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 doesn't download email but I can see 48M in the mbox on the server

  • 2 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

more options

I have Thunderbird on my desktop using POP3, no TLS etc connecting to sendmail/dovecot backend. I can see a 48M mail file on the mail server and new email. Thunderbird will not download the email, it was fine a few days ago. This is a new (ish) installation (~2 weeks), windows 11 and a migration from Outlook.

I have deleted/rebuild the sqlite DB under the profile as per another thread. After indexing (62K mails in the Inbox) I still can't download any new mail.

I see new email on my phone, and it is configured not to delete email on the server. Worked fine for years.

I have a IMAP Thunderbird on a RDP server, this sees/downloads new emails fine. Historically I would use this email client when I was on the road, and when I got back to the office I would revert to my desktop and all the email not deleted would just download to Outlook. This has worked happily for years with Outlook and the last few weeks with Thunderbird.

I get intermittent 'cannot to smtp/imap server', when this happens I test via 'telnet' using Putty to both servers, it is also fine. There is no 25/110 access attempts from my desktop in the sendmail/dovecot/firewall/fail2ban logs, which leads me to believe no attempt was actually made

I have Thunderbird on my desktop using POP3, no TLS etc connecting to sendmail/dovecot backend. I can see a 48M mail file on the mail server and new email. Thunderbird will not download the email, it was fine a few days ago. This is a new (ish) installation (~2 weeks), windows 11 and a migration from Outlook. I have deleted/rebuild the sqlite DB under the profile as per another thread. After indexing (62K mails in the Inbox) I still can't download any new mail. I see new email on my phone, and it is configured not to delete email on the server. Worked fine for years. I have a IMAP Thunderbird on a RDP server, this sees/downloads new emails fine. Historically I would use this email client when I was on the road, and when I got back to the office I would revert to my desktop and all the email not deleted would just download to Outlook. This has worked happily for years with Outlook and the last few weeks with Thunderbird. I get intermittent 'cannot to smtp/imap server', when this happens I test via 'telnet' using Putty to both servers, it is also fine. There is no 25/110 access attempts from my desktop in the sendmail/dovecot/firewall/fail2ban logs, which leads me to believe no attempt was actually made

All Replies (2)

more options

FYI - 102.4.1 (64-bit) on the desktop, 91.13.1 (64-bit) on the RDP

more options

The SQL file does not impact whether messages can download or not.

Are you still having trouble on the WIndows 11 system?