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.

Can't seem to move Inbox subfolders from my old POP account into my present IMAP account

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Zenos

k9vet
k9vet
more options

My present TBird setup is an IMAP account but in the past I also had a POP account. In my TBird profile folder are folders for both set-ups: POP and IMAP. Most of the Inbox subfolders that I want to use with the IMAP setup are in the old POP Inbox.sbd folder. There are "files" and also "msf files, and folders with matching names in that Inbox.sbd folder. I have not been able to get these old Inbox subfolders to import into the IMAP foldertree and stay there. As a test, I tried to copy and paste one named inbox subfolder.mozmsgs along with its matching file and msf file from the POP Inbox.sbd folder into the IMAP Inbox.sbd folder (with TBird NOT running). But when I then restarted TBird, the moved subfolder only showed up briefly in the IMAP Inbox foldertree and then got moved back to the POP Inbox.sbd folder again where it came from and disappeared!

How can I solve this frustrating problem? Attached is a jpg of most of the contents of the POP Inbox.sbd if that will help figure this all out. Thank you.

Scott

My present TBird setup is an IMAP account but in the past I also had a POP account. In my TBird profile folder are folders for both set-ups: POP and IMAP. Most of the Inbox subfolders that I want to use with the IMAP setup are in the old POP Inbox.sbd folder. There are "files" and also "msf files, and folders with matching names in that Inbox.sbd folder. I have not been able to get these old Inbox subfolders to import into the IMAP foldertree and stay there. As a test, I tried to copy and paste one named inbox subfolder.mozmsgs along with its matching file and msf file from the POP Inbox.sbd folder into the IMAP Inbox.sbd folder (with TBird NOT running). But when I then restarted TBird, the moved subfolder only showed up briefly in the IMAP Inbox foldertree and then got moved back to the POP Inbox.sbd folder again where it came from and disappeared! How can I solve this frustrating problem? Attached is a jpg of most of the contents of the POP Inbox.sbd if that will help figure this all out. Thank you. Scott
Attached screenshots

All Replies (1)

Zenos
Zenos
more options

You can't paste messages into an IMAP-connected account like this. Do it by moving messages in Thunderbird, rather than by moving files in your file manager.

It seems that in the case of a mismatch between your local folders and the IMAP server, the server wins, and the client removes the orphaned data.

Do it in many small tranches. Everything you add to the IMAP account has to be uploaded to the server in order to maintain synchronisation, and it's easy to overwhelm the connection if you move too many messages at once.