This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Thunderbird won't let me delete email

  • 3 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by christ1

SweetRoad
SweetRoad
more options

Thunderbird recently stopped letting me delete emails. I have to close the program & re-open then I'm able to delete 1 or 2 emails. Then deleting no longer works. There is no error message. My operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium.

Thanks for any help!

Thunderbird recently stopped letting me delete emails. I have to close the program & re-open then I'm able to delete 1 or 2 emails. Then deleting no longer works. There is no error message. My operating system is Windows Vista Home Premium. Thanks for any help!

All Replies (3)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

What is your anti-virus software?

SweetRoad
SweetRoad Question owner
more options

Norton v22.5.5.15

Thank you.

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Start Windows in safe mode with networking enabled. - Win8 http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/windows-startup-settings-including-safe-mode

Then start Thunderbird, and try to rebuild the index file of the troubled folder. Right-click the folder - Properties - Repair Folder

It's possible that your mail files are corrupted.

Depending on the corruption this may erase messages from the affected folder which cannot be recovered anymore. In that case you'd need to restore them from a recent backup. So make sure to create one prior to doing anything else. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_FAQs_:_Backing_Up_and_Restoring

Corruption is often caused by anti-virus software messing with Thunderbird mail files. It is therefore recommended to create an exception for the Thunderbird profile folder, so that the real-time scanner won't attempt to scan the profile with your mail.

For more information on the profile location see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird