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Unable to see messages in Inbox but messages visible using search. Repair folder does not fix problem.

Thunderbird Email and messaging
Mapenzi replied
dave.thomas
dave.thomas

Hello all,

Apologies if this is going over old ground. I've tried the usual Repair Folder fix without success and I'm cautious about trying anything further without some expert input for fear of doing more damage.

Thunderbird version: 140.12.1esr (64-bit) Windows version: 11 Server type: POP, messages not left on server Inbox " Folder properties" reports: 16384 messages. 13.8GB on disk

The Entire contents of Inbox disappeared after the following sequence of actions: 1. Tagging a selection of messages (in Inbox). 2. Making only those tagged messages visible (using Quick Filter). 3. Selecting all of the visible messages (select first, shift-select last). 4. Deleting the selected messages (Del key) The intended messages were successfully moved to the Deleted folder.

The Inbox now appeared empty. At this point only tagged messages were set to be visible but these had been deleted so an empty Inbox pane seemed correct. Resetting the tags visibility of Quick Filter did not make the messages reappear.

The messages are however visible and openable when doing either a straight folder search or when using a search folder. Inbox Folder Properties reports that the messages are still present and the reported size on disk seems appropriate for the number of messages.

Messages in all of the other folders are visible.

At this point I did a complete Export of the profile. When I discovered that Windows would not recognise the resulting .zip file I also did a straight copy of the Inbox file within the profile folder to a safe location (I understand that the export .zip file is intended for re-import to Thunderbird and that Windows might not recognise it).

I then did a Repair Folder (within Folder Properties dialogue). This made no difference although the size of the Inbox.msf file reduced dramatically (I didn't make a note of the before and after sizes).

I then quit and restarted Thunderbird several times. This at first made no difference. After perhaps 3 or 4 restarts however a relatively small number of files have reappeared in Inbox (a tiny percentage of the correct total). Curiously, most of these (but not all) are marked as spam. Ordinarily I would delete all messages marked as spam but there are probably some that I have missed. It looks rather as if the files which are now visible in Inbox are ALL of the spam messages plus a handful of others. Of the 172 messages which are now visible they were initially correctly reported in the folder pane as being 172 unread messages.

Another strange thing is that when selecting the Inbox on the folder pane, the small number of messages which become visible only appear after a delay of perhaps 10 seconds (previously this was instantaneous). When selecting any other folder, the messages are displayed instantly.

I'm not quite sure what best to do next. I haven't yet tried deleting the Inbox.msf file. Any wisdom will be gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.

Hello all, Apologies if this is going over old ground. I've tried the usual Repair Folder fix without success and I'm cautious about trying anything further without some expert input for fear of doing more damage. Thunderbird version: 140.12.1esr (64-bit) Windows version: 11 Server type: POP, messages not left on server Inbox " Folder properties" reports: 16384 messages. 13.8GB on disk The Entire contents of Inbox disappeared after the following sequence of actions: 1. Tagging a selection of messages (in Inbox). 2. Making only those tagged messages visible (using Quick Filter). 3. Selecting all of the visible messages (select first, shift-select last). 4. Deleting the selected messages (Del key) The intended messages were successfully moved to the Deleted folder. The Inbox now appeared empty. At this point only tagged messages were set to be visible but these had been deleted so an empty Inbox pane seemed correct. Resetting the tags visibility of Quick Filter did not make the messages reappear. The messages are however visible and openable when doing either a straight folder search or when using a search folder. Inbox Folder Properties reports that the messages are still present and the reported size on disk seems appropriate for the number of messages. Messages in all of the other folders are visible. At this point I did a complete Export of the profile. When I discovered that Windows would not recognise the resulting .zip file I also did a straight copy of the Inbox file within the profile folder to a safe location (I understand that the export .zip file is intended for re-import to Thunderbird and that Windows might not recognise it). I then did a Repair Folder (within Folder Properties dialogue). This made no difference although the size of the Inbox.msf file reduced dramatically (I didn't make a note of the before and after sizes). I then quit and restarted Thunderbird several times. This at first made no difference. After perhaps 3 or 4 restarts however a relatively small number of files have reappeared in Inbox (a tiny percentage of the correct total). Curiously, most of these (but not all) are marked as spam. Ordinarily I would delete all messages marked as spam but there are probably some that I have missed. It looks rather as if the files which are now visible in Inbox are ALL of the spam messages plus a handful of others. Of the 172 messages which are now visible they were initially correctly reported in the folder pane as being 172 unread messages. Another strange thing is that when selecting the Inbox on the folder pane, the small number of messages which become visible only appear after a delay of perhaps 10 seconds (previously this was instantaneous). When selecting any other folder, the messages are displayed instantly. I'm not quite sure what best to do next. I haven't yet tried deleting the Inbox.msf file. Any wisdom will be gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

All Replies (7)

dave.thomas
dave.thomas Vlasnik pitanja

And another thing.... Incoming new emails are now correctly displayed in the Inbox (together with the strange small selection of emails from the total which should be there).

dave.thomas
dave.thomas Vlasnik pitanja

And it gets stranger..... After being switched off overnight, the PC was powered-up, Thunderbird started and all was exactly the same as previously. All messages in Inbox (except for the small number of spam messages) are absent but folder properties report them to be present and they are findable and viewable using search.

Then after a couple of hours, all of the Inbox contents returned as if by magic.

I proceeded with my day and at some point deleted the various spam messages in Inbox which had been been revealed by yesterday's events.

For some hours all was well, then all the messages in Inbox disappeared again exactly as before. Again they are reported to be present by Folder Properties and findable/viewable by Search.

This was all within a single session of Thunderbird. There was no exiting and restarting involved.

Any assistance in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

dave.thomas
dave.thomas Vlasnik pitanja

Further discoveries.... 1. Clearing the startup cache makes the Inbox messages visible again for a while (Help > Troubleshooting Information > Clear Startup cache), although they disappear again after exit/restart. 2. Opening TB in Troubleshoot Mode makes the Inbox messages visible but after exiting and restarting in normal mode they again disappear.

Anybody?

Rick
Rick
  • Top 25 saradnika

There are several possible causes of a problem that does not occur in troubleshooting mode. See the end of this article:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-mode-thunderbird

The most common cause is probably an add-on.

dave.thomas
dave.thomas Vlasnik pitanja

Rick: Many thanks for your input.

I've already tried the various things in the article you suggested but with no success. All extensions are already disabled (and uninstalled). The selected theme is "System theme" (which I guess is the default theme referred to in the article). Hardware acceleration is already turned off.

Most peculiar (and somewhat frustrating).

So far I've avoided deleting the Inbox.msf file to allow it to be rebuilt. Should this be my next move do you think?

Thanks in advance.

Rick
Rick
  • Top 25 saradnika

Hi Dave.

Repairing the folder already re-created the msf file.

Are you using anti-virus software?

You might try running Windows in safe mode with networking to see if the problem occurs then. This is a troubleshooting step, not a solution.

Although Thunderbird does not have any size limits that I know of, I would still worry about the size of your inbox. You might archive messages by year and see how the inbox acts then.

Maybe other people can help more.

Mapenzi
Mapenzi
  • Top 25 saradnika

dave.thomas said
So far I've avoided deleting the Inbox.msf file to allow it to be rebuilt. Should this be my next move do you think?

There is no danger to delete the Inbox.msf file in the profile folder. Of course Thunderbird must be closed when you do this. There is a greater danger that your very big Inbox file might get corrupted: that's why I advise that the first thing to do should be a backup copy of the Inbox file. When did you compact the Inbox folder the last time?

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