There is no such thing as a Thunderbird account. You do have an account with your email provider, and Thunderbird is just a means to access that account.

JPG format for screenshots should be fine.

Also, can you post your Troubleshooting Information? At the top right of the Thunderbird window, click the menu button , then select Help > Troubleshooting Information. Press the Copy text to clipboard button and paste the information into your reply.

Sorry Christ1! I have a googlemail account in thunderbird and have posted a JPEG file of the problem here.

{

 "application": {
   "name": "Firefox",
   "version": "44.0",
   "buildID": "20160123151951",
   "userAgent": "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:44.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/44.0",
   "safeMode": false,
   "updateChannel": "release",
   "supportURL": "https://support.mozilla.org/1/firefox/44.0/WINNT/de/",
   "numTotalWindows": 1,
   "numRemoteWindows": 0,
   "remoteAutoStart": false
 },
 "modifiedPreferences": {
   "accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar": 0,
   "browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run": false,
   "browser.cache.disk.hashstats_reported": 1,
   "browser.cache.frecency_experiment": 3,
   "browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported": 1,
   "browser.cache.disk.capacity": 358400,
   "browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max": false,
   "browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value": 358400,
   "browser.download.importedFromSqlite": true,
   "browser.download.manager.alertOnEXEOpen": false,
   "browser.history_expire_days.mirror": 180,
   "browser.link.open_newwindow": 2,
   "browser.places.smartBookmarksVersion": 7,
   "browser.places.importBookmarksHTML": false,
   "browser.search.suggest.enabled": false,
   "browser.search.useDBForOrder": true,
   "browser.sessionstore.upgradeBackup.latestBuildID": "20160123151951",
   "browser.startup.homepage_override.mstone": "44.0",
   "browser.startup.homepage": "www.google.com",
   "browser.startup.homepage_override.buildID": "20160123151951",
   "browser.tabs.warnOnClose": false,
   "browser.tabs.autoHide": true,
   "browser.tabs.closeWindowWithLastTab": false,
   "browser.zoom.full": false,
   "dom.max_script_run_time": 0,
   "dom.apps.reset-permissions": true,
   "dom.w3c_touch_events.expose": false,
   "dom.mozApps.used": true,
   "extensions.lastAppVersion": "44.0",
   "font.internaluseonly.changed": false,
   "general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet": "(.NET CLR 3.5.30729)",
   "gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11": false,
   "gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.appVersion": "44.0",
   "gfx.driver-init.appVersion": "42.0",
   "gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11": true,
   "gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle": true,
   "gfx.blacklist.suggested-driver-version": "10.6",
   "gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d9video": 2,
   "gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.driverVersion": "10.18.10.3910",
   "gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.deviceID": "0x0f31",
   "gfx.driver-init.deviceID": "0x0f31",
   "gfx.driver-init.driverVersion": "10.18.10.3910",
   "gfx.driver-init.status": 2,
   "gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle": true,
   "gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d3d11": true,
   "gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext": 2,
   "gfx.crash-guard.d3d11layers.feature-d2d": true,
   "gfx.crash-guard.status.d3d11layers": 2,
   "gfx.driver-init.feature-d3d11": true,
   "gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp": false,
   "gfx.driver-init.feature-d2d": true,
   "gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx": 0,
   "keyword.URL": "http://de.search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=A111DE662&p=",
   "media.gmp-eme-adobe.lastUpdate": 1454935816,
   "media.gmp-eme-adobe.abi": "x86-msvc-x64",
   "media.gmp-gmpopenh264.lastUpdate": 1454935818,
   "media.hardware-video-decoding.failed": false,
   "media.gmp-gmpopenh264.version": "1.5.3",
   "media.gmp-manager.lastCheck": 1455123457,
   "media.youtube-ua.override.to": "43",
   "media.gmp-eme-adobe.version": "15",
   "media.gmp-gmpopenh264.abi": "x86-msvc-x64",
   "media.gmp-manager.buildID": "20160123151951",
   "network.predictor.cleaned-up": true,
   "network.auth.allow-subresource-auth": 2,
   "network.cookie.prefsMigrated": true,
   "places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages": 104274,
   "places.last_vacuum": 1299953645,
   "places.database.lastMaintenance": 1455198981,
   "places.history.expiration.transient_optimal_database_size": 80464280,
   "plugin.importedState": true,
   "plugin.disable_full_page_plugin_for_types": "application/pdf",
   "plugin.state.npgarmin": 0,
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_resolution_name": "",
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_XPS_(Kopie_1).print_headerright": "&U",
   "print.printer_An_OneNote_2007_senden.print_edge_left": 0,
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_margin_left": "0.5",
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_paper_size_type": 0,
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_XPS_(Kopie_1).print_shrink_to_fit": true,
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_unwriteable_margin_top": 0,
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_shrink_to_fit": false,
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_edge_left": 0,
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_orientation": 0,
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_margin_right": "0.236111119389534",
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_XPS_(Kopie_1).print_command": "",
   "print.printer_An_OneNote_2007_senden.print_oddpages": true,
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_bgimages": false,
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_to_file": false,
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_in_color": true,
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer.print_footercenter": "",
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer.print_colorspace": "",
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_unwriteable_margin_left": 0,
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_XPS_(Kopie_1).print_paper_width": "  8,50",
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_footerleft": "&PT",
   "print.printer_Microsoft_XPS_Document_Writer.print_downloadfonts": false,
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_pagedelay": 500,
   "print.printer_An_OneNote_2007_senden.print_footerleft": "&PT",
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_plex_name": "",
   "print.printer_An_OneNote_2007_senden.print_pagedelay": 500,
   "print.printer_HP_Officejet_6300_series.print_plex_name": "",
   "print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_height": " 11,00",

Sorry! Wrong troubleshooting info!!

