The message should be in Outbox, a subfolder of Local Folders. File/Send Unsent Messages sends messages in the Outbox. Send Later (Ctrl+Shift+Enter) is a built-in command, not dependent on an add-on.

There are no messages in outbox, nor does it appear in Send or Drafts folder, as I already mentioned in first message.

Today I got a popup dialogue asking me to send unsent messages now. So it must be stored somewhere... Because I was not ready with my lengthy reply, I do not want to send it now without reviewing the content and without adding a attachment. The message is a couple of hours of my work and I'm not giving up yet.

If I only could get to the text content of that message I would be happy.

Right-click on the account in the folder pane, Subscribe, and see if there is an Outbox folder, different from the one in Local Folders, that hasn't been subscribed. Not every account has an IMAP Outbox, but some do, e.g. outlook.com/Hotmail/live.com.

Good hint but no solution. Mail account is indeed connected via IMAP, all folders are shared. I also looked on server via webmail; Outbox is there also empty.

Should I report this as a bug in Thunderbird?

(running Thunderbird 52.9.1, 32-bit on 64-bit Windows 10)

I think it's too early to claim this is a bug. Have you applied Send Later to a test message and then used Global Search (Ctrl+K) to find where it's stored?

That was one of the first things I tried to find where is was stored. Unfortunately, all messages are stored in some database where I can't search without TB.

Robl2 said

Unfortunately, all messages are stored in some database where I can't search without TB.

So why does that matter? You are searching for something you can not find in Thunderbird. Search using Thunderbird, let Thunderbird lead you to the folder it is in.

Almost every time I see someone using the operating system to search for mail the next thing I see posted is some disaster. Thunderbird does not like any interference in the profile folders at all.

That is the least helpful reply till now. And that from the moderator...

All I want is get get access to the text of my lengthy mail reply, before it gets send, because that is important for me. It has now been more than a week now and I'm quitting now to get to the bottom of this BUG in Thunderbird.

I'll let TB send out the in-accessable send-later message and deeply apologize to the recipient for the incomplete reply and try to mend the relation later. I hope that when the message is send it will end up in the send folder, so I can at least see what has been send.

Robl2 said

That is the least helpful reply till now. And that from the moderator...

You are not going to achieve anything using the files system, Windows is particularly unsuitable for actually searching the contents of files, that is just one of the limitations of windows. Lamenting that the text files used to store mail are "some sort of database" is about as unhelpfuil am approach as you can use, they can actually ne opened and red in notepad if that is your bent. They make particularly poor reading as the text is the unformatted email that was received, headers and HTML source and images all as text. Clearly telling you to use Thunderbird search was not the answer you wanted to hear so it was unhelpful.

All I want is get get access to the text of my lengthy mail reply, before it gets send, because that is important for me.

And what is wrong with using the Thunderbird search system to locate your email? Apparently it is not appropriate because telling you to use it is unhelpful, but I have no idea why that would be so. I would suggest in this instance to try both the global search (ctrl+K and the find (ctrl+Sift+F). Have you tried both?

If it is indeed a reply, try locating the original incoming email in the inbox or wherever, selecting it and right clicking and selecting open message in conversation. It works for drafts, I have no unset messages to test it on.

It has now been more than a week now and I'm quitting now to get to the bottom of this BUG in Thunderbird.

I am yet to see a bug demonstrated. You can not find something you were typing and you pressed the keys Ctrl+Shift + Enter which is the send later command. This places mail in the outbox. So far I read nothing in this thread to indicate anything more than you are unable to locate the mail you specified to send later in the outbox.

I'll let TB send out the in-accessable send-later message and deeply apologize to the recipient for the incomplete reply and try to mend the relation later.

Are you saying is a round about way that Thunderbird is asking to send unsent mail? If it is, clearly there is mail in an outbox. That is the only time you are prompted in that manner.

I hope that when the message is send it will end up in the send folder, so I can at least see what has been send.

Matt said

Robl2 said

That is the least helpful reply till now. And that from the moderator...

