Disable accounts on Thundebird

gistfile1.txt

An elegant way to manually disable (thus totally hide) an account is to edit prefs.js (make sure TB had been shut down before editing). Search for "mail.accountmanager.accounts" and edit the line like this, e.g. assuming that "account6" is the one to be disabled:

Before edit (account enabled):
user_pref("mail.accountmanager.accounts", "account1,account5,account3,account2,account4,account7,account6");

After edit (account disabled):
user_pref("mail.accountmanager.accounts", "account1,account5,account3,account2,account4,account7");

This will disable the account and completely hide it in the user interface, but preserve all account settings, servers and identities associated with the account. To reactivate it just add the account name back to the list. When you restart TB, the account and all its settings and contents will magically reappear.

Edit: Yes, you can also simply use about:config.