It is not likely to be a Program issue and more likely to be an issue with how you manage your emails. Just as info: -The Thunderbird Program is not stored in the same place as Thunderbird Profiles, so reinstalling or updating does not effect the emails.

Look at the following to see how you can better manage your Thunderbird to see if you can improve on performance.

Gmail.

If this is an IMAP mail account, do you see an 'All Mail' folder?

If yes, then unsubscribe from seeing it. It is only gmail' archive copy of all your emails, so it will double the amount of space used. see info - scroll down to 'All Mail' section:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Using_Gmail_with_Thunderbird_and_Mozilla_Suite

Info on things that can effect performace:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Performance_%28Thunderbird%29

How often do you compact your folders to remove traces of deleted emails? I compact folders daily as I will delete several emails each day. Please read info on compacting:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

Do you synchronize your folders to download a full copy of the folder or do you choose to syncronize the most recent xx days or emails ?

• See info: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization#w_configuring-synchronization-and-disk-space-usage

Larger files take up more space and memory. So have you Archived older emails by year and month and kept folder structure eg: anything older than 60 days. This would help to reduce the folder size. You do not have to subscribe to see those Archived emails unless you need to.

• Archiving: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/archived-messages?esab=a&s=archiving&r=0&as=s

What anti-virus software do you use? Do you scan incoming and outgoing mail? This can impact on performance especially if the folders are large.

Any emails you have copied or moved to 'Local Folders' will be on your computer. Use this tool to backup these emails and save as .eml files.

• https://freeshell.de//~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html

re : 'inability to retrieve gmail emails' Can you explain a bit more about this?

If you logon to gmail webmail using a browser, can you see the emails?

Thank you! I will look at those links and see what I can do to improve performance. I do have a lot of emails and rarely empty the Trash folders.

Yes, if I log into gmail's webmail, new emails are there, so the problem is clearly with Thunderbird.

P.S. Here's my original post about the gmail problem - there may be some more useful detail for you here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/996137

Can you post the info as described here section Help > Troubleshooting information:

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ask-tb#w_how-to-ask-your-question

you can edit/remove info on fonts and printers but do not edit anything else.

I'm trying to do some of the cleanup you recommended, but am having trouble with instructions under "All Mail." It says "Go to ..\ImapMail\imap.gmail.com (or ..\ImapMail\imap.googlemail.com if you use the googlemail mail server) " What do the ellipsis (..) mean? Am I supposed to insert something there?

Because if I just put \ImapMail\imap.gmail.com in the url box, I get a Google search. I can't seem to get to where I need to go to delete both "All Mail." and "All Mail.msf".

re: '\ImapMail\imap.gmail.com '

This is refering to Thunderbird Profile folder on your computer.

make hidden files and folders visible - either of these links:

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders
• http://windows.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/show-hidden-files#show-hidden-files=windows-vista

Then in Thunderbird

• 'Tools' > 'Account Settings' > 'Synchronization & Storage' for gmail account
• click on 'Advanced' button
• unsubscribe the 'AllMail' folder and click on OK to save changes

• Help > Troubleshooting Information
• click on 'Show Folder'
• a new window opens showing your profile folder

• Close Thunderbird now.
• click on 'ImapMail' folder
• click on 'imap.gmail.com' or 'imap.googlemail.com (depends upon which server you use)

This will show you the files used to display the emails.

• Delete both "All Mail." and "All Mail.msf".
• Restart Thunderbird.

Please note that this removes the file from Thunderbird Profile and as you will have unsubscribed, you will not see it in Thunderbird. However, it is a gmail folder on the server and therefore is still on the server, so any emails in that folder will not be lost.

I have deleted both "All Mail." and "All Mail.msf", although the "All Mail" folder is still showing in Thunderbird (which may have more to do with the fact that the little icon is still spinning and I cannot do anything in the gmail account on Thunderbird), and I've set synchronization to start occurring. I do compact folders, but only about once a week; if I ever get gmail working again, I'll do it more often. I haven't archived before, but when I go to my account settings, even when I select to keep messages in the archived folder, the "Archive options" button is grayed out, so I can't click it to set up the archive folders. I don't know why that is, but if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Despite these changes, I still can't get gmail to operate in Thunderbird. No matter which folder I select, the circle icon just keeps spinning. What do you think I should do next?

And thanks very much for all your help so far!

What would you think about my deleting gmail from Thunderbird and then setting it up again? My only concern is that I have three folders that I added to those that come with gmail and I'm not sure how I'd be sure I could get those emails back where I could see them. They aren't on the server (actually, I've deleted all messages from my gmail account on the server).

re: I have deleted both "All Mail." and "All Mail.msf", although the "All Mail" folder is still showing in Thunderbird.

