Go to your email account in your email provider's webmail site and delete this message there.

The problem is my Thunderbird client is copying the message to my desktop. I believe this is because I did something like a "Save As" to the desktop and the process never completed. Now TBird is repeatedly trying to copy the file to the desktop. Even if I delete it from the server (gmail), the client is going to try to copy it to disk. The message containing the attachment has already been saved into a folder, etc.

I suppose in the extreme I could reinstall TBird :(

-Joe

what happens if you just let it save the file?

If I delete the file once it completes, it downloads the file again. It might be continually downloading the file - hard to tell what is going on behind the scenes. However, the file keeps coming back to my desktop.

what s the file called?

The file is called by the name of the attachment (foo.pptx for the sake of argument).

Something in Thunderbird is stuck on re-downloading this.

But if you removed it from the server there would be nothing to download.

Or do you believe it's trying to do a "Save As" from a message that's already been downloaded?

Are you using a Mac? Saving attachments to the desktop seems to be a recurrent issue for Mac users.

On the toolbar > Options > Attachments.

Does it say save files to desktop? Or ask?

Set it to ask.

Using Terminal.app, type echo $TMPDIR is it using your desktop?

When I look back through bug reports, this one https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=311292 from nearly ten years ago confirms that Firefox is using the OSX default temp which it appears from the discussion is the desktop.

Given Thunderbird and Firefox share most of the same core code. Thunderbird will probably be using the same setting as Firefox.

SO I suppose the answer is give your Mac a real temp folder instead of the desktop.

When I exit Thunderbird, it asks me do I want to cancel a download that is in progress. Of course I respond cancel anyway.

I did as suggested and set the download option to prompt me for a place to store a downloaded attachment. So far I haven't been prompted and the file hasn't come back yet.

I don't think changing TMPDIR should make a difference. Either way, I don't want the file to keep downloading. My TMP_DIR is set to:

/var/folders/b1/hc114p6x3v11__tb78xpd1j40000gp/T/

I'll send an update later today.

Interesting that now we get the relevant information that a download is in progress.

Apparently the download was NOT COMPLETING or you would not be prompted to continue. If you have an anti virus scanning mail on your machine, it is probably the cause of a download never completing properly.

If I exit Thunderbird, it prompts me whether I want to terminate a download in progress.

When I changed the download mode to prompt me where to store a downloaded file, the file still appeared on my desktop (without ever prompting me).

So, as I have said before, Thunderbird is in some kind of download loop where it thinks it hasn't downloaded the file successfully and keeps trying.

Note that the file does download correctly - I can open it. But as I said before, if I remove it from the desktop, it comes back.

I am not running any anti-virus software and am on a Mac.

-Joe