Using Thunderbird for newsgroups under WIN7

I'm on a steep learning curve this week: new machine, new to
Thunderbird, new to Windows 7, ...

I've established a newsreading account (obviously), but find
some basic operations I was used to in Outlook Express seem
to be out of reach.
1) How do I remove messages I'm through with from my downloads?
Every attempt so far has resulted in my being told that
the messages aren't mine, so I can't get rid of them.
2) How do I achieve the equivalent of Outlook Express'
'catch up', which eliminates from consideration all posts
I haven't downloaded?
Thanks for any responses.

If it makes any difference, I access the news through Giganews,
and my Thunderbird version is 3.1.10

On 04 May 2011, Anthony Buckland <>
wrote in alt.windows7.general:

> 1) How do I remove messages I'm through with from my downloads?
> Every attempt so far has resulted in my being told that
> the messages aren't mine, so I can't get rid of them.

You don't exactly. Thunderbird's "remove" actually tries to cancel the
message on the server. Unless you are the author, neither TBird or the
server will let you. It's rarely works, even on the server level, so
that function in TBird is pretty useless.

The Thunderbird way of doing what you want to do is to use the "Unread"
filter, which will show you only unread messages. My installation has
an "Unread" quick filter button conveniently at that top of the reader
pane. The read messages are still there for you to look at when you
remove the filter.

To get rid of the messages for good, you look at the Folder Properties
and set the Retention Policy such that messages older than a certain
age are automatically purged.

Nil wrote:

> Anthony Buckland <> wrote:
>
>> How do I remove messages I'm through with from my downloads?
>
> You don't exactly. Thunderbird's "remove" actually tries to cancel the
> message on the server. Unless you are the author, neither TBird or the
> server will let you.

That's correct

> The Thunderbird way of doing what you want to do is to use the "Unread"
> filter, which will show you only unread messages.

Or if you really don't want to see the entire thread or the just the
sub-thread ever again, press 'k' or 'K' respectively

Sunny Bard wrote:
> Nil wrote:
>
>> Anthony Buckland <> wrote:
>>
>>> How do I remove messages I'm through with from my downloads?
>> You don't exactly. Thunderbird's "remove" actually tries to cancel the
>> message on the server. Unless you are the author, neither TBird or the
>> server will let you.
>
> That's correct
>
>> The Thunderbird way of doing what you want to do is to use the "Unread"
>> filter, which will show you only unread messages.
>
> Or if you really don't want to see the entire thread or the just the
> sub-thread ever again, press 'k' or 'K' respectively

Is there a way to undo that 'k/K' process?
--
Crash

What happens online, stays online.

On 05/05/2011 13:49, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
> Sunny Bard wrote:
>> Nil wrote:
>>
>>> Anthony Buckland <> wrote:
>>>
>>>> How do I remove messages I'm through with from my downloads?
>>> You don't exactly. Thunderbird's "remove" actually tries to cancel the
>>> message on the server. Unless you are the author, neither TBird or the
>>> server will let you.
>>
>> That's correct
>>
>>> The Thunderbird way of doing what you want to do is to use the "Unread"
>>> filter, which will show you only unread messages.
>>
>> Or if you really don't want to see the entire thread or the just the
>> sub-thread ever again, press 'k' or 'K' respectively
>
> Is there a way to undo that 'k/K' process?

Yes, just press it again - it's a toggle.

--
Bigamy - one wife too many!
Monogamy - one wife too many!

Bob Henson wrote:

> On 05/05/2011 13:49, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
>>
>> Sunny Bard wrote:
>>
>>> if you really don't want to see the entire thread or the just the
>>> sub-thread ever again, press 'k' or 'K' respectively
>>
>> Is there a way to undo that 'k/K' process?
>
> Yes, just press it again - it's a toggle.

If you toggle it back before changing to a different group that's true,
but if you change to a different group, than change back you won't be
able to see the "killed" thread in order to toggle it back ... until you
use View/Threads/IgnoredThreads that is ...

Sunny Bard wrote:
> Bob Henson wrote:
>
>> On 05/05/2011 13:49, Dave "Crash" Dummy wrote:
>>> Sunny Bard wrote:
>>>
>>>> if you really don't want to see the entire thread or the just the
>>>> sub-thread ever again, press 'k' or 'K' respectively
>>> Is there a way to undo that 'k/K' process?
>> Yes, just press it again - it's a toggle.
>
> If you toggle it back before changing to a different group that's true,
> but if you change to a different group, than change back you won't be
> able to see the "killed" thread in order to toggle it back ... until you
> use View/Threads/IgnoredThreads that is ...

Cool. Thank you both. That works.

--
Crash

"In politics, stupidity is not a handicap."
~ Napoleon Bonaparte ~

On 5/4/2011 2:59 PM, Anthony Buckland wrote:
> I'm on a steep learning curve this week: new machine, new to
> Thunderbird, new to Windows 7, ...
>
> I've established a newsreading account (obviously), but find
> some basic operations I was used to in Outlook Express seem
> to be out of reach.
> 1) How do I remove messages I'm through with from my downloads?
> Every attempt so far has resulted in my being told that
> the messages aren't mine, so I can't get rid of them.
> 2) How do I achieve the equivalent of Outlook Express'
> 'catch up', which eliminates from consideration all posts
> I haven't downloaded?
> Thanks for any responses.
>
> If it makes any difference, I access the news through Giganews,
> and my Thunderbird version is 3.1.10

I see nobody has answered your second question yet... there is a catchup
option. Just right-click on the newsgroup you want to catch-up with
then select 'Mark Newsgroup Read' in the drop-down menu. You can also
do the same by pressing Shift-C, pressing C by itself allows you to mark
messages as read using a date. Any messages before the date entered are
marked as read, anything after the entered date isn't.


--

Roy Smith
Windows 7 Professional
Thunderbird 3.1.10
Thursday, May 05, 2011 6:51:13 PM