You are not going to achieve anything using the files system, Windows is particularly unsuitable for actually searching the contents of files, that is just one of the limitations of windows. Lamenting that the text files used to store mail are "some sort of database" is about as unhelpfuil am approach as you can use, they can actually ne opened and red in notepad if that is your bent. They make particularly poor reading as the text is the unformatted email that was received, headers and HTML source and images all as text. Clearly telling you to use Thunderbird search was not the answer you wanted to hear so it was unhelpful.

I have been trying everything everything I can, including the build-in search possibilities. The send-later message isn't to be found! I may not have stated that literally in the OT, but rest assured, I have tried everything there is before I turned to the community for help. I have already spend a lot of time on this issue. I have tried the filesystem search as a last resort. I have better tools than just notepad. I know my way around in the OS, I'm not a newbe.

I now see that I didn't finish my first sentence when I started a new one with "Unfortunately...". This may let you and other readers beleive that Im some idiot that doesn't know what he is doing. My apologies for not being clear.

I'm a bit amazed that no-one here stated that he tried to replicate this issue, and had success or not. I can replicate the issue every time, see below, and I'm pretty sure it is a BUG in TB.

All I want is get get access to the text of my lengthy mail reply, before it gets send, because that is important for me.

And what is wrong with using the Thunderbird search system to locate your email? Apparently it is not appropriate because telling you to use it is unhelpful, but I have no idea why that would be so. I would suggest in this instance to try both the global search (ctrl+K and the find (ctrl+Sift+F). Have you tried both?

been there, done that... nowhere to be found

If it is indeed a reply, try locating the original incoming email in the inbox or wherever, selecting it and right clicking and selecting open message in conversation. It works for drafts, I have no unset messages to test it on.

been there, done that... nowhere to be found.

The "open message in conversation" often doesn't find the complete mail tread. Here also it doen's find the send-later message.

It has now been more than a week now and I'm quitting now to get to the bottom of this BUG in Thunderbird.

I am yet to see a bug demonstrated. You can not find something you were typing and you pressed the keys Ctrl+Shift + Enter which is the send later command. This places mail in the outbox. So far I read nothing in this thread to indicate anything more than you are unable to locate the mail you specified to send later in the outbox.

Have you tried it? It does not end up in Outbox! All Outboxes are empty.

To replicate is easy: Take a received message (e.g. from a 'noreply' sender to test), start reply to, enter a unique word in that message, I used "sendlater". Then break the line with Shift-Enter and press Ctrl-Shift-Enter. The message disappears.

Now try all possible search methods within TB.

- Open in conversation
- Search Ctrl-K
- Search Messages Ctrl-Shift-F

The reply message or that unique word is nowhere to be found. See that the Outbox is empty.

Now exit TB and restart. It now offers to send the message. So it must have somewhere kept the message, the search system can't find.

Robl2 said

Have you tried it?

Yes I have it ends up in the local folders out every time I compose and send using Ctrl+Shift+Enter.

To replicate is easy: Take a received message (e.g. from a 'noreply' sender to test), start reply to, enter a unique word in that message, I used "sendlater". Then break the line with Shift-Enter and press Ctrl-Shift-Enter. The message disappears.

It is in my outbox again.

Now try all possible search methods within TB. - Open in conversation - Search Ctrl-K - Search Messages Ctrl-Shift-F The reply message or that unique word is nowhere to be found.

I agree I can not locate the email with Ctrl+K, but for a global server there are a lot of locations it does not search. Ctrl+Shift+F found it as soon as I clicked to search.

Given I can not make it disappear I can not replicate it at all I any meaningful way.

Have you tried restarting Thunderbird is safe mode (it is on the help menu)? You might have an add-on that did not make the transition to a new version without issues.

Have you tried repairing the folder (right click the folder select properties and then the repair button) That will fix a bad index if there is one.

Now exit TB and restart. It now offers to send the message. So it must have somewhere kept the message, the search system can't find. </blockquote>

I have an idea:

Perhaps the 'Outbox' in 'Local Folders' is showing an invisible list or perhaps it is not displaying any column headers ? Please try this: Select 'Outbox' in 'Local Folders' mail account. Click on the far right icon used to select 'column headers' Click on 'Reset columns to default'

Image below as guide.