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attachment not making it to ISP from Thunderbird desktop

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by Matt

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I have used thunderbird for years. My ISP is saying that my problem is from thunderbird. I sent an email to a vendor with an order and an attachment. the email arrives, the attachment does not. I tested my problem by sending a test email in parallel. One to the vendor through thunderbird and one through the ISP's webmail tool. The problem happened only on the mail send via thunderbird. The webmail attachment went through. the email went through but not the attachment on the test through thunderbird. As far as I can see my sending SMTP setup is correct in thunderbird. Setup is according to what Bluehost asked me to do. i am concerned because I need reliable email. Are there any caches, or places to look for where a problem could arise? I would be happy to send my configuation info if that will help troubleshoot this problem. Additional note: I was also recently requested to change the email setup to use a Box number on Bluehost's server (box####.bluehost.com) rather than my domain name because their security certificate was causing a mismatch and problems sending and receiving emails. Thanks for any advice on this issue, technical info can be supplied.

I have used thunderbird for years. My ISP is saying that my problem is from thunderbird. I sent an email to a vendor with an order and an attachment. the email arrives, the attachment does not. I tested my problem by sending a test email in parallel. One to the vendor through thunderbird and one through the ISP's webmail tool. The problem happened only on the mail send via thunderbird. The webmail attachment went through. the email went through but not the attachment on the test through thunderbird. As far as I can see my sending SMTP setup is correct in thunderbird. Setup is according to what Bluehost asked me to do. i am concerned because I need reliable email. Are there any caches, or places to look for where a problem could arise? I would be happy to send my configuation info if that will help troubleshoot this problem. Additional note: I was also recently requested to change the email setup to use a Box number on Bluehost's server (box####.bluehost.com) rather than my domain name because their security certificate was causing a mismatch and problems sending and receiving emails. Thanks for any advice on this issue, technical info can be supplied.

All Replies (5)

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There should be a copy of the sent message in your Sent folder. Does it have the attachment?

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Yes on the parallel test I did, my sent copy in thunderbird has a copy of the attachment.

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So the message is sent with the attachment from your Thunderbird. That leaves your email provider, the recipients email provider, and the recipient, where something can get lost. Contact your email provider and the recipient to check.

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I have checked with my ISP, Bluehost and they so far been unhelpful. They blame Thunderbird, because I also sent the same email using the webmail tool which they offer. That email arrived with attachment. I believe there is a problem with my mail server configuration which is causing the problem. Bluehost however does not have a mail server helper or a mail server knowledge base which is detailed enough to trouble shoot the problem. This problem came up after I switched from a shared domain address to a assigned domain address because I got a ssl certificate for my website.

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danbpc said

Bluehost however does not have a mail server helper or a mail server knowledge base which is detailed enough to trouble shoot the problem.
A true case of you get what you pay for.

You really only have only two options to troubleshoot this. (Bluehost could examine their logs of what you sent, but you have not graced them with enough money to actually support you.)


Standard diagnostics.

To diagnose problems with Thunderbird, try one of the following:

  • Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.
  • 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 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OSX
If safe mode for the operating system fixes the issue, there's other software in your computer that's causing problems. Possibilities include but not limited to: AV scanning, virus/malware, background downloads such as program updates.

More advanced logging

https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging

Logging the SMTP transaction will give exact details of the send. If tit contains no errors etc then regardless of your hosts assertions their SMTP service is borked.