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How long does it take for Thunderbird to download all my past email?

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by sfhowes

David
David
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Hey there, so I just downloaded Thunderbird and set it up with my existing Gmail account. Now it is downloading all my past emails and there is this little blue bar at the bottom of my screen. I'm guessing the blue bar is supposed to show how much progress there is for Thunderbird to download all my messages. But it doesn't seem to be moving so I'm wondering: (1) how long does it usually take for this step to finish? (2) can I close the application and will it continue to download?

Thank you.

Hey there, so I just downloaded Thunderbird and set it up with my existing Gmail account. Now it is downloading all my past emails and there is this little blue bar at the bottom of my screen. I'm guessing the blue bar is supposed to show how much progress there is for Thunderbird to download all my messages. But it doesn't seem to be moving so I'm wondering: (1) how long does it usually take for this step to finish? (2) can I close the application and will it continue to download? Thank you.
Attached screenshots

All Replies (3)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Is it POP or IMAP? Both are subject to bandwidth limits:

https://support.google.com/a/answer/1071518?hl=en

You could choose to download headers only, or move old messages to other folders with webmail and not subscribe those folders (IMAP).

David
David Question owner
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Sorry, I'm not very knowledgeable in IT but, it is an IMOP account. Will Thunderbird transfer all my old emails from Gmail if it is closed?

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Downloading will only happen while TB is running, although it should resume where it left off when last closed.