Do I need to switch to outlook?
I have been using Thunderbird for over 20 years. Never had this problem until this week. I just started getting duplicate emails. I disabled my AVG email scanner as recommended but I want to leave messages on the server like I always have. I have 3 email accounts set up in Thunderbird but it seems that this is only happening to one of them. They are all set up with POP3 and to leave messages on the server. Why did this just start happening? I really don't want to switch over to Outlook, but this morning I just got 133 duplicate email messages that go back 14 days. Is there anything else I can do?
Chosen solution
Thunderbird, in common with many IMAP clients, caches emails so you have a local copy to refer to when offline.
In fact this cache misleads many users into thinking they have a permanent local copy.
It takes two to have incompatibilities. Some servers don't follow the standards, or have quirky implementations, and some email clients are more relaxed or equally non-compliant. Thunderbird is strict, other clients may be more tolerant. Thunderbird occasionally has problems with messages from both microsoft and apple email clients because they don't adhere to the formal standards. We know on this forum that certain email servers don't play nicely with Thunderbird. You can argue endlessly that this is the fault of one party or the other, but when 9/10 accounts work well in Thunderbird, I'd suspect that the 1/10 that have trouble to be related to that specific server.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (5)
The email account that I am having issues with is hosted by iPage but we have been using them for 5 years and have not had an issue. Our internet provider is Optimum. My gmail account and my usa.net account are not having this issue. Only my email account through iPage. I have not had any of the teachers telling me of this problem when they are using Outlook as their web client. If I go to iPage directly, the duplicate emails are not there.
Have you spoken to iPage about this? I guess you're paying for the service so are entitled to some support from them, and they appear to recognize Thunderbird as an email client, so they shouldn't dismiss you with a "we don't support Thunderbird" response.
Given that other providers have similar issues with their own POP services, we can't rule out a server-related issue here. Thunderbird is heavily standards-compliant, but other email clients may be less so, and therefore might work more smoothly with a server that has an idiosyncratic interpretation of the standards. Microsoft (and Apple) have a long history of doing things their own way.
I couldn't work with POP and messages being saved on the server. I need my messages to be filed properly into folders. What's your objection to IMAP? Many users have found that when POP misbehaves, IMAP provides a working alternative.
Modified by Zenos
The way I understand it, if I use IMAP, I need to have an internet connection in order to read my email. This would be a negative for me. As far as iPage being the problem, I don't see how that could be because my cell phone email client does not get duplicate emails. I would think that if it were coming from iPage, it would appear on my cell phone as well. I have not had any duplicate emails over the past three days. Not sure what is happening.
Chosen Solution
Thunderbird, in common with many IMAP clients, caches emails so you have a local copy to refer to when offline.
In fact this cache misleads many users into thinking they have a permanent local copy.
It takes two to have incompatibilities. Some servers don't follow the standards, or have quirky implementations, and some email clients are more relaxed or equally non-compliant. Thunderbird is strict, other clients may be more tolerant. Thunderbird occasionally has problems with messages from both microsoft and apple email clients because they don't adhere to the formal standards. We know on this forum that certain email servers don't play nicely with Thunderbird. You can argue endlessly that this is the fault of one party or the other, but when 9/10 accounts work well in Thunderbird, I'd suspect that the 1/10 that have trouble to be related to that specific server.