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 eats up all diskspace

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

Andreas.Knoblauch
Andreas.Knoblauch
more options

Hallo, I'm using Thunderbird 78.9.1 on a Win10 Desktop for an IMAP account. Setting the synchronisation options for this account to 'download messages independent of age' ('Nachrichten unabhängig vom Alter herunterladen' in German) ends up in downloading constantly all messages and the mbox files growing and growing until the diskspace exceeds. I had one file having 71Gb! Using the 'last xx days' option is slowing things down because only the messeges of the last xx days are downloaded constantly.

I have a 91Mb mbox-file where a message has benn inserted 17 times during a 1 hour session. I've tried to attach it, but that seems only possible for pictures. So I'll try an explanation.

So if you look in this file for the message with the id: F687320084EFEB4A9C450CE18DAFB9D0C27004@CORP-SUR-EXB05.ds

you'll find the rows:

X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.4325 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 11:26:27 +0200 Message-ID: <F687320084EFEB4A9C450CE18DAFB9D0C27004@CORP-SUR-EXB05.ds> Importance: normal Priority: normal

first time on line 44770 and following in the file in a message starting with:

From - Thu May 20 19:52:58 2021 X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0

where the first line seems to display the download date and time. The following occurrences show the downlod times:

From - Thu May 20 20:01:31 2021 From - Thu May 20 20:02:46 2021 From - Thu May 20 20:05:14 2021 ... From - Thu May 20 20:31:25 2021

Has anyone an idea what the problem might be?

many thanks in advance, Andreas K.

Hallo, I'm using Thunderbird 78.9.1 on a Win10 Desktop for an IMAP account. Setting the synchronisation options for this account to 'download messages independent of age' ('Nachrichten unabhängig vom Alter herunterladen' in German) ends up in downloading constantly all messages and the mbox files growing and growing until the diskspace exceeds. I had one file having 71Gb! Using the 'last xx days' option is slowing things down because only the messeges of the last xx days are downloaded constantly. I have a 91Mb mbox-file where a message has benn inserted 17 times during a 1 hour session. I've tried to attach it, but that seems only possible for pictures. So I'll try an explanation. So if you look in this file for the message with the id: F687320084EFEB4A9C450CE18DAFB9D0C27004@CORP-SUR-EXB05.ds you'll find the rows: X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.4325 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message MIME-Version: 1.0 Date: Mon, 3 May 2010 11:26:27 +0200 Message-ID: <F687320084EFEB4A9C450CE18DAFB9D0C27004@CORP-SUR-EXB05.ds> Importance: normal Priority: normal first time on line 44770 and following in the file in a message starting with: From - Thu May 20 19:52:58 2021 X-Mozilla-Status: 0001 X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0 where the first line seems to display the download date and time. The following occurrences show the downlod times: From - Thu May 20 20:01:31 2021 From - Thu May 20 20:02:46 2021 From - Thu May 20 20:05:14 2021 ... From - Thu May 20 20:31:25 2021 Has anyone an idea what the problem might be? many thanks in advance, Andreas K.

All Replies (2)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Very weird. Wonder if the Anti-Virus is causing some interference with download. You would need to make sure no Anti-Virus can effect download, so test doing the following:

Suggest remove imap account. In Account Settings,

  • select imap account name in left pane
  • click on 'Account Actions'
  • select 'Remove account'

Then clear the cache.

  • Menu app icon > Options/Preferences > General
  • scroll down to 'Network & Disc Space'
  • Under 'Disk Space' section
  • click on 'clear now'

Exit Thunderbird and all other programs that are running.

Restart the computer in 'Safe Mode with Networking' Start Thunderbird create imap account. Selec to 'keep messages in all folders for this account....' set synchronisation to use 'download messages independent of age' Try download this time.

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Andreas,

WHat were your results ???