Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

Thunderbird loses iCloud IMAP subscriptions when it is restarted

  • 1 reply
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by luther905

more options

Thunderbird v115.9.0 (64-bit)

For some time now, I have seen my iCloud email IMAP folders unsubscribed when I restart Thunderbird. At first, with an earlier, but recent, build of Thunderbird, the subscriptions would not be renewed if I did not quit Thunderbird before I restarted my Mac. Recently (like a couple of days ago), I quit Thunderbird, then restarted my Mac to update the OS to latest patch level. When I launched Tbird, I had to resuscribe to all of my iCloud IMAP folders. After that was done, I quit Tbird and then restarted it. I then had to resubscribe to my iCloud IMAP folders. I have a lot of them, so this is a time-consuming tedious process.

Yesterday, I quit Thunderbird and began using Apple Male client (which I detest due to their "smartfolders"). A bit ago, I launched Thunderbird and it resubscribed to a few of my iCloud IMAP folders. I opened the Subscribe tool and rechecked a bunch of the unchecked folder boxes. It looks like it is trying to subscribe (i.e., I can see the status messages in the field at the bottom of my Tbird window that say the subscriptions are in process), but it is taking a very long time and they are not displaying in the left-hand folder pane.

So, I've seen others reporting problems with IMAP and iCloud mail, but not this exact problem. Is this Apple trying to force folks to stop using IMAP? Does Tbird need to have its IMAP code updated/debugged? I really really want to keep using Tbird.

What sort of diagnostics should I run?

Thunderbird v115.9.0 (64-bit) For some time now, I have seen my iCloud email IMAP folders unsubscribed when I restart Thunderbird. At first, with an earlier, but recent, build of Thunderbird, the subscriptions would not be renewed if I did not quit Thunderbird before I restarted my Mac. Recently (like a couple of days ago), I quit Thunderbird, then restarted my Mac to update the OS to latest patch level. When I launched Tbird, I had to resuscribe to all of my iCloud IMAP folders. After that was done, I quit Tbird and then restarted it. I then had to resubscribe to my iCloud IMAP folders. I have a lot of them, so this is a time-consuming tedious process. Yesterday, I quit Thunderbird and began using Apple Male client (which I detest due to their "smartfolders"). A bit ago, I launched Thunderbird and it resubscribed to a few of my iCloud IMAP folders. I opened the Subscribe tool and rechecked a bunch of the unchecked folder boxes. It looks like it is trying to subscribe (i.e., I can see the status messages in the field at the bottom of my Tbird window that say the subscriptions are in process), but it is taking a very long time and they are not displaying in the left-hand folder pane. So, I've seen others reporting problems with IMAP and iCloud mail, but not this exact problem. Is this Apple trying to force folks to stop using IMAP? Does Tbird need to have its IMAP code updated/debugged? I really really want to keep using Tbird. What sort of diagnostics should I run?

All Replies (1)

more options

Ah. I am running Mac OS Sonoma 14.4.1 on an IMac (2019, Intel).