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

Can not write to e-mail box, cannot filter to folder

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

more options

I have been getting seemingly random failures to download e-mail from gmail.com I am currently running 115.3.3 64bit, but the problem started with a previous 32 bit version.

Other research suggested that the 32bit versions had a hardcoded limit of 4gigabytes per account, and that the 64bit version had no such limit. The account in question takes up approximately 1.64gbytes, with the two largest folders at 249mbytes and 216mbytes.

It was also suggested that Local Folders was not subject to the 4gbyte limit. I moved a few of the largest folders to Local Folders; that was no help with the cannot write mailbox problem, cannot filter to folder problem and the cannot move messages to folder problem.

I compact folders regularly, the problems return.

NTFS version 3.1 OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045 Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB Total Physical Memory 7.74 GB Available Physical Memory 1.95 GB Total Virtual Memory 10.7 GB Available Virtual Memory 2.83 GB Page File Space 2.98 GB

Incidently, I have a Windows7 system that recently upgraded itself to Thunderbird 115. I have not experienced these sorts of problems there (yet)

Thanks for any help that can be given.

I have been getting seemingly random failures to download e-mail from gmail.com I am currently running 115.3.3 64bit, but the problem started with a previous 32 bit version. Other research suggested that the 32bit versions had a hardcoded limit of 4gigabytes per account, and that the 64bit version had no such limit. The account in question takes up approximately 1.64gbytes, with the two largest folders at 249mbytes and 216mbytes. It was also suggested that Local Folders was not subject to the 4gbyte limit. I moved a few of the largest folders to Local Folders; that was no help with the cannot write mailbox problem, cannot filter to folder problem and the cannot move messages to folder problem. I compact folders regularly, the problems return. NTFS version 3.1 OS Name Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor Version 10.0.19045 Build 19045 Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB Total Physical Memory 7.74 GB Available Physical Memory 1.95 GB Total Virtual Memory 10.7 GB Available Virtual Memory 2.83 GB Page File Space 2.98 GB Incidently, I have a Windows7 system that recently upgraded itself to Thunderbird 115. I have not experienced these sorts of problems there (yet) Thanks for any help that can be given.

All Replies (1)

more options

Ok, lets look at this.

1. the 4Gb limits on folder size were removed many years ago. So all that information is not irrelevant. Just an FYI, the issue was to do with how variables were defined in the C++ language and had nothing really to do with 32 or 64 bit versions. Although the issue did limit Linux and Mac to 2Gb at the time.

The can not write mailbox problem as you define it is mostly the result of anti virus products locking files in the profile folder while they scan them in their typical pedestrian manner. It is for this reason this forum is full of recommendations to exclude an on access scanning from the Thunderbird profile folder.

However the real issue is file contention, something Thunderbird simply can not handle, having grown up in a world where your files were available immediately and exclusively. So while I tend to reach for the antivirus card as the problem usually surfaces post update, anything that causes file contention can cause issues. So streaming backups, the profile being stored on a "cloud synced" location (something we are seeing more of), the profile not being stored locally on the system hard disk (while local network drives are supposed to work, they can be problematical and other things like NAS, and USB drives can also have built in contention issues.

Again just an FYI. I have an inbox on local folders of 7.4Gb containing almost 175,000 emails. I also have a GMail account connected as IMAP which has a 6.5Gb inbox with some 225,000 messages in it. While I do see "not responding" issues for which I have no solution (or even real cause) your issues will most likely be something external to Thunderbird, but that could include spam/Scam tools injected into Thunderbird by antivirus products that have not received the message their tools are not welcome in the running program.