re :I have no problem getting them on my home computer. What type of mail account have you created on home computer? Is it Pop or Imap ? What server are you connecting to? eg: gmail

re: Laptop I'm presuming you have installed Thunderbird and created a mail account for the same email address.

What type of mail account have you created on the laptop? Is it Pop or Imap ? Do you get any error message ? If yes, what does it say word for word. OR does it simply connect and then say there are no messages to download?

Thanks, sorry for my delay. Can you tell me exactly where to go to figure out what type of mail account I have created on home computer? Is it better to have one vs. the other? Yes, I created same mail account on laptop, I think. At least I am trying to use Thunderbird on it. Don't get any error message, just says no messages. Thanks again!!

re :Can you tell me exactly where to go to figure out what type of mail account I have created on home computer?

• Right click on mail account name in Folder Pane and select 'Settings'
• Select: 'Server Settings'
• Top right will say 'Server Type' and it will say whether it is Pop or Imap.

Whilst in this area it is worth checking to see if you have the same server settings such as 'Server name', Port, Username (full email address), Connection Security and Authentication Method. This is where you can change those settings if required.

note: If you have POP or cannot swap the settings to IMAP or vis versa. So do not attempt that kind of change.

You can also see some info here:

• Help > Troubleshooting Information
• Scroll down to 'Mail and News Accounts'

Tell me what type of account is set up on each computer and what server you are using.

re :Is it better to have one vs. the other? As you have more than one computer and would like to see both sent and received emails on both, then Imap would be the better option on both.

Yes, I have now checked the settings and my settings were not the same. One just said Pop and the other said Pop3. Also it looked like the name was different on the one vs. the other. I have changed the laptop to reflect the same settings as the desktop now and things appear to be working as they should. The way I understand it, using POP, I could only download new emails on whichever device I am on at the time and once it is downloaded, I would not see it on the other device? I think I would still like to be able to download it and see it on the other device. On the other hand, if I don't use my laptop for a month or more, I don't want to open it up and have it download all the emails I got for the previous times when it wasn't opened up. Hope that makes sense and thanks for the help!

re :The way I understand it, using POP, I could only download new emails on whichever device I am on at the time and once it is downloaded, I would not see it on the other device? I think I would still like to be able to download it and see it on the other device.

Pop mail accounts can only access and download from the server 'Inbox' into the Thunderbird pop mail account. It is a default part of a pop mail accoun to then auto delete off server....however.........

To be able to download more than once (to two computers), you need to set this in the Account Settings for each computer pop mail account.

• Right click on mail account name in Folder Pane and select 'Settings'
• Select: 'Server Settings'
• Select 'Leave message on server'.

This will download but keep message on server so it can be downloaded again onto another computer.

re :On the other hand, if I don't use my laptop for a month or more, I don't want to open it up and have it download all the emails I got for the previous times when it wasn't opened up.

If you would like to download to one computer, but will probably not download to the other for a while, you could limit the amount of time any emails are stored on the server before they get auto deleted. So in addition to keeping messages on server....

• Select: 'For at most eg: 30 days.'

Any emails older than 30 days will get deleted off the server. This gives you a window of time (30 days) when you can download all emails to the second computer. There after only emails up to 30 days old will exist on the server. Limiting the amount of messages available for a second download.

If you download to either computer and delete some emails, then you would probably prefer not to download those emails onto the second or vis versa even if you download within the 30 days. So in addition to keeping messages on server and deleting after 30 days, also select...........

• Select: 'Until I delete them'

Finally click on 'OK' Restart Thunderbird to ensure those settings now apply.

The end result will mean only emails up to 30 days old will get stored on the server Inbox.

Most helpful!! Thanks!! So, in doing it this way, I really don't need to change it to IMAP at all?

You should be ok using Pop with those settings. Imap info: Imap is always an option, but imap folders synchronise with server folders to show what is on server, so emails are stored on server. It does have the advantage that sent emails are also stored on server, so both computers would be able to see sent emails. In imap case, if you wanted to store emails on computer, but not on server, you would need to download full copies and get them into 'Local folders' mail account. You cannot rely on imap folders as being a separate copy from those on the server because the folders synchronise. So creating a backup is advised after sycnhronising and downloading full copies.

In the case of the Pop mail accounts: if both computers do have same copies of emails, then they can act like a backup for each other.

In either case, if you wanted to backup your profile name folders then make a copy of the 'Thunderbird' folder which is located in the 'Roaming' folder. Always do this when Thunderbird is closed. By default it is located here unless you have setup something different:

• C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird