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

Wannan tattunawa ta zama daɗaɗɗiya. Yi sabuwar tambaya idan ka na bukatar taimako.

I cannot retrieve my gmail on my desktop computer if I have already read it on my laptop computer.

  • 10 amsoshi
  • 1 yana da wannan matsala
  • 1 view
  • Amsa ta ƙarshe daga Matt

more options

We have three E-Mail accounts - one AT&T, and two gmail. I read the mail on all three accounts using Thunderbird on our laptop when we travel and our desktop when we are at home. When we return from a trip and I turn on the desktop computer and it's Thunderbird, all of my mail on the AT&T account gets downloaded but none of the mail on either gmail account is downloaded. This means that I have to run both computers at home if I want to deal with both past and current E-Mails.

The laptop is running Windows 8 and Thunderbird 24.5.0 and the desktop is running Windows 8.1 and Thunderbird 31.1.2. In spite of the difference in the release numbers, both computers say that my Thunderbird is up-to-date.

We have three E-Mail accounts - one AT&T, and two gmail. I read the mail on all three accounts using Thunderbird on our laptop when we travel and our desktop when we are at home. When we return from a trip and I turn on the desktop computer and it's Thunderbird, all of my mail on the AT&T account gets downloaded but none of the mail on either gmail account is downloaded. This means that I have to run both computers at home if I want to deal with both past and current E-Mails. The laptop is running Windows 8 and Thunderbird 24.5.0 and the desktop is running Windows 8.1 and Thunderbird 31.1.2. In spite of the difference in the release numbers, both computers say that my Thunderbird is up-to-date.

Mafitar da aka zaɓa

I found the answer to my problem at

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/47948?query=recent&topic=&type=f&ctx=search

Thanks to "christ1" and "Zenos"for your assistance.

Karanta wannan amsa a matsayinta 👍 0

All Replies (10)

more options

What is the account type of the Gmail accounts on the laptop computer - POP or IMAP?

more options

all three accounts are POP on both computers

more options

With POP the default behavior is to download messages to your computer and remove them from the server. So when reading messages with your laptop computer, Thunderbird on the desktop computer would never see them. To change this you can set the option to leave messages on the server in your account settings for the POP account on the laptop.

more options

I have it set that way already. All three accounts on both computers are set to "Leave messages on server" and "Until I delete them"

more options

I was just looking at the gmail settings webpage for another question, and noticed there is a setting specifically for what gmail should do in a POP-connected account. There is an option to keep a copy on the server; is this set thus on yours?

more options

Yes. In Thunderbird, all three accounts on both computers are set to "Leave messages on server" and "Until I delete them".

more options

Go to the Gmail website in your browser. Open your Gmail account there. Open settings then pop/forwarding and look at the options offered for POP.

more options

Thanks for your response. When I go to the gmail settings, under the heading " When messages are accessed with POP", "Keep Gmail's copy in the Inbox" is selected. Is that not the correct selection ?

more options

Zaɓi Mafita

I found the answer to my problem at

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/47948?query=recent&topic=&type=f&ctx=search

Thanks to "christ1" and "Zenos"for your assistance.

more options

It is interesting that "Recent Mode" is in violation of the RFC's for POP mail. When asked by a pop client for all mail that is what is supposed to be supplied. Unfortunately for Google they have made such a mess of email that complying with the RFC would mean some clients would get 10 or more Gb of mail because now we save everything to the cloud and in Google's case they encourage permanent storage. Even it we don't want to. Good one Google, perhaps you to could call it "innovation"