# How do I get Mozilla Thunderbird to automatically download email to a local folder?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-mozilla-thunderbird-to-automatically-download-email-to-a-local-folder/325211>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 7, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-mozilla-thunderbird-to-automatically-download-email-to-a-local-folder/325211 "2005-10-07T16:19:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Cagey\_Drifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@Cagey\_Drifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cagey_Drifter)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-mozilla-thunderbird-to-automatically-download-email-to-a-local-folder/325211/1 "2005-10-07T16:19:52Z")

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This seems like it should be easy, but I can’t figure out how to do it. I’m using an IMAP mail server, and right now I’m manually copying emails over to my local folder every few days. How do I get Thunderbird to do it automatically when it retrieves my new mail?

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**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\
**Post date:** [October 7, 2005, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-get-mozilla-thunderbird-to-automatically-download-email-to-a-local-folder/325211/2 "2005-10-07T16:30:51Z")

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You can use message filters, under the **Tools** menu, to re-direct mail to different folders depending on the message content, subject, sender etc.