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Thunderbird and Gmail do not agree on email quantity

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  • Èsì tí ó kẹ́hìn lọ́wọ́ Toad-Hall

JC the Wizard
JC the Wizard
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Thunderbird (Win7) ver: 52.9.1

Situation: I use several gmail accounts in Thunderbird, tow for some reason became IMAP accounts (one of which occurred as I was setting up an existing gmail account that I had not previously used with Thunderbird - noticed the automatic IMAP set up). I researched and saw the solution was to remove the accounts (leaving data intact) and then setting each up again as POP. (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/faq-changing-imap-pop)

After doing that I started getting new messages.

Here are the problems:

(1) In account 1 using Chrome / Gmail account this account indicates I have 14,783 emails, however Thunderbird has already downloaded 32,873 emails! (earliest are from 2007 and at this point I am still downloading 2015 emails) Sorting by subject line I do not have any duplicates. Question: So why is there such a difference between what Gmail/Chrome and Thunderbird is showing

(2) Thunderbird downloads in batches of 100 and 250 (example 109 - 269 varies). Email checking time is set to 10 minute (default) and I’ve read the reason is to not cause confusion with IMAP accounts. Question: Why doesn’t Thunderbird simply download all the POP email at once?

(3) In account 2 using Chrome / Gmail account I have 51 emails, however in Thunderbird I have 108 (there are no new messages). Question: If the answer is the same; great. If now; why is the email count reporting differently?

Thanks, the dilemma is confounding me!

Thunderbird (Win7) ver: 52.9.1 Situation: I use several gmail accounts in Thunderbird, tow for some reason became IMAP accounts (one of which occurred as I was setting up an existing gmail account that I had not previously used with Thunderbird - noticed the automatic IMAP set up). I researched and saw the solution was to remove the accounts (leaving data intact) and then setting each up again as POP. (https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/faq-changing-imap-pop) After doing that I started getting new messages. Here are the problems: (1) In account 1 using Chrome / Gmail account this account indicates I have 14,783 emails, however Thunderbird has already downloaded 32,873 emails! (earliest are from 2007 and at this point I am still downloading 2015 emails) Sorting by subject line I do not have any duplicates. Question: So why is there such a difference between what Gmail/Chrome and Thunderbird is showing (2) Thunderbird downloads in batches of 100 and 250 (example 109 - 269 varies). Email checking time is set to 10 minute (default) and I’ve read the reason is to not cause confusion with IMAP accounts. Question: Why doesn’t Thunderbird simply download all the POP email at once? (3) In account 2 using Chrome / Gmail account I have 51 emails, however in Thunderbird I have 108 (there are no new messages). Question: If the answer is the same; great. If now; why is the email count reporting differently? Thanks, the dilemma is confounding me!

All Replies (1)

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Gmail keeps all emails, received, ougoing and archived in 'All Mail' folder and applies a kind of 'tag' which gmail calls 'labels' to allow emails to be shown in various folders. This is because users are more familiar with a folder view setup. It also means one email can appear in more than one 'label'.

This means that if you have subscribed to see the gmail 'All Mail' folder, you are in effect downloading everything in duplicate. As an example: An email will be in 'All Mail' and also in 'Inbox'.

Emails that are deleted from Inbox but not moved to gmail Trash/Bin folder will have the Inbox label removed but the email is not delted from the 'All Mail' folder. Emails have to be deleted and moved to the gmail trash/bin folder. Once the Trash has been emptied (gmail do this automatically every approx 30 days) then it is deleted from the 'All mail' folder.

If you have not compacted folder in Thunderbird then a record may still be in the mbox file. You can right click on a folder and select 'compact' to fully remove hidden marked as deleted emails. This applied to pop and imap accounts. Imap mail accounts can also be set up to Expunge Inbox on exit.

  • Right click on gmail imap mail account in Folder Pane and select 'SEttings'
  • select 'Server Settings'
  • select 'clean up (Expunge) Inbox on exit'
  • click on 'OK'

Do you see the gmail 'All Mail' folder? You can unsubscribe from seeing it.

re :Why doesn’t Thunderbird simply download all the POP email at once? https://support.google.com/a/answer/6089246?hl=en It is in Gmail's implementation.