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.

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

Tbird not updating folders / folder content to match what's in Gmail IMAP labels

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Matt

more options

Gmail IMAP has been working for some time. Folders like Inbox, Sent, All Mail, Trash are syncing perfectly but I noticed two problems in other areas on the same account:

1. New "label" added in Gmail is not in my Tbird folder list (same account) 2. At least one of the folders that's been there for a while has not updated since January 2021, so about a dozen messages filed there by Gmail label are not there.

What do you advise?

Thank you

Gmail IMAP has been working for some time. Folders like Inbox, Sent, All Mail, Trash are syncing perfectly but I noticed two problems in other areas on the same account: 1. New "label" added in Gmail is not in my Tbird folder list (same account) 2. At least one of the folders that's been there for a while has not updated since January 2021, so about a dozen messages filed there by Gmail label are not there. What do you advise? Thank you

Chosen solution

open the profile folder (help menu > troublshooting information > show profile button) close Thunderbird Delete the file foldertree.json from the profile folder.

Restart Thunderbird. perhaps the file is damaged.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (5)

more options

1. Right-click the account in the Folder Pane, Subscribe, Refresh. Does the new 'label' appear in the list?

2. Right-click the folder, Properties. Is 'When getting new messages....' checked?

more options

I refreshed the "Subscribe" for the account. No change.

1. As far as the new folder (Gmail label: _MOM...), it appears in the folder list in the Subscribe dialog, and it is checked. Interesting thing to note is that the folders (labels) are divided into two alphabetical lists in the folder list. See attached image that shows where one list finishes, followed by the defaults Gmail folders, followed by the second list. It's not even like the list break is the difference between what Gmail "shows" or "hides" - you will see that the folder missing from Tbird, _MOM... (which is a "Show" file in Gmail settings) is in the same listing as _VA_TENN.... (this one is a "Hide" in Gmail) - but this shouldn't matter because none of the folders is "hidden" in Tbird. Also note that the missing folder, _MOM... does not appear in the Folder list Pane on the main screen. See second attached image.

2. I checked the box for "When getting new messages" in one of the existing Tbird folders but it didn't get the messages out of the corresponding Gmail label. Also clicked on "Repair Folder" to see if that did any good but no. I checked a few folders and seen that none have the "When getting new messages" block checked, but recently picked up new adds to the corresponding Gmail label.

What do you advise?

more options

Try changing your gmail label to something without a leading underscore. Just a guess, but my guess is that causes the label to be ignored, or not even sent by Google. You might want to have a look in your gmail settings to see the labels are set to be shared in IMAP. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/labels

Note you can get rid of the [gmail] step by entering [Gmail} in the IMAP server directory in Account settings > server settings > advanced

more options

Thank you.

The Tbird is already accepting labels having leading underscores, but I tried changing the label name in gmail as a experiment. Then I refreshed the folder list in the Subscribe dialog in Tbird. Although the folder list in the Subscribe dialog is refreshed and the revised label name appears there, the new folder still is not in the folder pane of the main Tbird window.

As far as the Gmaill settings, IMAP is checked for the new folder name. IMAP is checked by default when a folder is created.

more options

Chosen Solution

open the profile folder (help menu > troublshooting information > show profile button) close Thunderbird Delete the file foldertree.json from the profile folder.

Restart Thunderbird. perhaps the file is damaged.