We're calling on all EU-based Mozillians with iOS or iPadOS devices to help us monitor Apple’s new browser choice screens. Join the effort to hold Big Tech to account!

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Missing emails in search

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

jbellis
jbellis
more options

I have a gmail account going back to 2010 that I'd like to use Thunderbird as a "live backup" for.

It's completed importing all the messages over imap but when I compare the search results for simple and unambiguous search terms in Thunderbird vs in gmail, Thunderbird is missing a lot. Examples:

"[friend]@gmail.com" -- hundreds of results going back to 2015, then a few in 2014, then nothing earlier. Gmail shows hundreds of results in 2014 and 2013 as well.

"2011": lots of results from 2012 onwards, but only 4 results that are actually from the year 2011.

"2010": results look plausible on the timeline (hundreds of results in 2010, 2011, 2012) but clicking into 2010 shows that the earliest results are in October. In gmail the earliest results are in March.

Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

I have a gmail account going back to 2010 that I'd like to use Thunderbird as a "live backup" for. It's completed importing all the messages over imap but when I compare the search results for simple and unambiguous search terms in Thunderbird vs in gmail, Thunderbird is missing a lot. Examples: "[friend]@gmail.com" -- hundreds of results going back to 2015, then a few in 2014, then nothing earlier. Gmail shows hundreds of results in 2014 and 2013 as well. "2011": lots of results from 2012 onwards, but only 4 results that are actually from the year 2011. "2010": results look plausible on the timeline (hundreds of results in 2010, 2011, 2012) but clicking into 2010 shows that the earliest results are in October. In gmail the earliest results are in March. Any suggestions on troubleshooting?

All Replies (3)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

If you're using Global Search, Ctrl+K, check that the relevant folders in TB are included in Global Search (context menu, Properties). If you add folders to GS, rebuild the database. Also, compare results using Classic Search, Ctrl+Shift+F, to search an account or folder.

jbellis
jbellis Question owner
more options

Thanks, this is the default/global search. I've rebuilt the database (and verified that the All Mail folder is included) but I'm not seeing any improvement in the results.

Classic Search appears to work correctly, just much slower. (The "All Mail" mbox file is almost 16GB.)

Do you think this is worth turning into a bug report?

Modified by jbellis

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

I don't think it would receive much attention as a bug report unless you could present easy steps to reproduce, on a new profile with a single account.

Most users unsubscribe All Mail to save space and eliminate redundant messages. See the All Mail section here.