Sent emails not picked up by Thunderbird, using POP3
I have setup Thunderbird to pick up all emails from my usa.net account.
When I send an email in usa.net it is not picked up by Thunderbird, setup to sync every 10 minutes. At the time of setup some years ago only POP3 worked from usa.net. All folders in usa.net except Sent is sync'ed.
I fear the answer is "change to IMAC" because I have 100.000+ emails and in my experience (if I did it correctly) any setup change triggers a full emails reload, doubling emails and taking days to complete. The quick answer is "empty Thunderbird first". I cannot purge Thunderbird account first because I keep a full backup in Thunderbird while deleting emails in usa.net, so the source in usa.net is not complete by far. I have to top off in Thunderbird.
My workaround is to copy all sent emails to a sent_1 folder in usa.net, which is then sync'ed by Thunderbird into the Inbox and I can identify the sent emails by the arrow in the Correspondents column. Messy.
All Replies (4)
I don't think there is an email client to "sync" sent mails on a pop connection type... If you send from TB an mail then that mail will be saved on that TB on sent folder. BUT if you send an email from server/mobile/or-any-other-place then usually all email clients set with POP connection type will not download that message. The solutions for POP configuration are to add you at BCC from those other-places or to add other email to BCC and on TB to set also that email with a rule (if mail from... them copy or move to sent...)
The real solution is to set TB as IMAP as well... In that way sent should synchronize w/o problems.
Modified by svlad2009
Thanks for a precise answer - although disheartening.
My next step must be to figure out how to switch to IMAP and avoid both losing and doubling emails. I have to copy the emails in TB from the POP3 account to a new IMAP account I guess ... if possible? How do I then make sure to avoid a full download when marking the IMAC account to sync and only get new email? I guess I can backup the old POP3 account but as I remember when it is re-activated, in case I will backout and restore the old situation, it will do a full sync download again doubling all emails from usa.net. I would appreciate any tips on this before marking this entry as solved.
(doublet deleted)
Modified by wideseen
You cannot alter any settings within a POP account to 'change' it to an IMAP account.
The IMAP account must be set up as a New >Existing Mail Account
All emails that are currently in the server folders will get shown in the imap account.
re :How do I then make sure to avoid a full download when marking the IMAC account to sync and only get new email? IMAP accounts do n ot work like POP accounts.
POP is simple - access server Inbox and download mail, Thunderbird keeps a record so preventing downloading again. Emails are eithre deleted off server upon download or if Thunderbird has setting to 'Leave message on server' then it is not deleted off server.
IMAP folders synchronise with server folders to show exactly what is on server. If you delete via webmail or any other device eg: phone then it will get auto deleted from the imap account in Thunderbird when folders synchronise with server and vis versa. You can choose to download headers only or full copies. You can also choose to only synchronise xx number of days. Regular compacting will keep the number of days correctly synchronised. Suggest you give this a read. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization
If you have a load of emails in various folders in the POP account, then you could create folders in 'Local Folders' mail account and then move emails into those folders. You do not have to 'copy' them back onto server. It is highly possible you have not been deleting mail off server, so full copies might be on server. But as I do not know your current set up, I could not say for certain.
Please note, imap accounts and their folders should not be considered as separate copies. They are synchronising folders, so are in reality one and the same view. Occasionally, it would be wise to fully synchronise folders for offline use , exit Thunderbird and get a backup/copy of the Thunderbird folder that contains all the profiles etc. Otherwise you only have the one copy - on the server.