• Did you stop subscribing to see All Mail first.
• Then access Profile folder.
• Then Close Thunderbird
• Then delete the "All Mail." and "All Mail.msf" files in Profile folder.
• Then restart Thunderbird.

If you did it in that order then when Thunderbird restarted, there would be no All Mail in the Profile and as it is not selected to subscribe to see that folder, it should not be displayed.

re: ' (actually, I've deleted all messages from my gmail account on the server). '

If you have deleted all emails off the server then Thunderbird will not see any emails because there is nothing to see. Unless you have saved a copy/ moved any emails into 'Local Folders' . Or previously synchronize a folder of 'offline' use in which case you could check your Profile Folder to see if there is a file with the same name as your folder (not an *.msf file) then copy this into the Local Folders mail account. Remember, you must close Thunderbird before making any chnages in your Profile folder.

Because IMAP mail accounts keep all emails on the server, you can remove an IMAP mail account and then create a new one.

Gmail keeps a copy of all emails in the AllMail folder; it is gmails 'Archive'. Gmail do not have actual folders, only labels. Messages are stored in one big "folder" on the server and then assigned different labels to make them appear together with others with the same label. Hence why you do not need to subscribe to see it unless necessary. https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6581?hl=en

If you synchronize folders then a copy is downloaded to your computer, when you make any changes to the folder, it resynchronizes with the server to update the server. So that the two are the same. If you delete anything via webmail or Thunderbird, you are deleting from the same folder(s).

If you synchronize a whole folder for offline use (get all emails in that folder downloaded to your computer) then in 'offline' mode, you can backup the folder(s), For more info see: http://kb.mozillazine.org/IMAP_backup

I did stop subscribing to AllMail before I deleted the "All Mail." and "All Mail.msf" files in my Profile folder. However, since even putting my cursor on any gmail folder in Thunderbird gives me that spinning icon, I assume Thunderbird is just stalled on the gmail account altogether; wouldn't that explain why the AllMail folder continues to appear? I don't think anything I'm doing in the Profile is having any real effect so long as Thunderbird is stalled for the gmail account.

Although I did delete everything in my gmail account via webmail, I'm continuing to receive emails there, although I have to go to webmail to view them. So there are emails for Thunderbird to synchronize with, it's just that it never downloads them because of the stall.

I had one of those "Windows closed unexpectedly" moments this morning, and when I rebooted the computer, gmail was suddenly working again in Thunderbird! Maybe it needed more than just closing Thunderbird, perhaps it needed a complete reboot. I notice that "AllMail" is still there, so I will follow the instructions (again...) to delete it in hopes that future problems can be avoided.

Thank you again for all your help!

re:'three folders that I added to those that come with gmail '

As previously mentioned, whilst you can normally remove an IMAP account and create another because emails are stored on the server. It would be a good idea to check out a few things before you go down this route as you mention that the 3 folders you created do not exist on server.

Need to check that all is pointing to the correct location as those folders should be on the server. Can you provide some information:

1. Can you post the info as described here section Help > Troubleshooting information: click on 'copy text to clipboard' and paste info into this question

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/ask-tb#w_how-to-ask-your-question

you can edit/remove info on fonts and printers but do not edit anything else.

2. Where is the Local Directory pointing?

• Tools > Account Settings > Server Settings for the gmail account

at the bottom, on the right side you will see 'Local Directory'

copy and paste the info into this question.

3. Access your Profile folder as previously described in earlier response. Remember to close Thunderbird after getting access. ImapMail/gmail mail account

Is there only one gmail account listed or additional ones ? such as:

• imap.gmail.com
• imap.gmail-1.com

Tell me what you have in the ImapMail folder.

4. Whilst looking in Profile Folder gmail account (s) check the gmail account (all of them if there is more than one listed in IMAPMail)

Can you see any of the folder names that you created as files with another file of same name with .msf extension?

If yes, make a note of the mail account name you located it under and tell me the name.

