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Truncated message downloads (POP3)

  • 2 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by detroitdave

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Using pop3, I set Thunderbird to not download messages over 100kB via the Tools/Account Settings/Disk Space menu. When a message over 100kB arrives, I get the message header plus the notice: "Truncated! This message exceeded the Maximum Message Size set in Account Settings, so we have only downloaded the first few lines from the mail server."...and a link to: "Download the rest of the message." When I click the "download" link it all works fine. However, after I click the download link and then try to read a different message, the download seems to abort! I.e., to download a truncated message I have to sit there on that same message until the entire large message downloads to completion. With a slow internet connection this can take many minutes. It would be a LOT handier if the download would continue in the background, so I could look at the rest of my emails then come back later to the large message. This functionality was available in Eudora back in the late 1990's (!!) and I used it all the time. Is there a way to do this in Thunderbird? If not, is there a way to request this functionality be added? Thanks!

Using pop3, I set Thunderbird to not download messages over 100kB via the Tools/Account Settings/Disk Space menu. When a message over 100kB arrives, I get the message header plus the notice: "Truncated! This message exceeded the Maximum Message Size set in Account Settings, so we have only downloaded the first few lines from the mail server."...and a link to: "Download the rest of the message." When I click the "download" link it all works fine. However, after I click the download link and then try to read a different message, the download seems to abort! I.e., to download a truncated message I have to sit there on that same message until the entire large message downloads to completion. With a slow internet connection this can take many minutes. It would be a LOT handier if the download would continue in the background, so I could look at the rest of my emails then come back later to the large message. This functionality was available in Eudora back in the late 1990's (!!) and I used it all the time. Is there a way to do this in Thunderbird? If not, is there a way to request this functionality be added? Thanks!

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There is already a very old bug reported for this problem, bug 304580 - pop3 retrieval of partially downloaded message is cancelled when a local message is selected. You can try to add your user story to the bug to get some attention to it…

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Onno Ekker, Thank you for that link. I will add my story there. I wonder why this bug is such a low priority? Seems like it would not be a difficult thing to fix. Thanks again.