Tags in many messages not displayed, but show up in search
I have had this problem for years. When I first installed Thunderbird, i tagged a lot of messages. Later, I noticed that most of the tags were not shown in the message list nor in the message pane. Only some of the tags were still there. When I use the menu function Search Messages and I search for a specific tag, I get the same messages - only the ones whose tag is shown in the message list and message pane.
However, if I go to the search bar in the upper right and write a tag name and choose "messages tagged: ...", I additionally get several messages that used to have tags. They are shown WITH the tags in the search result window. It seems that the tags are still there in SOME way. However, if I double click a message, the tag is not there in the message view.
As time passes, it seems that some messages that used to display tags, lose them. I'm not sure if any specific action triggers this, but it seems to just happen.
I have Thunderbird 68.2.2 (32 bit).
I had to edit this post, because my description of the problem was not correct.
Modified by punchb
All Replies (5)
Since you applied global search for tagged messages, the fact you found results with incorrect tags suggests it may be due to an outdated global search index. Rebuild the database and see if the results change.
Classic Search (Ctrl+Shift+F) works on a per account basis, and might provide better results. Click the filter drop-down, which defaults to Subject, and select Tags, and add any other criteria by clicking the + button.
The Quick Filter Bar, enabled under View/Toolbars, searches a single folder, including Tags as a filter.
Thanks, your comment sheds light on part of the problem, but doesn't solve it. Classic Search provides the same results as what I see in the list, meaning that many messages have lost their tags. It sounds plausable that the "global search" has an outdated index. This means that the actual real messages have just lost their tags, and the global search (since it's outdated) is the only way to find those messages based on tags. The question thus remains, why are my messages losing their tags?
Tags are stored in the .msf index files for each folder, but not all IMAP servers support keywords (tags). In that case, if you repaired a folder (right-click, Properties, Repair Folder), the messages would be re-downloaded and the index rebuilt, and the tags would be lost. The easiest way to check if the server supports tags is to apply one of the built-in tags to a message on one computer, then see if it appears on another computer with the same account.
If you haven't done folder repairs or re-added the account, the tags are disappearing for other reasons that I can't explain.
Yes, the tags are the same across computers. Also, I just tried deleting a local .msf file, and the tags remained. I haven't done any folder repairs either. Thanks for your help anyways. Could my email provider have done something at some point that made some of the tags disappear? It's weird that it only happened to some of them, not all.
If you deleted an msf file, then restarted TB, the index would have been rebuilt based on the mail on the IMAP server, and since it apparently supports tags, the new msf would reflect that.
You might be able to create a filter that applies tags, and then run it manually in the event tags disappear or need to be recreated for IMAP servers that don't store them.