In re #1 above:

 Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 24.4.0
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; WOW64; rv:24.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/24.4.0
   Profile Folder: Show Folder

             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20140316131045
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Crash Reports: about:crashes
   Memory Use: about:memory

 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (imap) imap.googlemail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.googlemail.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext

   account6:
     INCOMING: account6, , (pop3) pop.charter.net:110, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.charter.net:25, plain, passwordCleartext, true

   account7:
     INCOMING: account7, , (nntp) news.eternal-september.org:119, plain, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: smtp.charter.net:25, plain, passwordCleartext, true

 Extensions
   CompactHeader, 2.0.8, true, {58D4392A-842E-11DE-B51A-C7B855D89593}
   Extra Folder Columns, 1.1.5, false, extra-cols@jminta_gmail.com
   McAfee Anti-Spam Thunderbird Extension, 1.0, false, msktbird@mcafee.com

 Important Modified Preferences

   Name: Value

     accessibility.typeaheadfind.flashBar: 0
     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 24.4.0
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: 0ef9e35a-077c-43d3-b430-0a8912767ba
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.protocol-handler.warn-external.mhtml: false
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1331223644
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
     plugin.importedState: true
     plugins.update.notifyUser: true
     print.print_printer: Epson Stylus Photo RX620 (M)
     print.printer_Epson_Stylus_Photo_RX620_(M).print_bgcolor: false
     
     privacy.donottrackheader.enabled: true

 Graphics

     Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics
     Vendor ID: 0x8086
     Device ID: 0x0042
     Adapter RAM: Unknown
     Adapter Drivers: igdumd64 igd10umd64 igdumdx32 igd10umd32
     Driver Version: 8.15.10.2622
     Driver Date: 1-10-2012
     Direct2D Enabled: false
     DirectWrite Enabled: false (6.2.9200.16571)
     ClearType Parameters: Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: RGB ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 50
     WebGL Renderer: false
     GPU Accelerated Windows: 0

     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: none

 JavaScript

 Incremental GC: 1

 Accessibility

   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0

 Library Versions

     Expected minimum version
     Version in use

     NSPR
     4.10.2
     4.10.2

     NSS
     3.15.4 Basic ECC
     3.15.4 Basic ECC

     NSS Util
     3.15.4
     3.15.4

     NSS SSL
     3.15.4 Basic ECC
     3.15.4 Basic ECC

     NSS S/MIME
     3.15.4 Basic ECC
     3.15.4 Basic ECC

In re #2 above:

C:\Users\Diana Britt\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\7ik4i0c7.default\Mail\Local Folders

In re #3 above, I have these folders in the IMAP folder:

imap.googlemail.com imap.googlemail.com.msf

Finally, in re #4 above, it does show the special folders I created under imap.googlemail.com (I presume that's what you mean by mail account name - I only have one gmail account that I use)

BTW, when I go into imap.googlemail.com > [Gmail].sbd, the AllMail.smf folder has reappeared three times now even though I've deleted it. It's disturbing to delete a file, not once, but 3x, and have it reappear. What does this mean?

It means your deleting a file that Thunderbird wants and needs so it recreates it.

sdb folders are not files, but signify sub folders within Thunderbird folder structure. So you have sub folders of gmail. ( I would assume inbox deleted etc the normal folders.) and they can contain any number of other folders MSF files are index files and list the contents of a folder. They are generated for all subscribed folders, regardless of the status of synchronization.

Right clicking the account name in the folder pane. (Above inbox) to set subscriptions. Unsubscribed folders do not appear at all.

Tools menu (Alt+T) > synchronization and storage > advanced to set the locally synchronized items.

Thank you, Matt. I wasn't entirely clear on the difference between deleting and unsubscribing, but I have done as you suggested and "All Mail" is no longer showing. I'm still mystified as to why Thunderbird quit working with gmail and then suddenly started up again, but I'm cautiously optimistic!

Going all the way back are reading your original post, I would hazard a guess that it was your anti virus program. McAfee was last weeks culprit for slow deletes (slow everything actually).

You have one profile folder (unless you know enough to make more than one.) per Thunderbird installation. If you know enough to make more than one we would not be having this conversation, or you have had a nasty crash.

This add-on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools/ will look after backups for you if you set it up. I talk, hopefully in simple English, about backups here http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/backups.html

Installing an add-on http://chrisramsden.vfast.co.uk/3_How_to_install_Add-ons_in_Thunderbird.html

I have this "unresponsive script" problem too. I get it EVERY time I touch Thunderbird, whether to open a mail, delete a mail, move a mail to a folder, or even just reposition the window. I feel that the ONLY thing I can do is uninstall/reinstall. How can I protect my mail history, contacts, folders when doing this? thanks

@Webyourstuff I am simply sick to death of typing this.

Uninstalling and reinstalling Mozilla software is mostly a complete waste of time. In this case it is almost certainly so.

Mozilla products do not remove their settings on uninstall nor do they rewrite them in reinstall. So you change nothing. But you do waste considerable time.

If you have an issue, please create your own topic as RoseQueen probably does not want email on this topic every time you or I post. I call it SPAM.