Receiving E-mail
I recently had a new solid state drive installed and had the latest version of Windows 10 installed. I installed Thunderbird on the new hard drive and migrated Thunderbird data from my spare computer to the new one. I made sure that Thunderbird would check for new messages every 4 minutes. Now Thunderbird seems to check for new messages randomly, if at all. At random intervals I hear the "i've got new mail" tone but there is no new e-mail listed. And the Thunderbird icon on the task bar shows various numbers for new mails even though there are no new mail messages. However, if I click on "Get Messages" I will receive new messages if there are any available. Tonight I backed up my Thunderbird data, uninstalled and reinstalled Thunderbird and restored the data. Although Thunderbird works OK it is an annoyance when I hear the new mail tone but none is there. Can someone please help me with this? Thanks in advance.
Georgedn
Chosen solution
A few things to check:
re: I made sure that Thunderbird would check for new messages every 4 minutes.
In Account Settings > Server Settings for POP account. Did you select all three of these:
- 'Check for new messages at start up'
- 'Check for new mesages every 4 minutes'
- 'Automatically download new messages' - if this is not selected then you get notified but you still need to manually download them.
Did you set up 'Junk Settings' to put Junk mail in Junk folder ? Did you also select: Automatically delete junk mail older than X days ? If yes, you may have new mail but it has been put in Junk. I have recently received Junk which had a date several months ago and some dated a year ago - a new spammers thing. Well those emails got received and emptied out of Junk before I had barely noticed it.
What view do you use? Menu app icon (3 horizontal lines) > View > Folders > All Menu app icon > View > Threads > All
Do you have any emails which you have inadvertantly set to ignore ? They would get downloaded but would not be visible. Menu app icon > View > Threads > Ignored threads - this would show up anything you had se to ignore. Ignore Threads info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ignore-threads
Do you have any Message Filters that move emails to other folders? Is it possible mail was moved to another folder, but that other folder has a filter highlighted/set in the 'Quick Filter Bar' so not displaying everything ?
You might find info in the Activity Manager. Menu app icon > Tools > Activity Manager You could compare the sound notification with the Activity Manager info to see what occurred.
re :At random intervals I hear the "i've got new mail" tone What settings have you got set up regarding notifications?
- Menu app icon > Preferences > General
- Scroll to 'Incoming Mails' section
Tell the forum which of the following options you selected:
- 'Show an alert'
- 'Use system notification'
- 'Show a tray icon for unread messages'
- 'Play a sound' - which option 'Default system sound for new mail' ?
All Replies (5)
are you accounts IMAP? Are they using IMAP Idle? If so the server notifies of new mail, not the other way round.
The ancient process of checking a pop mail account for messages strictly on a timed basis is null and void with modern IMAP servers. So I guess if you have a mix of IMAP and POP it would look random.
I'm not very well versed in e-mail and servers. This particular e-mail account is POP. Don't know what IMAP idle is. So, based on your reply I do not know what to do next.
Does anyone else out there have any ideas how to solve my problem?
Chosen Solution
A few things to check:
re: I made sure that Thunderbird would check for new messages every 4 minutes.
In Account Settings > Server Settings for POP account. Did you select all three of these:
- 'Check for new messages at start up'
- 'Check for new mesages every 4 minutes'
- 'Automatically download new messages' - if this is not selected then you get notified but you still need to manually download them.
Did you set up 'Junk Settings' to put Junk mail in Junk folder ? Did you also select: Automatically delete junk mail older than X days ? If yes, you may have new mail but it has been put in Junk. I have recently received Junk which had a date several months ago and some dated a year ago - a new spammers thing. Well those emails got received and emptied out of Junk before I had barely noticed it.
What view do you use? Menu app icon (3 horizontal lines) > View > Folders > All Menu app icon > View > Threads > All
Do you have any emails which you have inadvertantly set to ignore ? They would get downloaded but would not be visible. Menu app icon > View > Threads > Ignored threads - this would show up anything you had se to ignore. Ignore Threads info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ignore-threads
Do you have any Message Filters that move emails to other folders? Is it possible mail was moved to another folder, but that other folder has a filter highlighted/set in the 'Quick Filter Bar' so not displaying everything ?
You might find info in the Activity Manager. Menu app icon > Tools > Activity Manager You could compare the sound notification with the Activity Manager info to see what occurred.
re :At random intervals I hear the "i've got new mail" tone What settings have you got set up regarding notifications?
- Menu app icon > Preferences > General
- Scroll to 'Incoming Mails' section
Tell the forum which of the following options you selected:
- 'Show an alert'
- 'Use system notification'
- 'Show a tray icon for unread messages'
- 'Play a sound' - which option 'Default system sound for new mail' ?
Toad-Hall,
I think my problem is solved. I had not checked "Automatically download new messages' - if this is not selected then you get notified but you still need to manually download them." This is probably why I was hearing the "new mail" tone but not seeing new messages. Thanks for your help. I think I am good to go from here.