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Create New filter does not see any mail folders

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I am no longer able to create new mail filters. If I have an email and use "Message | Create filter from message" I can set up the filter parameters, but the "Perform filter options" section, if I select "Move message to" or "Copy message to" the destination is greyed out with "no available folders". I have the same situation if I select "Tools | Message Filters" and try to create a new filter.

I've already deleted all my .msf files and let TB recreate them, but that didn't fix it.

I am no longer able to create new mail filters. If I have an email and use "Message | Create filter from message" I can set up the filter parameters, but the "Perform filter options" section, if I select "Move message to" or "Copy message to" the destination is greyed out with "no available folders". I have the same situation if I select "Tools | Message Filters" and try to create a new filter. I've already deleted all my .msf files and let TB recreate them, but that didn't fix it.
Nseta ihuenyo ndị agbakwunyere

All Replies (11)

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is the main tab showing in Thunderbird behind the filter dialog a "mail" tab?

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Yes, I'm trying to create a filter for an email I'm looking at (to automatically move their email to a folder).

I noticed just now that my *existing* filters aren't working now. I have a couple particular senders I automatically delete, and those aren't being deleted anymore.

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This has been reported before but in those cases a simple restart of Thunderbird resolved the problem.

Q: Is this a gmail account ? In the Account Settings > Server Settings for the gmail account. Q: Are you using Server Name : "imap.gmail.com" OR "imap.googlemail.com" ?

Regardless if gmail or not - please do the following and report on the specific line I'm asking about.

  • In Menu icon > Help > More Troubleshooting Information
  • Under 'Application Basics' section - half way - Profile Folders - click on 'Open Folder'

A new window opens showing the contents of your profile folder.

  • If POP click on 'Mail' folder
  • If imap, click on 'ImapMail' folder
  • Click on the account name folder
  • Look for 'msgfilterRules.dat' file
  • Open 'msgfilterRules.dat' file using a simple text editor like Notepad

You will see the message filters listed. Q: Do you see something like this for the 'action value':

OR this:

Please post what you find. Just remember to edit the 'name' as I've done above.

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This and your other question leave me wondering is you are using an outlook or office mail account, I seem to recall seeing something about nested folders on Microsoft servers not showing.

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Nope, this account is a GMail account (created 2008 or earlier).

I'm presuming you meant "Profile Directory" and "Open Directory" above.

In the existing mail filters, I have multiple filters already defined. An example from the msgfilterRules.dat file:


name="Subject contains: SonsofSpanishAmericanWarVeterans" enabled="yes" type="17" action="Move to folder" actionValue="imap://[*my gmail username here*]@imap.gmail.com/SSAWV" condition="AND (subject,contains,SonsofSpanishAmericanWarVeterans)"


Haven't seen messages from this list in quite a while, so I don't know if it's still working.

I have another filter that is automatically deleting against a particular sender, and that one is still dropping messages into the Trash folder.

But still can't create a new filter because I can't select the destination folder.

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Additionally, I just tried creating a filter in my ISP's email, and had the same problem where I can't select a folder to move emails to (presuming Comcast isn't just using GMail on the back-end).

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This issue seems to effecting everything in general - I suspect the filter problem 'unable to select folders' may be the same cause as to why you cannot 'search' as per question https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1393450

I notice you say "I'm presuming you meant "Profile Directory" and "Open Directory" ", so presume you have a Linux OS.. It really would be helpful to mention what OS you are using as it does effect instructions otherwise it is assumed you are using a Windows OS.

Is your Thunderbird profile stored in the default location?

It should be here:

  • ~/.thunderbird/<Profile name>/

However, if you're using a third party build from Debian or Ubuntu, those builds store your profile folder here:

  • ~/.mozilla-thunderbird/<Profile name>

Exit Thunderbird In Profile name folder : delete this file: global-messages-db.sqlite

then restart Thunderbird

Post results.

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I must have missed the OS information when I was editing my response. Currently on TBird 102.5.0 on Fedora 37

Had tried deleting the global-messages-db.sqlite file previously, didn't change anything then or this time either. Global Search and Indexer is still checked/enabled, and the folders have indexing enabled in the folder properties (and are set to sync locally).

I also tried the "Repair Folder" option. I checked that all the files and directors are readable/writable by me (all check OK).

(this is one of those places where I've thought a tool that exports just settings would be useful. Then I'd just re-create a new profile and carry in just the bits I still need) I'm looking at my prefs.js file to see if there's any obsolete settings (I've probably carried over settings/profiles for nearly 20 years, don't even remember when I last started from scratch). Maybe there's something left over from years of usage that finally became incompatible.

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I went through the entire ImapMail directory and deleted all the *.msf files for all my IMAP accounts, and then left it long enough to re-sync and re-index all the emails. Didn't change anything.

I also notice the "Get new messages" dropdown now *only* shows "Get all new messages" (which would check email for all accounts). It used to show the individual accounts under it so I could select just one account to sync. So not only doesn't the application see the directories for creating/editing mail filters, it's also not showing accounts as selectable. I can go down the sidebar and select accounts and account folders as usual, so I know the main and accounts are still there and defined, and I get incoming mail and can send email.

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Thunderbird 102.6.0, Fedora 37 re-checked this, creating a message filter still cannot see any of my email folders when setting filter parameters.

I definitely have ownership on all my files/directories, all readable/writable by me.

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I've compared my TBird profile for my work computer (TBird 102.6.0, Fedora 36) to my home system ( TBird 102.7.1, Fedora 37) and can't find any clue to what is broken in my home profile that makes the local folders invisible to Thunderbird.

I have 10 different email accounts here, so re-creating ALL my settings is just not workable (with all the associated configurations with each account). And from what I've seen of upcoming TB releases, it looks like they'll eventually be switching to the GTK libraries with *broken* titlebar/window manager theming (as in the GNOME folks think being able to theme your desktop is somehow an affront to humanity). So at some point I'll have to pin TBird to the very last version that still displays correctly.