manager.
5. Choose the “Trash” and “Trash.msf” files. Press the Delete button.
6. Restart Mozilla Thunderbird.

Note: For the IMAP client such as Gmail, Thunderbird, the Trash folder be will automatically created.

For POP / POP3 account:

1. Go to the folders list, right-click on your account name and select New Folder.
2. Enter Trash as the folder name and click Create Folder to confirm.
3. Finally, Trash folder will reappear in your account.

Now, you will be able to delete email messages from Thunderbird.

This is not a permanent resolution, in some cases it is noticed that Thunderbird unable to delete messages issue occur again.

Is the Issue Still Persists &Want to Migrate to MS Outlook?

If you frequently experience such problems and want to switch to another email client then Outlook is the best choice.

Microsoft Outlook is more reliable and safe way for managing email. To migrate all your mailbox data to Outlook first you need to convert MBOX to PST. To do this task you need a reliable solution.

Final Verdict

When the Mozilla Thunderbird users attempt to delete email message, they will noticed that they are unable to delete email messages. So, in order to fix this issue, we have mentioned the few manual workarounds that help to fix “Thunderbird cannot delete messages” error. However, if the issue is still persist, you can switch to MS Outlook.