How to fix stalled pop 3 forwarding of existing yahoo inbox emails (getting below error message).
I set up pop forwarding of my Yahoo Mail to Thunderbird per their prompts. It immediately started populating my existing inbox which is what I wanted. I have a HUGE inbox of kept emails over many years. After a little over 1000 emails populated to Thunderbird, it stopped and I keep getting this error message:
The RETR command did not succeed. Error retrieving a message. Mail server pop.mail.yahoo.com responded: problem retrieving message.
It isn't sending over any new emails either.
How can I correct this problem? I’d be grateful if anyone can help me.
FYI, my POP forwarding is configured to leave a copy of the message on the original server, and it is doing so, but I need them in Thunderbird.
What I've tried (as suggested in various place of these forums, but did not fix the problem):
(1)found the last email that came over to Thunderbird and deleted the next one in line. Was advised it was probably corrupted.
(2)moved all the populated emails from the Thunderbird inbox to a local folder to empty it.
(3)backed up my Thunderbird profile, closed Thunderbird, deleted from my profile the inbox and inbox.imf files.
The official answer from Thunderbird seems to be that Yahoo is the issue, not Thunderbird, However, since potential remedies have been proposed by even moderators of Thunderbird, I will ask here...especially since Yahoo prompted me to Yahoo Answers instead of giving me a support email form to complete.
Chosen solution
yahoo pop sucks is the short answer here. So much so I wrote a blog post on this very error. http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/the-retr-command-did-not-succeed-thank.html
At this point I would recommend you do three things.
Disable email scanning in your anti virus package. Exclude the Thunderbird profile folders from "on access scanning" by your anti virus program. Reboot.
If that does not fix the issue deleting the popstate.dat file from your profile folder under yahoo will restart the download that is now hanging up. If you use windows search to locate the file make sure windows is searching hidden and system files.
Duplicate created in the process can be managed using this add-on. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/remove-duplicate-messages-alte/?src=search
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You should not be using the inbox for storage. It was never meant for that. You can make a new folder for storing old messages, or you can archive them.
Thanks for trying to help, but I am not using the inbox of Thunderbird for storage. I just downloaded Thunderbird to my Windows desktop computer yesterday. In the Thunderbird set-up, I allowed it to pop my Yahoo Mail.
Thunderbird "chose" the inbox to transfer my existing Yahoo inbox over, not me. It is my YAHOO inbox that has been used for storage. Whether the Yahoo inbox is intended for that, I don't know, but I've used it that way for more than a decade without any incident. I know of others who have done the same. I have no intent of keeping my Yahoo Mail in a Thunderbird inbox for more than a few minutes, as/if I get it to move all my existing Yahoo Mail. It is empty right now in fact, as I have moved what I did receive to a local folder. The process is stuck in the middle of moving the Yahoo inbox right now - as I described before.
I don't know if it should matter as far as my problem, but what I am ultimately trying to do is get all my existing Yahoo email (lots of it) over to Thunderbird and then cancel my Yahoo Mail account totally. Then I will switch to another email provider. I chose Thunderbird's recommendation gandi.net. I paid for it and set it up. THAT pop forwarding is not working at all for some reason, but that is another issue I presume. I want to use a local email client for email storage after I say goodbye to Yahoo. I never had one before now.
I will not use my Thunderbird inbox for storage. Thanks for that advice, but I never intended to.
If I can't easily back-up or keep my existing Yahoo Mail, I will have to stay with Yahoo Mail....as bad as it would be for me to face that fate. I am very disconcerted with Yahoo these days, as are a great many.
Should I leave "not at all well enough" alone and keep my existing mail on Yahoo servers?
Can an expert or moderator possibly assist me? I have generally found forums better sources of support than actual technical support teams.
Thanks in advance.
Chosen Solution
yahoo pop sucks is the short answer here. So much so I wrote a blog post on this very error. http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/the-retr-command-did-not-succeed-thank.html
At this point I would recommend you do three things.
Disable email scanning in your anti virus package. Exclude the Thunderbird profile folders from "on access scanning" by your anti virus program. Reboot.
If that does not fix the issue deleting the popstate.dat file from your profile folder under yahoo will restart the download that is now hanging up. If you use windows search to locate the file make sure windows is searching hidden and system files.
Duplicate created in the process can be managed using this add-on. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/remove-duplicate-messages-alte/?src=search
Greatly appreciate this, Matt! I got bogged down with some other activities and meantime, I actually was surprised to have a Yahoo Mail "expert" get the process moving again for me...at the source of the problem. She did not elaborate on how she did it. Still, your advice is pretty clearly on the money. Your blog post confirms that Yahoo created this problem and Thunderbird is the innocent bystander. It was only right that Yahoo fix this. The biggest shock is that my answer came from Yahoo Answers. I had never seen a Yahoo staffer respond there, but I'm not exactly active on Yahoo Answers. This was the only truly quality support I believe I have ever gotten from Yahoo! Others with Yahoo Mail issues might take note and get lucky like me if they go that route. Thanks again, Matt (and finitarry as well).