Mozilla Thunderbird Extensions


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Xpunge

About
Xpunge is an extension that allows the user to empty the trash and junk folders, and compact folders in multiple Thunderbird accounts with a single action. Thunderbird offers these two operations only for a single account and through separate entries either in the File menu ("File → Empty Trash" or "File → Compact Folders") or in the context menu ("Right-Click → Empty Trash" or "Right-Click → Empty Junk" or "Right-Click → Compact"). When multiple accounts are set up, repeating the same steps for each account can become quite tedious. This is where Xpunge comes in, combining the two actions (emptying the trash/junk folders and compacting folders) in the convenience of a single button. It actually offers two new buttons that can be added to the main Thunderbird toolbar, one used to process a single account and one used to simultaneously process multiple accounts, all done with just a single mouse click in each case. The same functionality is also available through an "Xpunge" menu added to Thunderbird's Menu Bar "Tools" menu. Moreover, there is a separately configurable timer feature that allows processing of multiple accounts to be done automatically at a specific time every day and at regular intervals from the time Thunderbird is started. Xpunge works on all types of Thunderbird accounts, including IMAP email accounts.


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ATTENTION: Compacting folders in Thunderbird means that all the messages you have previously deleted from those folders are now permanently deleted from the hard disk and cannot be retrieved again. Keep this in mind when using this extension.

ATTENTION: Be careful when you use the functionality for emptying the junk folders. It is not the same as emptying the trash folder, in the sense that messages are deleted on purpose, whereas your spam filter may put useful (non-spam) emails in the junk folder, so emptying this folder will cause you to lose those emails. Xpunge has all the junk features turned off by default to avoid accidents. Please enable and use the junk functionality at your own risk.

ATTENTION: Thunderbird may identify more than one folders in an account as storing junk messages, which is why Junk as used in Xpunge, is a generic term and does not just refer to a folder named "Junk". This means that when you select to empty the Junk of an account in any of the Xpunge options, you instruct Xpunge to empty all the folders of that account that are identified as junk folders. For example, if you set up a Gmail IMAP account where the junk folder is called "Spam" and you also change the settings of that account in Thunderbird to move new junk messages to a folder called "Junk", both folders will be emptied if you enable emptying the Junk for that account in Xpunge.


This is the most recent stable release of Xpunge. If you are using the default Thunderbird theme or one with the same icon sizes (16x16 and 24x24 pixels), please download Xpunge from the Thunderbird Addons site. I am not hosting this file here anymore, as there is really no need to, plus the Thunderbird Addons site offers proper compatibility updates with each Thunderbird version that comes out.

If you are using a Thunderbird theme with different icon sizes, I am hosting here a couple of alternative versions with slightly different icons, so you have the option to download the file that best fits your current theme. To install one of these versions, download the xpi file on your computer, open the Add-ons Manager in Thunderbird ("Add-ons and Themes" menu entry), and select the "Install Add-on From File..." entry from the cogwheel drop-down menu. Note that if you have installed or will install Xpunge from this site instead of Thunderbird Addons, you will not be able to automatically update Xpunge. So checking for an available update of Xpunge from the addons page in Thunderbird will no longer report any updates. You will have to periodically monitor this page or the Xpunge page on Thunderbird Addons yourselves to see if any updates are available and then manually download and install the corresponding xpi file from this site.


COMPATIBILITY NOTES:

  1. Thunderbird 115 introduced changes that broke the compatibility of Xpunge. For Thunderbird 102 & 91, please install Xpunge version 3.0.0. For Thunderbird 78, please install Xpunge version 2.1.1. For older versions of Thunderbird, please install Xpunge 1.0.0 or older.

  2. The options (preferences) page of Xpunge is now available through the wrench icon in the Extensions tab of the Add-ons Manager (accessible through the "Add-ons and Themes" menu entry).

  3. Some users have reported an issue in Thunderbird 102, where email accounts are "forgotten" in the preferences of "MultiXpunge", so they are no longer being compacted or their trash/junk emptied. After upgrading to Thunderbird 102, please double check your current setup in all tabs of the preferences page of Xpunge. If your accounts/folders are still not processed by Xpunge, try reconfiguring Xpunge, by removing all your accounts/folders from the setup of Xpunge and adding them again.

  4. Some users have reported an issue in Thunderbird 91, where they install Xpunge 3.0.0 but MultiXpunge still does not work, with an error about "fixIterator" appearing in the Error Console. This seems to be an issue with Thunderbird 91 caching and using Xpunge 2.1.1, even though 3.0.0 is installed. Disabling and enabling Xpunge 3.0.0 again might solve the issue.

  5. Support for legacy extensions like Xpunge was removed in Thunderbird 78, which means that Xpunge has to be ported to a MailExtension. This is an ongoing process. Due to limitations imposed by MailExtensions, Xpunge can add only one button in Thunderbird. So one of the two buttons provided by Xpunge in previous versions (called "Xpunge") is not available from version 2.1.0 onwards. You can invoke the functionality that used to be offered by that button through the sub-menu called "Xpunge" under Thunderbird's Menu Bar "Tools" menu (Menu Bar → Tools → Xpunge → Xpunge → Call Xpunge Now). The "MultiXpunge" button is still available.

Current Version:     4.0.2

Released:     27 Oct 2023

Compatibility:     Mozilla Thunderbird 115.0a1 - 115.*

Translations:     Danish (da),  French (fr-FR),  German (de),  Greek (el),  Japanese (ja),  Russian (ru).

  •  xpunge-4.0.2-16_24.xpi (@ Thunderbird Addons) :    Tested on Linux, with icon sizes of 24x24 (large) and 16x16 (small) pixels. Download this version if you are using the default Thunderbird theme on Linux or MS Windows.

  •  xpunge-4.0.2-20_30.xpi :    Tested on Linux, with icon sizes of 30x30 (large) and 20x20 (small) pixels.

  •  xpunge-4.0.2-24_32.xpi :    Tested on Linux, with icon sizes of 32x32 (large) and 24x24 (small) pixels. Download this version if you are using the default Thunderbird theme on Mac OSX.

Xpunge is completely free, but if you like this extension and want to support its continued development, please consider making a donation.



What's New
Take a look at the releases page to see what's new in this release.


Usage
Please take a look at the usage page for detailed information about how to use Xpunge.

You should also read the following article, which contains a lot of useful information about compacting folders in Thunderbird:   https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/compacting-folders

If you would like to call "Xpunge" or "MultiXpunge" using the keyboard, you can use the keyconfig extension. I have written some instructions for setting up keyconfig to call the Xpunge functions.


Troubleshooting
You can find a list of known issues with Xpunge and some tips for troubleshooting potential problems in the usage page for the current release.


External Reviews
If you want to see what other users have to say about this extension, please visit Xpunge's page on Thunderbird Addons.

Xpunge 0.4 has also been featured in an article on MakeUseOf.com as one of 10 Must-Have Toolbar Buttons for Thunderbird 3.


Translations
If you want to translate Xpunge to your language of choice, you are welcome to either send me the locale (if you have already created it) or contact me for further information and instructions. Please check the following list of locales that already have a translator, to see which translations are currently missing from Xpunge.


Requested Features
I have compiled a list of features requested by users ever since Xpunge was first released.


Previous Releases
Please visit the releases page to find all the Xpunge releases to date.


Contact Info
You can let me know what you think of the extension or report any bugs you may have discovered by sending an email to: xpungetb at gmail dot com.

If you think you have found a bug, please open the "Error Console" in Thunderbird and look for any entries related to Xpunge (if you are using a filter in the console, search for the string "xpunge"). Please attach all such entries in your email reporting the bug to me.




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