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TB keeps downloading the same email over and over again

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  • Last reply by MrYossu

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TB has been installed and running fine for a while. However, since I switched my PC on this afternoon, it has downloading an email from 16th Dec five times. It seems to download it about once an hour, plays a sound to notify me of new mail, but doesn't pop up a box on the bottom-right corner of my screen. The message goes directly into Archives, not into Inbox, see screenshot.

The email came into a hotmail.com address, and if I go to outlook.com and check my account there, I can't see the message at all. It's not in inbox, not in archived, not in junk, not nowhere!

It is only doing it with this one message. I've sent and received other mail using this account without anything odd happening.

Anyone any ideas? Thanks

TB v102.6.0 (64-bit) under Win11 Pro.

TB has been installed and running fine for a while. However, since I switched my PC on this afternoon, it has downloading an email from 16th Dec five times. It seems to download it about once an hour, plays a sound to notify me of new mail, but doesn't pop up a box on the bottom-right corner of my screen. The message goes directly into Archives, not into Inbox, see screenshot. The email came into a hotmail.com address, and if I go to outlook.com and check my account there, I can't see the message at all. It's not in inbox, not in archived, not in junk, not nowhere! It is only doing it with this one message. I've sent and received other mail using this account without anything odd happening. Anyone any ideas? Thanks TB v102.6.0 (64-bit) under Win11 Pro.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (6)

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> It is only doing it with this one message. I've sent and received other mail using this account without anything odd happening.

If it's only one message, it's probably not worth trying to figure out what is causing the problem. In which case, if you need the contents, copy it in to a new message and delete the original.

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Hmm, probably the best thing! Was just curious. Although I'm not sure where I would delete it from. As I said, I can't see it anywhere in outlook.com.

As it happens, in the 3 or 4 hours since I posted, it hasn't been downloaded again, so whether TB has finally got the message, or something else has changed I don't know.

Thanks for the reply.

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Another method to prevent thunderbird to download the same mail over and over, is to delete the message on the server side. You can do this, either by login on the webmail of the POP account, or through Thunderbird by following the below steps: 1. From Thunderbird's menu, go to Tools > Account Settings.

Regards, Will

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@willjoe24421 You're right, but as I pointed out earlier, this message isn't on the server.

However, for reasons only known to TB, it has stopped downloading it, so I guess this will go down amongst the other unsolved but not really very important mysteries in life!

Thanks

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re :You're right, but as I pointed out earlier, this message isn't on the server.

If you are using a POP account : Do you have a POP folder in your Outlook.com mailbox that contains popped emails? Have you set up Thunderbird POP account server settings to Leave message on server ?

re :The message goes directly into Archives, not into Inbox, That can only occur if you have set up a Message Filter to do it OR you have inadvertantly pressed A as it opened. But I'm wondering if it was downloaded at all as it was an email which you downloaded and replied to several days ago on the 16th.

I suggest you look in the 'Activity Manager' to see if it really was downloaded again or whether the folder has gone awol and needs a repair.

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Toad-Hall said

re :You're right, but as I pointed out earlier, this message isn't on the server. If you are using a POP account : Do you have a POP folder in your Outlook.com mailbox that contains popped emails?

Yes, but the most recent message in there is from July 2016.

Toad-Hall said

Have you set up Thunderbird POP account server settings to Leave message on server ?

I have "Leave messages on server" checked, and have "For at most" checked with 14 days set, as well as "Until I delete them" checked.

Toad-Hall said

re :The message goes directly into Archives, not into Inbox, That can only occur if you have set up a Message Filter to do it OR you have inadvertantly pressed A as it opened. But

Neither of those. I don't ahve a filter for that account, and didn't press A at all. These messages went straight into my archives without being visible in my inbox.

Toad-Hall said

I'm wondering if it was downloaded at all as it was an email which you downloaded and replied to several days ago on the 16th.

It was downloaded, as I replied to it. This was part of an email exchange that started on the 16th Nov and went on until the 6th Dec. The message in question was just one of about 10 messages in the exchange, and is the only one to have shown this effect.

Toad-Hall said

I suggest you look in the 'Activity Manager' to see if it really was downloaded again or whether the folder has gone awol and needs a repair.

Activity manager just shows the number of messages downloaded for the account, doesn't tell me which messages, so I have no idea which of the entries relate to this issue.

Thanks for the reply. Don't know if any of the above helps, or makes things worse. As I said, it's stopped now, so I'm not really worried about it.