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Thunderbird only keeps messages newer than 30 days (POP3, GMail)

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  • Last reply by KamenG

KamenG
KamenG
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This is an attempt to restore a working configuration that was lost. I am using TBird to access messages off a GMail account that has been configured and working for years. It has the "When messages are accessed with POP-> keep GMail's copy in the inbox" setting, and everything needed. I use multiple TBird clients setup with IMAP to work with my email and one setup with POP3 to create local archives (on different computers, if it matters). Recently my POP3 machine got hit and I lost all data (ironic, I know, please, don't rub salt in the wounds!) and I need to recreate it. After I set it up originally, I briefly hesitated on the Disk space -> "delete messages more than 30 days old" setting, but quickly decided to leave it at "Don't delete any messages" - both under the GMail account and the Local Folders. Archiving is disabled everywhere. There are no individual mailbox retention polices ("use my account settings" is checked). The server setting in TBird is checked "Leave messages on server - until I delete them", and GMail wouldn't let you delete them, anyway (I know they now allow you to set that option, but I have it turned off, as pointed out above). I delete messages that I want gone though the IMAP clients. As a result, I have all messages I want on the server and I can see them with any of my IMAP clients.

However, when I first ran the POP3 client, all was good, but after I logged on again recently and clicked on "get messages" (I have automatic retrieval disabled), I noticed that the oldest message was exactly 30 days old - all older ones are gone. I want to keep all messages, regardless of age. I could try again tomorrow, but I'm afraid I'll see the messages from another day disappear. Again, they are all still on the server and I can see them through the IMAP clients. I can't help but thinking there is some configuration file in TBird that has a timestamp or some other setting indicating which messages have been "deleted" but I don't know where to look. I suspect it is the popstate.dat file, but it is empty (only the two comment lines).

I feel like recreating the setup might take me less time than this troubleshooting process, but I'd really like to know what happened and it may also be useful for other users facing the same problem.

I know you guys are volunteers, thank yo for your time and efforts! Kamen

This is an attempt to restore a working configuration that was lost. I am using TBird to access messages off a GMail account that has been configured and working for years. It has the "When messages are accessed with POP-> keep GMail's copy in the inbox" setting, and everything needed. I use multiple TBird clients setup with IMAP to work with my email and one setup with POP3 to create local archives (on different computers, if it matters). Recently my POP3 machine got hit and I lost all data (ironic, I know, please, don't rub salt in the wounds!) and I need to recreate it. After I set it up originally, I briefly hesitated on the Disk space -> "delete messages more than 30 days old" setting, but quickly decided to leave it at "Don't delete any messages" - both under the GMail account and the Local Folders. Archiving is disabled everywhere. There are no individual mailbox retention polices ("use my account settings" is checked). The server setting in TBird is checked "Leave messages on server - until I delete them", and GMail wouldn't let you delete them, anyway (I know they now allow you to set that option, but I have it turned off, as pointed out above). I delete messages that I want gone though the IMAP clients. As a result, I have all messages I want on the server and I can see them with any of my IMAP clients. However, when I first ran the POP3 client, all was good, but after I logged on again recently and clicked on "get messages" (I have automatic retrieval disabled), I noticed that the oldest message was exactly 30 days old - all older ones are gone. I want to keep all messages, regardless of age. I could try again tomorrow, but I'm afraid I'll see the messages from another day disappear. Again, they are all still on the server and I can see them through the IMAP clients. I can't help but thinking there is some configuration file in TBird that has a timestamp or some other setting indicating which messages have been "deleted" but I don't know where to look. I suspect it is the popstate.dat file, but it is empty (only the two comment lines). I feel like recreating the setup might take me less time than this troubleshooting process, but I'd really like to know what happened and it may also be useful for other users facing the same problem. I know you guys are volunteers, thank yo for your time and efforts! Kamen

Chosen solution

This turned out to be a GMail problem: GMail is now (didn't use to be!) aware of message access by POP and will not resend a message that has been "seen" via POP. You can add (prepend) the "recent:" tag to the account name and then it will resend messages but only from the last 30 days. The only way to do what I want: download email via Goggle account download and import in TBird (I used the "ImportExport Tools" plugin.

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KamenG
KamenG Question owner
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Chosen Solution

This turned out to be a GMail problem: GMail is now (didn't use to be!) aware of message access by POP and will not resend a message that has been "seen" via POP. You can add (prepend) the "recent:" tag to the account name and then it will resend messages but only from the last 30 days. The only way to do what I want: download email via Goggle account download and import in TBird (I used the "ImportExport Tools" plugin.