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Twice recently I have received duplicate downloads of hundreds of emails I had previously read but were still in my inbox. Why and what to do about it?

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The duplicate emails that are downloaded are marked as unread. Each duplicate appears below the original of the same email. When this happens, not all the emails in my inbox are duplicated, just one or more subsets of them. My inbox usually contains 1,000 to 2,000 emails that I have already read, but this has been the case for at least 4 years and I've never had this problem before. I would like to know why this happens and how to prevent it (if possible), and also whether there's a way to delete all the duplicates of emails I have already read with a single action.

The duplicate emails that are downloaded are marked as unread. Each duplicate appears below the original of the same email. When this happens, not all the emails in my inbox are duplicated, just one or more subsets of them. My inbox usually contains 1,000 to 2,000 emails that I have already read, but this has been the case for at least 4 years and I've never had this problem before. I would like to know why this happens and how to prevent it (if possible), and also whether there's a way to delete all the duplicates of emails I have already read with a single action.

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re :The duplicate emails that are downloaded are marked as unread. Are you sure the emails are being downloaded again? If yes, is this a pop mail account ? If yes, do you use a product like CCLeaner to clean up computer files? If yes, it is possible, that the product is deleteing the file that keeps a record of what has been downloaded - the 'popstate.dat' file.

You would need to make sure CCLeaner or whatever product you are using does not have any access to any Thunderbird file or folder.

If those emails are actually being resurrected not downloaded because they had been deleted, then there may be some corruption on the Inbox.

  • create new folders.
  • Move all emails into folders for organising eg: Family, Friends, Facebook, Online Orders, Business, Organisations etc etc
  • Delete what is not required.
  • when inbox is empty, right click on folder and select 'Compact'

Good basic info on how to keep a healthy thunderbird:

The Inbox should be used as an inbox for incoming mail and not a general storage. After deleting several emails you should compact the Inbox to remove all marked as deleted emails.