 Allgemeine Informationen

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 38.5.1
   User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.3; WOW64; rv:38.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/38.5.1
   Profilordner: Ordner anzeigen

             (Lokaler Datenträger)
   Build-ID der Anwendung: 20151228123010
   Aktivierte Plugins: about:plugins
   Build-Konfiguration: about:buildconfig
   Speicherverwendung: about:memory

 E-Mail- und Newsgruppen-Konten
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext

   account3:
     INCOMING: account3, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

 Absturzberichte

 Erweiterungen
   German Spelling Dictionary, 1.0.1-signed, true, GermanSpellingDictionary@lipocodes
   Lightning, 4.0.5.2, true, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}

 Wichtige modifizierte Einstellungen

   Name: Wert

     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 38.5.1
     font.internaluseonly.changed: false
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.tr: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-baltic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-central-euro: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Consolas
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.tr: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-baltic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-central-euro: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Calibri
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.tr: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-baltic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-central-euro: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.tr: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-baltic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-central-euro: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 14
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.tr: 17
     font.size.variable.x-baltic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-central-euro: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 17
     gfx.direct3d.last_used_feature_level_idx: 0
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: e2883a62-9000-496f-bdd8-d6cc1c52719
     mailnews.database.global.views.conversation.columns: {"threadCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"1"},"flaggedCol":{"visible":true,"ordinal":"3"},"attachmentCol":{"visible":false…
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1455198974
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104274
     plugin.importedState: true
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_bgcolor: false
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_bgimages: false
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_colorspace:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_command:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_downloadfonts: false
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_duplex: 1515870810
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_edge_bottom: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_edge_left: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_edge_right: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_edge_top: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_evenpages: true
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_footercenter:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_footerleft: &PT
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_footerright: &D
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_headercenter:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_headerleft: &T
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_headerright: &U
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_in_color: true
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_margin_bottom: 0.5
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_margin_left: 0.5
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_margin_right: 0.5
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_margin_top: 0.5
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_oddpages: true
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_orientation: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_page_delay: 50
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_data: 9
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_height: 11,00
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_name:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_size_type: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_size_unit: 1
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_paper_width: 8,50
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_plex_name:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_resolution: 1515870810
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_resolution_name:
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_reversed: false
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_scaling: 0,90
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_shrink_to_fit: false
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_to_file: false
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_unwriteable_margin_bottom: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_unwriteable_margin_left: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_unwriteable_margin_right: 0
     print.printer_Canon_MX920_series_Printer_WS.print_unwriteable_margin_top: 0

 Grafik

     Karten-Beschreibung: Intel(R) HD Graphics
     Vendor-ID: 0x8086
     Geräte-ID: 0x0f31
     Karten-RAM: Unknown
     Karten-Treiber: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32
     Treiber-Version: 10.18.10.3910
     Treiber-Datum: 8-13-2014
     Direct2D aktiviert: false
     DirectWrite aktiviert: false (6.3.9600.18123)
     ClearType-Parameter: ClearType-Parameter nicht gefunden
     WebGL-Renderer: false
     GPU-beschleunigte Fenster: 0

     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: cairo

 JavaScript

 Inkrementelle GC: 1

 Barrierefreiheit

   Aktiviert: 0
   Barrierefreiheit verhindern: 0

 Bibliotheken-Versionen

     Minimal vorausgesetzte Version
     Verwendete Version

     NSPR
     4.10.10
     4.10.10

     NSS
     3.19.2.1 Basic ECC
     3.19.2.1 Basic ECC

     NSS Util
     3.19.2.1
     3.19.2.1

     NSS SSL
     3.19.2.1 Basic ECC
     3.19.2.1 Basic ECC

     NSS S/MIME
     3.19.2.1 Basic ECC
     3.19.2.1 Basic ECC

My account description (email address) and all subdirectories are shown twice on the left hand side of my thunderbird account.

According to your Troubleshooting Information there are two Gmail accounts. Are you saying these are the same accounts, i.e. using the same password?

If so, then for whatever reason, you did set up the account twice using different server names (gmail.com and googlemail.com). That is the reason this worked at all.

Since both accounts are IMAP, you can simply delete one of them. Just in case, create a backup of your Thunderbird profile before doing that. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_FAQs_:_Backing_Up_and_Restoring

Then press Alt or F10 in case the menu bar is hidden. From the main menu bar: Tools - Account Settings Select the account to be deleted in the left pane. Select 'Remove Account' from the 'Account Action' drop-down menu at the bottom.

In case you do need to post a screenshot once again see http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-create-screenshot-my-problem

Hi christ1! Just wanted to say thanks for your info. Am now compacting and manually backing up mozilla profile/s before going through deletion process. I note that MozBackUp program is no longer fully supported. I will confirm when mail account duplication is resolved.

To christ1 - OK, problem resolved. I now have just the one google mail account and I now know where to look for trouble shooting under mozilla and how to back up profiles. I also now know that email file compacting is done automatically.

Many thanks for your help. Your never to old to learn!

Congratulations. When your problem has been fixed can you mark the thread as 'Solved' please? Thank you.