Thunderbird Community Forum

Hi,

TL;TR. Thunderbird should not change the whole folder (e.g. Inbox) during compacting by replacing "From" with "From - Mon May 3 20:50:30 2004" and the other way round. It dramatically increases the size of incremental backups done by tools detecting only blocks of bigger files which change.

Longer version. I use Borg to backup Thunderbird profile. It supports deduplication and can incrementally backup only parts of bigger files which have changed. As I use filters to automatically move messages from Inbox to the other folders, before backup, I perform compacting of the Inbox folder to effectively remove moved messages (and those deleted manually - e.g. the biggest ones). I worked pretty fine - there were no changes detected by Borg in the old messages. Only new messages were backed up.

However, it worsen in the recent months - Borg started to detected changes also in the old messages in Inbox (after compacting performed before the every backup session). As a result, a (compressed) incremental copy takes ~1/3 of the whole Inbox (instead of some MBs). For Inbox having 5GB+, it can be a problem (e.g. when - slow - network storage is used).

I diffed the Inbox file before and after of recent compacting and Thunderbird around an upgrade to 128.x (I cannot tell exactly which minor version it was) changed the "From" line for every message from just "From" to "From - Thu Nov 14 22:32:10 2024" (a date when the compaction was performed). In older backups I see that some earlier versions of Thunderbird removed the date replacing the line with just "From".

My question. Had it been an accidental change (with removing the date) which was later reverted and there will be no more "rewriting" compacted folders? Or it's "more complicated" and people using incremental backup cannot sleep peacefully?

Marcin

P.S. Let's skip the msf files for the moment as they are much smaller.

I've recently installed Thunderbird 128. I want to setup auto-reply but I have not found where to enable it despite looking through Settings and Account Settings.

I have composed an auto-reply and saved it as a Template - however, I cannot find where it is saved.

Also, the Actions in Manage Message Filters does not list "Reply with Template".

Any idea how to resolve this, please?

In Windows 11, the Address Book is accessed via an icon on top left of the TB main page or Alt+2. In Windows 11 is there a similar key combination to view the folders below Local Folders?

Hi. I am trying to import into my new Mac an old Thunderbird profile that was created in a PC, but that I use in my previous Mac. In the past, I have dragged the old profile into the new profile folder, and then used About Profiles under Troubleshooting Information to link to that imported profile and set it as the Default. Now, I click on Create a New Profile and it won't let me link. Also, the Import tool did not work. What am I missing? Thank you!

I had had issues with gloda (search) for a long while. I have tried deleting the sqlite file to force a reindex as per the guidance. I am watching Activity Monitor in TB after reopening, to monitor the reindex process. But it hangs every time. it goes through sent items and seems to get stuck at one point every time. See image below, it's been sat like that for an hour or more now. Any ideas? thanks (Image uploader doesn't seem to be working on this board, so here's the screenshot: https://ibb.co/8MjfKRW)

Is it possible to copy Tunderbird email files to the computer's documents. Our server uses POP, so they can only be accessed on my PC and not other devices. Thanx.

Being fairly new to Thunderbird I'm still exploring the possibilities. I know I can display only unread messages in a particular folder by using the Quick Filter / Show only... option, but is it possible to set up a more direct method which requires only one click and is permanently displayed as an option?

Many thanks.

Is there any way to retrieve my actual password I typedin for an email account instead of the google "token". If not, this password may be lost forever as google will not provide reset options.

A simple yes/no will suffice, don't need an explanation, I understand that thunderbird is just using what google requires of it, but it would still be good to be able to view actual password

thanks

I would link to move my profile directory to a new location --- it seems that the best place for it would be a folder in my dropbox directory --- is this possible --- the best solution would be able to install thunderbird in dropbox so that any one of my computers can run thunderbird

I am using a Mac with Big Sur (macOS Monterey Version 12.7.6), and my email is POP, using Thunderbird Version 128.4.2esr. My incoming messages are sorted in reverse order so that the latest message is listed first. I retrieve the message headers first then I either delete the message or download the contents of the message. The problem is that when I click on the download instructions Thunderbird does download the message OK, '''BUT it highlights the message just downloaded and it jumps to the next message. '''This is very annoying because in order to read the contents of the message I have to go back one message and purposely select the message just downloaded. It did not do this previously. Please correct or tell me the corrective action I should take.

Why is my email slow or fails to send? Why am i regularly asked to input the password sometimes several time a day.

I am in the UK using the BT email address

Security is Bit-defender premium total security

Thunderbird V 128.4.3esr (32-bit) on a Windows10 pc

Thank You

The global search in TB is completely defective. I am now running 128.2.0esr and hoped that update might fix it. It hasn't. I just wonder, are there any older or non ESR versions I can downgrade/move to, where the search is fully functional?

I just downloaded Thunderbird on my new Mac, asked it to synch with my email and it's done it very imperfectly, missing lots of folders and sub-folders, showing deleted and archived folders (in italics) and so on. It did this on a previous desktop too, where I uninstalled Thunderbird and reinstalled it to try - but failed - to solve the issue. What did I, or it, do wrong and how do I correct it? Thanks / Maurice

Hello,

I want to be able to highlight/copy an email address from the 'Results for:.. ' header at the top of the Search Results page in Thunderbird 115 (see attached screenshot).

When I use the Search Bar, Thunderbird recognises the email address as being used previously, but does not bring up any results. It used to be possible to highlight/copy the email address from the 'Results for:.. ' header in previous versions of Thunderbird. I would much prefer to be able to do this save time and ensure that I have the email address correct - otherwise I need to type it out manually which is frustrating and can lead to errors.

I hope you can help!

Best wishes,

Ellie

Recently I can no longer access emails. I always get the message "Login to the server secureimap.t-online.de with user name ... failed". This applies to the t-online and gmail accounts.

Hi

I have for many years moved relevant email messages from my inbox to an archive folder. My wife who also uses Thunderbird does the same.

Some time in the not too distant past Thunderbird has started preventing me from moving files from folder to folder.

I am running the latest version of Thunderbird.

Any help gratefully received

Many thanks

Peter Moran

I accidentally moved a folder into another folder, when I tried to move it back into the main folder tree it disappeared. The folder and data is still there but it simply does not show up. It's a folder used to temporarily store emails to be replied later on (AA-TO Reply).

I have created a 2nd folder AA-TO Reply2 and searching for stuff I have in the other folder I can find some and copy them to the new folder but I can't remember all that I have.

If i search say for Physiotherapy (I have an appointment next week) I could find the email and it shows up as being in the AA-TO Reply (the one that has disappeared) but can't find a way to make it visible again.

There are no folders showing as having another sub folder inside them ( with a >).

Even though I'm logged in on TB with my Mozilla pw, TB will not reveal my passwords in TB settings. I use @hotmail.com and there appears to be a problem with pop3 server, Microsoft and TB. I get a authentication failure and according to FAQs I need to delete my pw in TB and enter a new one. But can't get there to delete.

on Windows 11, my installation of Thunderbird was only partially successful. I created my own installation path, as permitted by the Thunderbird installation instruction which included a "Local Folders" folder as a placeholder for all of my wife mail folders. But after copying all of her mail folder to C:Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\Local Folders - Thunderbird can't find them . The installation app gave no warning of impending doom. Any ideas about what might have gone wrong? I installed Thunderbird several times into slightly different paths - but not the default because I do my own backups and need to know where my files are located. Even though I am the administrator of the system I also got some messages telling me I wasn't an authorized user. Thanks for any tips, ideas or even complete solutions are appreciated. Geoff Tennille