Local Folders

In Thunderbird and the Mozilla Suite, "Local Folders" is the name given to the set of mail folders at the bottom of the folders pane. Many newcomers to Thunderbird or the Mozilla Suite don't know what these Local Folders are for, or why they're called that in the first place.

Uses for Local Folders

• For people who have an IMAP e-mail account, where mail is 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.
• If you use Thunderbird's Global Inbox for your POP3 e-mail accounts, your mail for those accounts will be downloaded into Local Folders.
• Some people use Local Folders as a place to archive old messages, so that their actively used mail folders are smaller and less cluttered.

Renaming Local Folders

To change the name of Local Folders, just right click on "Local Folders" in the folders pane, choose "Properties", and then in the dialog that pops up, enter the new name in the "Account Name" field. Alternatively, you can go to "Tools -> Account Settings" (in Thunderbird) or "Edit -> Mail & Newsgroup Account Settings" (in Mozilla Suite), then click on "Local Folders" in the left-hand pane, and type in the new name in the "Account Name" field.

Moving the storage location for Local Folders

See Changing Mail Storage Location for details.

Getting rid of Local Folders

It's possible to hide Local Folders, but it's not easy, not without risk, and not recommended. You have to go to your profile folder and edit the "prefs.js" file very carefully. See these external documents: [1] [2]. Keep in mind that mistakes in editing "prefs.js" can mess up your profile, and that hiding Local Folders might cause problems with Unsent Messages (which normally get stored in Local Folders) or other program behavior. It's better to ignore Local Folders instead of trying to hide it.