Switched to IMAP; My tags no longer "stick" to a message
Hi,
One of my email providers is now (finally!) providing IMAP access to my primary email account (formerly, only POP was available). In creating the new account, I noticed that my tags do not "stick" to a message. Each time the inbox is refreshed either through start-up, the appearance of a new message, or deleting a message all of my tags disappear. I do notice that flags seem to remain and are also available cross platform.
In looking through the forums, I see references to some tags being lost, but they do not seem to address this specific problem. If I am reading them correctly, it seems that some IMAP servers do not support tags, yet in those cases Thunderbird is supposed to store it locally.
I logged into my account on the IMAP server to see if it supports PERMANENTFLAGS. I saw that the set was empty, but then was not certain how that might relate to storing tags from Thunderbird (in part because I cannot seem to get to the kb article on tags to see what the set should contain) -- I suspect because it doesn't have anything it cannot store them at all (see below):
a2 Examine inbox
- FLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen)
- OK [PERMANENTFLAGS ()]
- 8 EXISTS
- 2 RECENT
- OK [UIDVALIDITY 1301748741]
- OK [UIDNEXT 81770]
a2 OK [READ-ONLY] Completed
Any ideas?
Thanks,
Jim
All Replies (9)
It could be that you don't keep messages for that account on this server. That way your inbox is just a view into your servers inbox. Tags usually don't get past to the server. check your account settings / synchronize & storage.
Hi Gnospen,
Thank you for the reply and your idea. I took a look and I did have "keep messages" set for this server. I turned it off and it almost seemed like a test tag would stay, but eventually it also disappeared -- as soon as I read another new email.
[update] I am okay with it not storing on the server permanently, but wanted the tags to remain on the client I set them on. It seems Thunderbird may attempt to store it back at the IMAP server, but it is not actually stored there. When it resynchronizes (or re-views with "keep messages" off) it removes whatever tags were set.
Thanks,
Jim
Modified by Jim Kile
Hi -- an interesting update...
I notice that it seems to lose the tags (and even the forward marks) when it refreshes with the server -- particularly after a startup. If I happen to forward a message that had a tag (now invisible) the tag returns. The same is true if I star it -- if there was a tag on it, it returns (stars seem to stay -- they show up as "flagged" on my mobile devices).
I checked and found an old bug for Thunderbird that seems to be similar to what I am seeing (except it does not reference the tags/flags reappearing).
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=561292
Thanks,
Jim
IMAP accounts show a remote view of the subscribed folders. Subscribed folders only download headers, then when you select to see email it is retrieved from server and stored in a temporary cahe to facilate viewing, it is not stored on your computer in your Profile. However, Synchronised subscribed folders download a copy of the server folder and store it in the Thunderbird Profile, so you can also see emails when in Offline mode. But these folders are repeatedly synchronised to contain the same as on the server.
Have you set up the same tags on the server - via webmail. I would try this first; it is certainly worth a try as some servers do recognise tags.
Hi Toad-Hall,
Thank you for your response. I do not see any way to set tags via webmail -- I should probably open a ticket with the provider on this, but since it "sort of" keeps the tags for a bit the behavior is what started me here. It seems to wipe out the tagging (and forward marks) when I open Thunderbird. If I forward something or flag it they return -- only to disappear again when I open Thunderbird.
Thanks,
Jim
Just a drive by suggestion.
Right click the folder and se3lect properties and then repair. A forced reindex might either make them appear of disappear (the returned ones) but it may shed light on what is happening.
You might also log the IMAP connection to see exactly what commands are going back and forth. (sounds like you reasonably comfortable with such stuff). See https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging
Hi Matt,
The forced repair did not solve the problem. I'll log the connection next and post back and see what it tells us.
Thanks,
Jim
Hi Matt,
I ran the trace and found two lines that may be interesting. I looked at the "Tags" information in the [[knowledge base|http://kb.mozillazine.org/Tags]]. That article indicated that the provider should have \* in their PERMANENTFLAGS. In the trace, I do see it there -- I saw it in a slightly different location for another email provider:
The one that works 521719808[11f31f110]: 1f2f7000:imap.charter.net:A:CreateNewLineFromSocket: * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (NonJunk \* \Answered \Flagged \Deleted \Draft \Seen)] Permanent flags
The one that does not work 519573504[11e5f9090]: 2039b000:imap.earthlink.net:A:CreateNewLineFromSocket: * OK [PERMANENTFLAGS (\Answered \Flagged \Draft \Deleted \Seen \*)]
There are a lot of other lines in that file, of course, but these looked important given the requirement that PERMANENTFLAGS return \* .
Thanks,
Jim
Looks to me like you have answered your own question.
Charter supports flag synchronization. Earthlink does not.
(I thought charter bought earthlink, so much for what I thought)