Deleted messages reappear in Thunderbird Inbox
I've been a Thunderbird user for years without problem. However, since May 22, three specific messages continually reappear after deleting them from my Inbox.
I keep my Inbox empty and it stays that way, except for these 3 messages. Removing them from the Trash folder has not solved the problem.
My email provider is netaddress.com via POP3 account. I signed on to look at my inbox on their site via a browser, and the messages aren't there.
I have tried repairing and compacting the inbox, but the messages continue t reappear.
Do you have any other suggestions?
TIA.
ChuckM
All Replies (1)
Sounds like you've checked out the obvious solutions. If you have deleted every trace of the message from Inbox and Trash, and they're not visible in the web mail interface, it must be a "phantom" message. Usually that's due to a corrupt folder index, and repairing the folder should fix it by rebuilding the index. But you can go one step further by physically deleting the index, which will automatically regenerated.
To find it (I'm assuming Windows):
- go to <Account Settings | (the account in question) | Server Settings | Local Directory>. Make a note of that location, or copy it to the clipboard. Use your system file browser to go to that location.
- EXIT THUNDERBIRD!
- You will see pairs of files, each representing one of your folders. The ones with a .MSF extension are index files, and can safely be deleted because they will be automatically recreated on demand. Delete INBOX.MSF (and it wouldn't hurt to delete TRASH.MSF as well.)
- Now, restart Thunderbird, and hopefully the phantom messages will be gone.
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