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Cannot save drafts for alternate identities

  • 4 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 20 views
  • Last reply by stevesgt

stevesgt
stevesgt
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I was caught off guard by an automatic update to Thunderbird 78.2.2 (64-bit) on MacOS 10.14.6. (I do not have a record of which version I ran previously.) This is one of several problems I'll describe in separate messages.

I have accounts on five imap servers. Several of those accounts have multiple (as many as 8) identities.

I have an alias (for example, user1@foo.org) which forwards mail to my imap mailbox (for example, user2@bar.com). I have a separate identity set-up in Thunderbird which sets the "From:" and "Reply-to:" addresses to the alias address (such as "user1@foo.org"). When I try to compose an outgoing message from the alias address, and save a draft on the imap server into my imap mailbox (such as "user2@bar.com), I get this error:

"Save Draft Error. Unable to save your message as draft. Sending of the message failed."

On the previous version of Thunderbird, I had no problem saving such drafts.

What changed?

I was caught off guard by an automatic update to Thunderbird 78.2.2 (64-bit) on MacOS 10.14.6. (I do not have a record of which version I ran previously.) This is one of several problems I'll describe in separate messages. I have accounts on five imap servers. Several of those accounts have multiple (as many as 8) identities. I have an alias (for example, user1@foo.org) which forwards mail to my imap mailbox (for example, user2@bar.com). I have a separate identity set-up in Thunderbird which sets the "From:" and "Reply-to:" addresses to the alias address (such as "user1@foo.org"). When I try to compose an outgoing message from the alias address, and save a draft on the imap server into my imap mailbox (such as "user2@bar.com), I get this error: "Save Draft Error. Unable to save your message as draft. Sending of the message failed." On the previous version of Thunderbird, I had no problem saving such drafts. What changed?

All Replies (4)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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I can't say why it failed (perhaps incompatibility of AV app with new TB version?), but unless you need to access drafts on other computers, I'd recommend changing the storage location to Drafts on Local Folders in the Copies & Folders section of Account Settings.

stevesgt
stevesgt Question owner
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It's common for me to start a draft on a phone, and finish it on a real computer. So it's best if I can store my drafts on the imap server.

Can you be more descriptive, @sfhowes, about what you mean by, "incompatibility of AV app with new TB version"?

My main point is, this was something that worked on earlier version of Thunderbird, and now doesn't.

sfhowes
sfhowes
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If you have an AV app scanning email, it sometimes happens that the app or TB receive an update, causing an incompatibility. It's generally recommended to exclude the TB profile folder from AV scanning, so if you have email scanning in place, disable it and see if saving drafts to IMAP servers improves. It's also possible there is a bug in the new TB that affects operations with IMAP folders on OS X. You could install an older version of TB, either by itself or along with the current version, if you're willing to deal with some profile manipulations.

stevesgt
stevesgt Question owner
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OK, @sfhowes. I figured out that "AV" is not "Audio/Visual" but rather "Anti-Virus". I'm pretty sure that cannot be the problem. But thanks for your suggestion.

My work-around for now is to save the draft under my primary identity for the account, and then hope I don't forget to switch the "From:" address before I send it.