Thunderbird works but extremely slowly
I am a long time Thunderbird user and have not seen it slow down this much. I try to check mail and it takes an inordinate amount of time. Then, when I think it has received the new mails, I click on one and that takes a long time to display the message. If I send a message, putting the sent mail to the sent mail box is a long wait, it may even fail although I could see it on Gmail in the Web browser. If I switch to a new folder, I see the message on the status bar telling me sending login information, and the wait continues. Why does it send the login credentials if it is not closed only to look in a different folder?
I am using version 115.5.1 on a gigabit connection. This happens on my laptop, MS Surface Studio Laptop, and my desktop computer with more power. The laptop uses WiFi and the desktop is cabled Gigabit Ethernet.
It is pushing me to look into alternative e-mail clients, I hope I can remain with TB.
Chosen solution
There are many possible sources of slow performance. It will take some troubleshooting to narrow the cause(s). I suggest you work through these steps:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems
You could also test with a new profile and one gmail IMAP account, in case you simply have a profile with too many hidden flaws. Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles, to create and manage profiles. The current profile is unaffected.
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Chosen Solution
There are many possible sources of slow performance. It will take some troubleshooting to narrow the cause(s). I suggest you work through these steps:
https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems
You could also test with a new profile and one gmail IMAP account, in case you simply have a profile with too many hidden flaws. Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles, to create and manage profiles. The current profile is unaffected.
Thank you @sfhowes for the lead. I went through them in sequence and none of the settings mentioned were active. I tried hiding All Mail and Trash folders in Gmail. I will wait to see how that helps. Before I made those changes, the speed was improving a little for some reason. I did not restart the computer or changed any of the settings. I will come back here and report again probably tomorrow or the next day. I appreciate your help.
I am back to provide an update. The behavior of TB has improved significantly after I disabled All Mail folder synchronization. There may have been some issues at GMail although I could not find any explicit information about that. I will enable All Mail sync and after a day or two, will report again.
Most users unsubscribe All Mail, as it doesn't add anything useful. See the All Mail section here:
I turned on synchronizing All Mail with Thunderbird, it is now busy getting them down. It serves a useful function for me by allowing me to search for messages without remembering how I might have labeled them. If it causes the same problem, I will disable sync and use Webmail when I need it. Although I checked to download the last 30 days of messages, it is downloading ALL messages true to its title perhaps.
That said, the problem of discarded draft messages not being reflected on Gmail on the Web continues.
OK, the entire All Mail folder has been synchronized. I sent a message which went quickly and the sent message was saved quickly to the Sent folder. I replied from the other account, it was received quickly.
Maybe it needed a Heimlich maneuver! Thank you for your guidance. I will mark this as resolved now.