After changing email servers, folder locations still point to the old servers and will not allow direct editing. How do I get folders to point at the new host
I recently moved hosting services including my IMAP services (full backup and copy of all site and email data to new servers). In Thunderbird I edited incoming/outgoing server settings to the new IMAP address and ports. Email send and receive appear to function correctly (with some random loss of inbox and sent messages that were recieved and sent several days, to weeks, before the host change).
I noticed a bargraph meter on the bottom menu bar that indicates I am appproaching storage limits on my IMAP server. On opening "Folder Properties / General Information" in the dropdown menu, I see the old server address still listed for storage of all message folders. This window does not allow editing and I can see no item in "Settings" or "Options" to change this.
Why didn't these settings automatically change when the hosting server I/O settings were changed, and how do I avoid data loss when the folder addresses are corrected ?
All Replies (4)
Were any arrangements entered into to transfer your stored data from one server to another?
If not, that is YOUR responsibility. The only safe thing to do is download all the material on the old server that you want to keep and store it locally, We usually point Thunderbird users to their Local Folders account for this.
If you simply change an existing account's settings to look at another server, it will lose contact with the original server and therefore lose sight of data stored on that server.
When it creates an account, Thunderbird generates a set of folders based on the server name in use. Re-purposing that account to use another server will continue to use those same folders. Their name does not indicate any ongoing affiliation to the original server.
It is always cleaner to create a new account alongside the old, rather than adjust the old account.
Were any arrangements entered into to transfer your stored data from one server to another?As mentioned in the original question, all site and email data was backed up and copied to the new servers. The primary question was also not answered. ?? How do I change email folder settngs to point at the new servers and why did this not automatically happen when server send/receive addresses were changed??It is always cleaner to create a new account alongside the old, rather than adjust the old account.I attempted to create a new account in parallel, but thunderbird does not allow a second account with the same identity and password to be generated. I obviously cannot change the account name and I do not want to change the password or risk losing access to email folder data and stored passwords already transferred to new servers. I can see folder address's in "Folder Properties / General Information" but cannot change the address pointers from there.
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Zenos said
When it creates an account, Thunderbird generates a set of folders based on the server name in use. Re-purposing that account to use another server will continue to use those same folders. Their name does not indicate any ongoing affiliation to the original server.
In what way does Thunderbird prevent you setting up the account twice?
I have created pairs of instances of the same account, using POP and IMAP concurrently. The important thing is to change the names of the accounts to make each of them unique. The name of the account can be whatever you want it to be; it doesn't have to be the account's email address.
But you really have a different problem. An email address is unique. It relies on DNS servers, MX records etc to allow messages to sent to that account to be routed to the appropriate server. You can't have an email address hosted on two different servers simultaneously. So, if your data has been transferred, you just delete the old account from Thunderbird and set it up again, making sure it uses the new server. Your data has been transferred from one server to another (hasn't it?) so it will be sitting there waiting for you.
Perhaps a way to test your new account settings would be to create a new Thunderbird profile. This is a completely separate folder from your current profile, so as long as you do not set up you new account in the new profile to remove all the mail from the server, it's a nondestructive way to test.
Note: I've never tried it myself.