TB Getmail returns "no new messages"
TB Getmail returns “no new messages – I am a longtime Thunderbird user from back in the Netscape days. I have two frequent-use PCs: a desktop; and a laptop – both on Windows 10. The desktop TB is at 102.6.1 (64-bit). The laptop TB is at 78.14.0 (64-bit). I don’t know why there is such a difference between the releases. I am very hesitant to try to update the laptop as my Getmail works okay on the laptop and I don’t want to lose the ability to download my new messages. My ISP is Comcast.
I have three different Email UserIDs on Comcast. All three work well on the laptop. One, my primary, probably account for 90% of my email. When there is new email for all three UserIDs, a TB Getmail will download all new messages for all three IDs. Only two work on the desktop – this is where the “no new messages” problem occurs. It is illogical to try to update the laptop TB. I would prefer to get the desktop working, THEN update the laptop.
Comcast Support (suppress giggle) says this situation is not their problem – it is a Thunderbird problem! The Geek Squad (Best Buy) says it is a Comcast problem. The details in the Account Settings for all three UserIDs are identical, so it seems logical that something is wrong with Thunderbird.
Is there any way I can structure a test to isolate the problem and pin down Comcast or Thunderbird?
Chosen solution
By getmail, I must assume you mean using the menu to get all new mail for all accounts, or pressing Shift+F5.
That is the first gotcha with getting mail. Just pressing the get mail button only get mail for the currently selected account. For folks who used the global inbox with POP accounts this was equivalent to using Shift+F5. But with more modern setups using IMAP then this difference that has existed forever really becomes apparent.
- Is there any sort of error dialog produced?
- Beyond the basics, you can clear the error console (ctrl+shift+J) and try the get mail and see if there is something in the console related to the getting of mail.
- At a quite detailed level you can log the connection. This produces large amount of text in a very short time, so is really something of a last resort. Details on how logging is set up varies on the type of account or action to be logged. General information here https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging
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Chosen Solution
By getmail, I must assume you mean using the menu to get all new mail for all accounts, or pressing Shift+F5.
That is the first gotcha with getting mail. Just pressing the get mail button only get mail for the currently selected account. For folks who used the global inbox with POP accounts this was equivalent to using Shift+F5. But with more modern setups using IMAP then this difference that has existed forever really becomes apparent.
- Is there any sort of error dialog produced?
- Beyond the basics, you can clear the error console (ctrl+shift+J) and try the get mail and see if there is something in the console related to the getting of mail.
- At a quite detailed level you can log the connection. This produces large amount of text in a very short time, so is really something of a last resort. Details on how logging is set up varies on the type of account or action to be logged. General information here https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging
Matt - thank you for your response. The Shift+F5 brought in all new messages for all three accounts. Should I report a bug in the Get Messages button? At any rate - thank you very much for you timely helpful response. You have saved me a lot of daily busy-work. Ralph
No. It is not a bug. It is how Thunderbird has worked , at least since I first downloaded it at version 2. It is just many folk never used IMAP in the past or had individual account entries on the folder pane before and now are learning that what they thought happened did not in fact happen.