Looking for an email client that can do this...

[Goatmilk]

Hiya, I wonder if anyone can recommend an email client that can do the following:

I have several webmail applications (Titan mail, Protonmail, gmail etc.) Every once in a while I want important emails to move forward onto the computer hard drive, while the rest would remain in the webs. In good old Windows 7 times I used to have Thunderbird that - when told to get mail (and ONLY when told to get mail) - would go and MOVE all emails from a designated folder onto the hard drive. There it would utilize a set of filters and sort the incoming mails into their destination folders. Worked like a charm for years and years.

Unfortunately, ever since I have Linux, it doesn't work like this anymore. Thunderbird scratches EVERYTHING from the web accounts the second it pops up, not even waiting to be told so, and shovels the whole crap into its inbox. Damn thing even collected the spam. Attempts to reign it in resulted in either downloading headers only and leave the rest, or just COPY the mails causing a godawful mess, or not doing anything at all.

I'm aware that my old Thunderbird likely is an antique by now, and the new one might not be what it used to be anymore. Wouldn't be the first program that goes down the drain with the years, sadly so.

So my question is: is there an email client who can do exactly what I want?

Or is there a simple and foolproof way to get the new Thunderbird to behave like the old one?

Hopefully something than an 8-ys-old could understand?

 

[dos2unix]

To me, this basically an IMAP vs POP3 problem, most email clients (Thunderbird for sure). will let you use both, (one or the other). You just need t tell it which protocol you want.

 

[Goatmilk]

To me, this basically an IMAP vs POP3 problem, most email clients (Thunderbird for sure). will let you use both, (one or the other). You just need t tell it which protocol you want.

Which is the good one? As far as I know, it was pop3 on Linux. No idea what it was on Windows 7 - last time I've installed Thunderbird in windows 7 was when I was young and pretty and Clark Gable was 'in'...

 

[KGIII]

To me, this basically an IMAP vs POP3 problem, most email clients (Thunderbird for sure). will let you use both, (one or the other). You just need t tell it which protocol you want.

^THIS

Which is the good one? As far as I know, it was pop3 on Linux. No idea what it was on Windows 7 - last time I've installed Thunderbird in windows 7 was when I was young and pretty and Clark Gable was 'in'...

IMAP syncs everything automatically. POP3 has options to view it locally while keeping it on the server, or just downloading it all to your device and deleting it from the server.

I strongly prefer IMAP, but I'm a bit of an email hoarder, with accounts that go back more than a couple of decades. (And older accounts that do not have the older emails saved.)

 

[deb_user]

Open the account settings/server settings, and you can tell Thunderbird how often to check for new mail. Untick all the boxes and you will have to manually check. The filters are what they've always been, more or less. Thunderbird will do what you want, and it works exactly the same under Linux as it does in Windows. You just need to learn how to configure it, and it's not rocket science.