"Wolf K" wrote

| Default is Leave on Server for a maximum of 14 days, and Until I Delete
| them.
|

That's the default in TBird *if* you enable saving
it. I've never adjusted that setting and never left email
on the server. Similarly, OE defaults to leaving it for
5 days if it's saved, but the default setting is not
to save it at all.

If you do a search I think you'll find the default is
to delete when the email is downloaded. Years ago
I think only about 5 MB was allowed to be left. It
was standard procedure to delete when the email
was retrieved. The idea being that your ISP was
just doing you a favor in holding it until you could
get it, and they couldn't afford to let you waste space.

Later, with laptops, cheap storage, and gmail
spyware webmail, it became optional to leave
email on the server and even, in the case of
gmail, impossible to actually delete it.