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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Thunderbird isn't receiving every email, is this a problem with compacting?

cp51
cp51
more options

I have a mail server with about 100 accounts. 1 account is experiencing the following problem:

They are sent an email by another person and sometimes one of two things happens: 1. They see the email in their inbox on thunderbird, and then within a few minutes it disappears. Some of these emails have been found in other folders (I believe Junk Folder).

2. They never receive the email. It may be the case that it disappeared from the inbox before they saw it there, but in any event, it is not in their inbox, and does not appear to be in any other folder.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this kind of problem. It is only happening to one user, so I am fairly confident it isnt the mail server's fault. The user does have a 253MB mail file on the server. Which leads me to believe this may have something to do with the inbox not being compacted? And perhaps thunderbird moving the mail to other locations? The user does have 46GB of free space on their system, so the system isnt running out of memory.

Im nervous to have them try compacting their folders, there is a large amount of sensitive information that can not be lost.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you.

I have a mail server with about 100 accounts. 1 account is experiencing the following problem: They are sent an email by another person and sometimes one of two things happens: 1. They see the email in their inbox on thunderbird, and then within a few minutes it disappears. Some of these emails have been found in other folders (I believe Junk Folder). 2. They never receive the email. It may be the case that it disappeared from the inbox before they saw it there, but in any event, it is not in their inbox, and does not appear to be in any other folder. I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this kind of problem. It is only happening to one user, so I am fairly confident it isnt the mail server's fault. The user does have a 253MB mail file on the server. Which leads me to believe this may have something to do with the inbox not being compacted? And perhaps thunderbird moving the mail to other locations? The user does have 46GB of free space on their system, so the system isnt running out of memory. Im nervous to have them try compacting their folders, there is a large amount of sensitive information that can not be lost. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you.

All Replies (1)

user01229325
user01229325
more options

Compacting removes messages that have been marked for deletion. It is a part of normal maintenance and you will have problems if it is not done.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_Tips_:_Compacting_Folders

Are you using POP or IMAP protocol?

For POP, Thunderbird downloads messages that are on the server in the Inbox for that account. If they are not in the inbox then Thunderbird cannot download them.

IMAP is server based. The messages stay on the server and are viewed remotely by email clients like Thunderbird. The client can be subscribed to more folders than just the inbox like POP protocol.

Messages do not change folders without some help from the end user. If messages are getting moved to the junk folder then the user has setup junk controls. The default action is to add a junk icon and leave it in the inbox.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Junk_Mail_Controls

The other way is if the user create filters to sort and move messages.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Filters_%28Thunderbird%29

It is a poor practice to use the inbox for long term message storage. This article gives some pointers for keeping your email working smoothly.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_-_Thunderbird

Since you are worried about sensitive messages that may be lost I am sure you have good backups. If not you are making a big mistake.

Modified by user01229325