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emails downloaded to computer on Thunderbird are blank when I open them

  • 5 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by mbeckman1

mbeckman1
mbeckman1
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I use Thunderbird to download my email to my laptop (MacBook Air). I have 4 different email accounts that get downloaded -- 3 use POP. One uses IMAP. It is set up correctly with port 993 and security SSL. When I click on an IMAP message in my inbox, it opens blank, except for the subject line in the frame of the email. Sometimes it will fill out, but sometimes, especially lately, the blank message just sits there, taunting me.

I can read and respond to the message if I log onto the email server in a browser (Firefox, if it matters) but I want my messages on my laptop. I tried to switch to POP to see if that helps since my other 3 email servers work fine, but I can't make that work either. Thoughts? Thank you!

Incidentally, I do not need to save all my messages on my server. I'd be happy to delete them after a couple weeks, but I can't seem to make that happen either.

I use Thunderbird to download my email to my laptop (MacBook Air). I have 4 different email accounts that get downloaded -- 3 use POP. One uses IMAP. It is set up correctly with port 993 and security SSL. When I click on an IMAP message in my inbox, it opens blank, except for the subject line in the frame of the email. Sometimes it will fill out, but sometimes, especially lately, the blank message just sits there, taunting me. I can read and respond to the message if I log onto the email server in a browser (Firefox, if it matters) but I want my messages on my laptop. I tried to switch to POP to see if that helps since my other 3 email servers work fine, but I can't make that work either. Thoughts? Thank you! Incidentally, I do not need to save all my messages on my server. I'd be happy to delete them after a couple weeks, but I can't seem to make that happen either.

Chosen solution

- highlight the inbox - rightclick and select properties and then select repair.. That may fix the blank messages.

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david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

- highlight the inbox - rightclick and select properties and then select repair.. That may fix the blank messages.

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mbeckman1
mbeckman1 Question owner
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Thanks David. It did not fix the problem. It started looking over all my emails, so I went into my browser and deleted a couple hundred of the oldest. This is what they look like. The thin image is what they look like in my inbox. The big empty box is what I see when I open them.

Modified by mbeckman1

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mbeckman1
mbeckman1 Question owner
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I do want to repeat -- using POP seems to be fine. This one ISP wants me to use IMAP though. And it says it can use POP, but I tried that and Thunderbird hung up on downloading messages using POP after I've been using IMAP.

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mbeckman1
mbeckman1 Question owner
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Well, NOW a bunch of emails between 11/19 and today have disappeared from my IMAP-using server's Thunderbird inbox. But I can still access them on the browser. Mostly.

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mbeckman1
mbeckman1 Question owner
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It DID work! The key thing I was doing wrong was being impatient. Seems to be fixed now (knock on wood).

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