POP box sends but won't receive
I am new to Thunderbird - only had it two days. So far, very impressed with it - easy to set up and use, nice and clear, generally very good.
Small problem. I have two POP addresses and three Gmail IMAP addresses. One of the POP addresses and all of the Gmail addresses are sending and receiving correctly - receiving as in incoming messages are visible and displayed in the relevant inboxes.
It is of course quite possible that it is me that has caused the problem by doing something wrong during setting up the problem account. However, I tend to discount that being the explanation this time because:
1. being completely new to Thunderbird I have been careful, and have successfully set up four other accounts/addresses, all of which send and receive correctly.
2. My other (correctly working) POP address, although relating to a different domain - a) is provided by the same company as the problem POP address b) uses the identical outgoing (POP) and incoming (SMTP) settings c) I have repeatedly checked the problem address's settings and can find no typos, etc.
However, the other POP address correctly sends out, but test messages sent TO it are not received, or at least are not being displayed.
I say that last "at least" comment because when I send a test message TO that problem address, (both sending FROM all three of my other addresses, and also my wife sending to it from her Gmail address, NONE of those other address get the sent test message bounced back as failed to deliver. I am therefore assuming, (wrongly perhaps ???), that those sends ARE being received by the problem address but just not being shown in the inbox of that account.
This might lead you to wonder if I had set up a filter to direct incoming mail elsewhere for this problem account. I have no filters set up for any of my five addresses. Having only had Thunderbird for two days, I haven't got that far with it yet.
I do have one related possibility. Whilst setting up my accounts originally, I did at one point spot a default option to direct incoming mail into the relevant inbox, (presumably to allow you to change that default should you wish). I did wonder whether I had unintentionally changed that default, but I cannot now find where that particular setting is, so I can't check it. Help to locate that option anyway, whether relevant or not, would be appreciated, for future reference.
My apologies for the length of this posting. I am just trying to avoid unnecessary exchanges by providing detail.
Chosen solution
Having established that emails are being received onto the server, the next thing is to check that the webmail account has selected to allow POP forwarding.
Update: Sorry my mistake - I should read your comments properly - the problem pop mail account is not receiving emails....
If emails are not in server Inbox then they cannot be downloaded to Thunderbird. Check those emails have not got into the webmail Junk/Spam Trash etc folder.
If not in webmail Spam/Trash or any other folder, I would ask whomever has provided that email address to check why emails are being received/not displayed.
The setting in Thunderbird you enquired about is this:
- Right click on pop mail account in left Folder Pane and select : 'Settings'
- Click on 'Server Settings' for that pop mail account
- click on 'Advanced' button
- Select: Inbox for this server's account'
- click on OK
- click on OK
Image included below to help show location.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (6)
Can you access the problematic POP account via webmail (not Thunderbird)? It seems to me that a first step is to find out if messages sent to that account are actually being received on the server. If they are, then we need to investigate why they aren't being downloaded to Thunderbird; if they aren't, then we need to look elsewhere.
Thank you very much indeed for the swift reply, amanchesterman, gratefully appreciated. Never occurred to me to check via webmail, (I'm not keen on webmail, hence almost never use it, hence also a proper email client like Thunderbird! So yes, I can access both my POP addresses via webmail. I have just done that now. The "working" POP address shows all my current mail, right up to minutes ago. The problem POP inbox is completely empty via webmail, (ie. just as with Thunderbird), so it's not T-Bird causing this then. So thank you, that has at least established that fact. And next? In short, I don't know, do you have any thoiughts, please? My only idea is to phone my domain provider. He is very good, but before I try that . . . . .?
Chosen Solution
Having established that emails are being received onto the server, the next thing is to check that the webmail account has selected to allow POP forwarding.
Update: Sorry my mistake - I should read your comments properly - the problem pop mail account is not receiving emails....
If emails are not in server Inbox then they cannot be downloaded to Thunderbird. Check those emails have not got into the webmail Junk/Spam Trash etc folder.
If not in webmail Spam/Trash or any other folder, I would ask whomever has provided that email address to check why emails are being received/not displayed.
The setting in Thunderbird you enquired about is this:
- Right click on pop mail account in left Folder Pane and select : 'Settings'
- Click on 'Server Settings' for that pop mail account
- click on 'Advanced' button
- Select: Inbox for this server's account'
- click on OK
- click on OK
Image included below to help show location.
Modified by Toad-Hall
Also check in webmail, that there is no email forwarding, just in case those emails are actually being received but then sent elsewhere to another email address.
Only Pop forwarding should be selected.
First, a sincere thank you once more to both manchesterman and to Toad Hall. I really do appreciate your assistance. Second, my apologies for being a bit silent for the past few days, had other family matters to deal with. Ok, 1. Five minutes ago I did another test send from my correctly performing pop account to my problematic pop account. That email duly arrived, but was displayed in my working pop account in both Thunderbird and in my webmail, with the webmail for the problem account being correctly accessible but simply empty. 2. For the sake of certainty, I have followed Toad Hall's instructions regarding Settings->Advanced->etc plus the Inbox for this server, then clicking Get Mail. Thunderbird checked for downloadable mail correctly, then reported no new mail. I therefore concluded, as indeed I suggested before, that this was not a Thunderbird issue at all, but lay with my domain provider. Accordingly, I have contacted him, and he has now cleared up the matter for me. The problem was with my technical understanding. Whilst I have do indeed have the two pop addresses, (one a co.uk, the other an org.uk), it turns out that they are not, as I had thought, separate accounts. What in fact I have is one account but several aliases. As I have only one account, it is not therefore surprising that all messages go to one place! My provider said I can if I wish have separate accounts, it was just that when I first joined him, many years ago now, my requirements at that time resulted in me happily accepting the setup that he proposed then. I guess that with passing time, (and at age 71, I'm now going to unashamedly play the "old age memory" card) I had just lost track of what was actually happening with my emails, as opposed to what I thought was going on. So, the bottom line is that this is all my own fault, but I felt that I should at least be honest enough to describe what caused the issue, with the thought that maybe I'm not the only one in the universe like this, so perhaps someone else might benefit from my idiocy! To close, my apologies for the unintentional mis-informing, and of course, my thanks to you anyway.
No worries :) At least you now know what is going on.