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I am downloading an email account onto Thunderbird., but when I click on download all messages I am now only getting them one at a time.

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  • Last reply by Matt

geofflean
geofflean
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I am trying to download an email account onto Thunderbird. It is many thousand messages long. When I started clicking on 2get all messages" it worked satisfactorily. Then it started downloading them at about 100 at a time, which i could live with. then it went to 20 or so at a time, which was bad but not disastrous. then it went to single figures and is now doing only one at a time. This clearly is hopeless as I cannot even keep up with the new emails coming in. How do I solve this?

I am trying to download an email account onto Thunderbird. It is many thousand messages long. When I started clicking on 2get all messages" it worked satisfactorily. Then it started downloading them at about 100 at a time, which i could live with. then it went to 20 or so at a time, which was bad but not disastrous. then it went to single figures and is now doing only one at a time. This clearly is hopeless as I cannot even keep up with the new emails coming in. How do I solve this?

All Replies (3)

Matt
Matt
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we get this all the time, mostly from Gmail users. There are two common causes.

1. Anti virus programs. Either scanning the profile folder and locking Thunderbird out, or just plain messing up the download with their scanning. Disable email scanning first and create an exception in your anti virus for the profile folder.

2. You have exc eeded the bandwidth allowance of your mail provider. Most have a daily limit to prevent abuse. When downloading Gbs of mail it is easy to exceed it completely.

Ohh and a third. You have confused the machine with a check for mail setting of less than 15 minutes or you keep pressing the get mail button. Both things can cause issues

geofflean
geofflean Question owner
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Thanks Matt, but I am an ignoramus. What do I do to solve the situation?

Matt
Matt
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Restart the operating system in safe mode with Networking. This loads only the very basics needed to start your computer while enabling an Internet connection. Click on your operating system for instructions on how to start in safe mode: Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX

While running safe mode download you mails. This will probably only affect the initial mass download.