Cannot create any more subfolders
I use Windows 10, and Thunderbird for email (IMAP). I currently have 5 subfolders in my Inbox to sort incoming emails. I would like to create a couple more but Thunderbird will not create anymore subfolders. When I try to create another subfolder, it allows me to type in a name for the new folder but when I press Create Folder, it does not create the new folder. It almost seems like it has reached the maximum number of folders and ignores any attempt to create any more. Is there a limit to the number of subfolders? Does anyone else have this problem?
All Replies (7)
It's not the number of subfolders that's limiting the creation, but possibly the path length. According to this article (site currently down):
"The depth of the folder hierarchy is limited by the string length of the path to last folder's header. That can't exceed the operating system's maximum path length (usually at least 255 characters). But the OS length is not the same as what you see in the Thunderbird folder pane. The OS length includes the path to the parent folder in the profile (which might be over 100 characters), and five additional characters (back slash plus .sbd) for each child folder. If you hit this limit you can display more folders by moving the profile or the accounts directory closer to the root directory of the drive, so that less of the total path length is wasted. There is additional overhead if any of the folders have non-ASCII characters. For example, if it is an IMAP account the server would send the string as modified UTF-7, which more than doubles the number of characters.
Bug 249807 prevents Thunderbird from displaying a child folder if the total length of the child folder's relative path exceeds 128 bytes. The relative path is the distance from the top (root) of the profile directory (not the total path length)."
Does this factor into your setup?
Thanks but the subfolders are not nested so file & path length should not be a factor. All folders sit under the Inbox and existing folders have longer names than the new ones I wanted to create.
Check some settings: Menu icon > Folders > select: 'All'
Do you need to subscribe to see the new subfolder ?
- Right click on mail account name in Folder Pane and select 'Subscribe'
- click on 'Refresh'
- Is subfolder listed ?
- If yes, select subfolder and click on 'Subscribe'
- click on 'OK'
Hi , No tried that already, but thanks. The attempted newly created folder is not created, and does not appear in the Subscribe list.
If you create the folder through the webmail interface, can you then subscribe to it in TB?
Tools/Account Settings, Server Settings for the account, then Advanced... in the right pane. Is the box 'Server supports folders....' checked?
Yes it is checked