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Scrambled messages from gmail.com

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I'm having problems where messages occasionally get scrambled.

The account uses an SMTP server on gmail.com .

Only the Inbox folder and the All Mail folder get messages scrambled; this doesn't happen to other folders.

It seems to happen only if Thunderbird is doing a compression of multiple folders, and another message arrives during the compression.

I often get at least 300 messages a day, so this happens a few times a month. Most of them use HTML or something else other than plain text.

Messages in the Important folder are not affected, so some of the messages can be recovered from that folder.

Enough of the message headers to identify the messages in the list of Inbox nessages is not affected; the scrambling only appears if you try to display the body of the messages.

Which messages are affected does not relate well to the order of messages in the Inbox list. I suspect it relates to the order of compression instead.

Shutting down Thunderbird and restarting it stops any more incoming messages from being affected, at least as long as they do not arrive during a compression.

If Thunderbird controls which messages are downloaded, shutting down any downloads during compressions should be a fix.

If the server controls which messages are downloaded, a temporary queue for messages downloaded during compressions may be needed.

Unclear of the problem is related to my method of putting a small weight on the Shift key so I can select a series of messages using only one hand (my other hand won't press only the Shift key very well).

The problem appeared in a few versions of Thunderbird before I started using the weight.

I'm having problems where messages occasionally get scrambled. The account uses an SMTP server on gmail.com . Only the Inbox folder and the All Mail folder get messages scrambled; this doesn't happen to other folders. It seems to happen only if Thunderbird is doing a compression of multiple folders, and another message arrives during the compression. I often get at least 300 messages a day, so this happens a few times a month. Most of them use HTML or something else other than plain text. Messages in the Important folder are not affected, so some of the messages can be recovered from that folder. Enough of the message headers to identify the messages in the list of Inbox nessages is not affected; the scrambling only appears if you try to display the body of the messages. Which messages are affected does not relate well to the order of messages in the Inbox list. I suspect it relates to the order of compression instead. Shutting down Thunderbird and restarting it stops any more incoming messages from being affected, at least as long as they do not arrive during a compression. If Thunderbird controls which messages are downloaded, shutting down any downloads during compressions should be a fix. If the server controls which messages are downloaded, a temporary queue for messages downloaded during compressions may be needed. Unclear of the problem is related to my method of putting a small weight on the Shift key so I can select a series of messages using only one hand (my other hand won't press only the Shift key very well). The problem appeared in a few versions of Thunderbird before I started using the weight.

All Replies (7)

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right click the folder, select properties and then the repair button.

I have a shift key on both sides of my keyboard. Perhaps stop using the weight and use your other hand

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I'll try that the repair method the next time the problem happens.

I also have a Shift key on each side of my keyboard. My other hand no longer has enough strength and dexterity to press only a key that is not on the bottom row of the keyboard, such as either of the Shift keys.

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What version are you running?

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It was Thunderbird 91.12.0 (64-bit), but I just updated to a 102 version.

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I just got the problem again, under Thunderbird 102.1.2 (64-bit) and the latest version of Windows 10.

I tried the repair button method described above; it did nothing.

I noticed that the text shown about the repair method describes it as correcting which messages are shown.

However, the problem loses the correct starting point in most of the affected messages.

I was not using the weight when the compression started, and had not used it again when I tried the repair button and it did nothing.

Modified by robertmilesxyz

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I noticed that the messages that are affected but appear to have a normal starting point generally show as messages that I moved out of the Inbox the previous day. I suspect that the compression goes normally until an incoming message arrives before the compression finishes, and then goes crazy for the rest of that compression.

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Messages received hours before the compression, but not read yet, are often affected. So are messages that are read and marked for more attention.