Download all emails to hard drive and empty the online account also
 

I have Thunderbird installed but have only used it two or three times.

My Hotmail account has thousands of emails, mostly spam. I would like to download all of these to my hard-drive so that I can put them in a .zip file and archive them.

*And after the emails are downloaded I want the online account to be empty.*

Several years ago I downloaded everything, using Thunderbird, to create a back-up and was alarmed to see that my online account had been emptied. At that time I did not want that.

About a year or so ago I did the same thing with Thunderbird but this time found that the emails were still online, when I had wanted to delete them.

I conclude that the default behaviour of Thundrebird had been changed.

How do I download all the emails from online to my hard disk AND empty the online account also?

Thanks.

It depends on what protocol (POP3, IMAP) you use to connect to hotmail as well as how Thunderbird is configured.

POP3 will by default download and delete mail from the server unless you select "keep mail on server"

IMAP will keep incoming and sent mail on the server unless specifically deleted.

You need to investigate your server settings in your mail client. While the server itself may be set to block or allow actions, the settings in your mail client itself are the key to this issue.

i wouldn't be surprised if the mail provider would keep a copy of that mail regardless.
so the only way to make sure is to log int o the webmail interface and check every nook & cranny.
and even then, they probably keep backup copies somewhere.

I would just log in and delete the emails after they're downloaded.