Annoying bug in Thunderbird and Gmail

I use Thunderbird to access my Gmail account. I really like Thunderbird for its clean interface and the fact that it is open source. This means if there is any problem serious enough, it can be fixed quickly. However there is an annoying bug which I am not sure it's in Thunderbird or Gmail. It's not a serious one, but annoying if you are a neat freak. In the folder list in Thunderbird, you see a folder called [Gmail]. This is basically the core system folders on Gmail. System folders are the ones that come with the account: folders like Inbox, Sent, Draft, and Trash. If you create your own folders, then these do not appear inside the [Gmail] parent folder.

To remove this annoying folder, go to the Advance option in the configuration in Thunderbird. Enter [Gmail] in "IMAP server directory". If you use GoogleMail, enter [Google Mail] instead.

Now the folder listing column in Thunderbird is cleaner. You can still create your own folders and organize your emails in them and have them accessible when you log into Gmail via a web browser. These folders have the [Gmail]/ prefix to them as labels on Gmail. For example, let's say you create a folder called Jokes to store all those dirty jokes that your Uncle Fester sends you. On Gmail when accessed via the browser, this folder has the label of [Gmail]/Jokes.

This method works great if you never use a browser to access your emails including sending out mails from this interface. However if you do, then the sent mails stay in the Sent Mail folder "on the server," one that is not visible in Thunderbird. So keep this in mind. Incidentally, this Sent Mail folder has the label [imap]/Sent in the browser's interface.

For more tips on how to setup Thunderbird using Gmail, see this link.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite