Deleting all messages of a collapsed thread in thunderbird

[Patrick O'Callaghan]

On Wed, 2008-06-18 at 13:04 -0400, John Burton wrote:
> rlengland at verizon.net wrote:
> > On Wed, Jun 18, 2008 at  9:25 AM, joachim.backes at rhrk.uni-kl.de wrote:
> >
> >> Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> >>> On Wed, 2008-06-18 at 15:21 +0200, joachim.backes at rhrk.uni-kl.de wrote:
> >>>> Hi, I'm running F9 with thunderbird-2.0.0.14-1.fc9.i386 and have 
> >>>> the following question:
> >>>>
> >>>> Is it possible to delete all messages of a thread, which is 
> >>>> collapsed, without opening the thread?
> >>>
> >>> Try this: close the preview pane and drag the thread to the Trash. 
> >>> Note:
> >>> this is just speculation as I haven't tried it.
> >>
> >> Hi Patrick,
> >>
> >> I'm sorry, but does not help: Only the uppermost (the thread leader 
> >> message) will be moved to the trash.
> >>
> >> JB
> >>
> >>>
> >>> poc
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >> -- 
> >> Joachim Backes <joachim.backes at rhrk.uni-kl.de>
> >>
> >>
> >
> > This is a little bit of a workaround but it works for me.
> >
> > If you install the extension called Buttons 
> > <http://www.chuonthis.com/extensions/buttons.php> in Thunderbird, one 
> > of the new buttons you can place on the tool bar will delete an entire 
> > thread.
> >
> > I hit F8 in Thunderbird to remove the display or preview pane (leaves 
> > only the list of email by subject line)  highlight  any one of the 
> > email items in a thread, and the whole thread is removed.
> Another way to do it is simply click on the "Threads" icon for a thread 
> of messages. This will "select" the entire thread. Once selected, then 
> simply click on the delete icon...

He doesn't want to open the thread, which is necessary in order to
select it (selecting with Ctrl-Shift-A will open it if it's closed).
OTOH if by opening he means viewing, then yes he could do that by
closing the preview pane first (F8).

poc