Re: Optional "Local Folders"

On 2010/01/22 3:13, John Corliss wrote:
> Many people, like me, don't use the "Local Folders" account for
> anything. At all.
>
> This page: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Local_Folders describes possible
> uses for "Local Folders":
>
>> # If you use an IMAP e-mail account mail is normally stored "remotely"
>> (on the server) rather than being downloaded and stored "locally" (on
>> your own computer). Local Folders provides a convenient place to store
>> messages locally when desired. You could use offline folders instead
>> but that can cause complications and you would need to switch
>> Thunderbird to working offline to access those folders. If you enable
>> auto-save of drafts its less likely to interfere with your typing if
>> you store it in Local Folders.
>
> Although I have a GMail account, I access it via Firefox. I have no
> desire to store anything from that account on my hard drive. As for
> "auto-save of drafts interfering with my typing if I don't store drafts
> in Local Folders", that sounds like an issue the developers might want
> to consider dealing with.
>
> YMMV, but if Local Folders was optional, you'd still be able to turn
> them on and use them.
>
>> # If you configure a POP account to use a Global Inbox the new
>> messages are downloaded into a Inbox folder in Local Folders.
>
> I have configured my POP account to download messages into its *own*
> Inbox. I like to keep mail from my various accounts separated. Makes it
> much easier to find what I'm looking for.
>
> YMMV, but if Local Folders was optional, you'd still be able to turn
> them on and use them.
>
>> # When you compose a message and save it to be sent later ("File ->
>> Send Later"), it is saved in the Unsent Messages folder in Local
>> Folders. That folder is also used in Thunderbird 3 to send a message
>> in the background if you set mailnews.sendInBackground true.
>
> IMO this is not the way it should be. When I compose a message and save
> it to be sent later, it should be saved to an Unsent Message folder in
> the account I created the message from OR it could be a specially marked
> message in the "Drafts" folder in that same account.
>
> YMMV, but if Local Folders was optional, you'd still be able to turn
> them on and use them.
>
>> # Sent newsgroups messages are saved in Local Folders by default.
>
> And they should not be by default. They should be saved in the "Sent"
> folder in the account from which they are sent. I always change this
> setting so that this occurs. YMMV, but if Local Folders was optional,
> you'd still be able to turn them on and use them.
>
>> # Some people use Local Folders as a place to archive old messages,
>> so that their actively used mail folders are smaller and less
>> cluttered.
>
> I have a special "Archives" folder in my main mail account that I use
> for this purpose.
>
> YMMV, but if Local Folders was optional, you'd still be able to turn
> them on and use them.
>
>> # If you reconfigure several profiles to use a common directory for
>> Local Folders outside of the profile its much easier for the users
>> to share mail messages.
>
> I am the only user on this computer, and many, many people are like me
> (don't allow other people to use their computers).
>
> YMMV, but if Local Folders was optional, you'd still be able to turn
> them on and use them.
>
> In Thunderbird 2, I was able to successfully and surgically remove
> "Local Folders" by editing the prefs.js file. I never missed them at all.
>
> I'd be willing to bet that the same thing can be accomplished in TB3,
> but so far nobody has posted instructions for doing so. And make no
> mistake about it, the instructions for doing it in TB2 absolutely will
> *not* work with TB3. The prefs.js file has changed far too much.
>
> IMO, Local Folders should be optional in Thunderbird. For me, "Local
> Folders" is just an unused, space wasting extra that I don't use and
> never will. I would like to be able to easily get rid of them, and I
> don't mean simply hiding them via yet another no-longer-maintained
> extension.
>
I thought Local Folders was the account name you get if you use the 
global inbox, and I thought its use was optional.