Deleted emails reappear Hotmail POP3
When I delete emails from my Hotmail POP3 account, they reappear in my inbox later that day. Today it re-downloaded 45 message I'd deleted [The deleted-returning messages varied in age..up to 3weeks] . This is not occurring with other POP3 accounts...gmail, comcast..when deleted they don't return Using T-bird 24.5 on Win7-64bit On this PC. I noticed a similar issue with Tbird 64bit V10 I used recently when traveling so the issue cuts across PC's and Tbird versions indicating Hotmail [outlook.com] settings might be the problem...or perhaps something about the way outlook.com and Thunderbird interact is less reliable than gmail or comcast interactions. After the emails reappeared, I deleted them again..then ran Remove duplicate messages-Alt .39 on the trash folder to deleted the duplicates...worked great. I've checked messages actively twice in addition to the 10" autocheck and restarted Thunderbird once and they haven't as yet reappeared. My outlook.com settings, "Don't let devices or apps delete messages from outlook.com" is pretty similar to what I do with gmail, yet the messages are re-downloaded. There's an option to let the device delete the emails but I'd rather keep them on outlook if I could. If there isn't a good POP fix, I may try IMAP...but I need to research that further: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switch-pop-imap-account http://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-set-up-outlook-com-imap-in-windows/
Chosen solution
It sounds like one of two thing could be happening.
either the 'deleted' email is reappearing or you are getting a second download of that email.
If the deleted email is reappearing then it is possible that the Inbox folder may be corrupted. If there is some corruption and you compact the folder, you might lose good emails, so please perform the following to ensure you keep good emails and compact the folder to remove traces of deleted emails.
- Move all good emails out of the Inbox into other suitable folders and delete any unwanted emails.
- When Inbox is empty, right click on Inbox and select : Compact
If you then start to get duplicate downloads, it may mean that your popstate.dat file has gone awol. It keeps a record of what has already been downloaded. Info at links.
You would need to delete the 'popstate.dat file and then Thunderbird will create a new one. The downside is that it will download everything that is on your server again, but just once.
make hidden files and folders visible:
Locate your Profile folders:
In Thunderbird
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- click on 'Show folder' button
it will open a new window showing profile folder
- Close Thunderbird now - this is important
- click on 'Mail' folder
- click on 'account name' folder
Then look for 'popstate.dat', a DAT file.
- Delete the 'popstate.dat' file.
- Open Thunderbird.
- TB should attempt to getmail, otherwise Click on GetMail.
Download will happen and you will need to sort through the mail. This should fix the popstate file so that it has an uncorrupted record of what has been downloaded.
This will redownload everything once more but that should fix the duplicate issue. After fixing the popstate file you may have loads of duplicate email messages. You can use this Addon to help remove them:
Read this answer in context 👍 2All Replies (5)
7/15/2014 I made a minor change to Server settings [Account settings] Under leave messages on server I had both, __For at most # days & __Until I delete them, checked in hotmail but only the "until I delete them" in gmail...It seemed odd that this duplication would be offered by Tbird and selected by me so I deselected the "__For at most # days" options and left "__Until I delete them" checked. We'll see if I get another run of duplicates. I looked at the IMAP option, but it's really not something I'm keen on since I like having my emails available whether online or not, don't have a high level of trust of email servers [but they're great backup], and don't like to change my methods...of course if the problem worsens, I'll revisit the IMAP option. MrToad
Chosen Solution
It sounds like one of two thing could be happening.
either the 'deleted' email is reappearing or you are getting a second download of that email.
If the deleted email is reappearing then it is possible that the Inbox folder may be corrupted. If there is some corruption and you compact the folder, you might lose good emails, so please perform the following to ensure you keep good emails and compact the folder to remove traces of deleted emails.
- Move all good emails out of the Inbox into other suitable folders and delete any unwanted emails.
- When Inbox is empty, right click on Inbox and select : Compact
If you then start to get duplicate downloads, it may mean that your popstate.dat file has gone awol. It keeps a record of what has already been downloaded. Info at links.
You would need to delete the 'popstate.dat file and then Thunderbird will create a new one. The downside is that it will download everything that is on your server again, but just once.
make hidden files and folders visible:
Locate your Profile folders:
In Thunderbird
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- click on 'Show folder' button
it will open a new window showing profile folder
- Close Thunderbird now - this is important
- click on 'Mail' folder
- click on 'account name' folder
Then look for 'popstate.dat', a DAT file.
- Delete the 'popstate.dat' file.
- Open Thunderbird.
- TB should attempt to getmail, otherwise Click on GetMail.
Download will happen and you will need to sort through the mail. This should fix the popstate file so that it has an uncorrupted record of what has been downloaded.
This will redownload everything once more but that should fix the duplicate issue. After fixing the popstate file you may have loads of duplicate email messages. You can use this Addon to help remove them:
Thanks for the in depth reply & strategies. Thus far, there's been no repeat after I changed settings as shown in my reply to my post above...I will put your message in my problem file in case it does come back. Thanks again. MrToad
UPDATE In the post below...I declared victory...prematurely...no sooner had I put this out, and a deleted email was re-supplied by hotmail. So 9 days was insufficient to judge the efficacy of this intermittent and inconsistent problem...but it did at least seem to fix it and may reduce the volume of resupplied emails so I'm leaving the post >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> A bit of clarification: Toad-halls post above is shown as the "chosen solution" in error...It's an excellent set of troubleshooting steps and I'm grateful for the thoughtful contribution....Nevertheless...the FIX THAT WORKED was this that I posted above, " I made a minor change to Server settings [Account settings] Under leave messages on server I had both, __For at most # days & __Until I delete them, checked in hotmail but only the "until I delete them" in gmail...It seemed odd that this duplication would be offered by Tbird and selected by me so I deselected the "__For at most # days" options and left "__Until I delete them" checked. We'll see if I get another run of duplicates." So before heading over to toad-hall, check to see if both boxes are checked and if so, uncheck one of them. I did this 9 days ago and have not had another resupply of deleted emails since. This fix applies to hotmail and possibly similar @live.com? @outlook.com?...my email addresses were @hotmail.com so YMMV.
Modified by MrToad
SOLVED! go in to your hotmail or live account and click on settings (gear icon besides your pic) then click on Options then go to Connect devices and apps with POP click on it and where it says Deleting downloaded messages choose first option Don't let devices or apps delete messages from Outlook.com. If the app or device is set to delete, Outlook.com will move the messages to a special POP folder instead. YES! that solved my ghost reappearing messages :)