Thunderbird - download messages and final message count
I had a POP3 account I used in Thunderbird for many years. I had to move my TB to a new machine and copied the profile file to the new machine and started there.
Over time, it seemed that messages were not getting seen, so I thought I'd shift to (finally) using IMAP. I added the new configuration, saved off the old emails, and started with the IMAP use. Now I'm seeing a difference between the following:
1. Messages being downloaded 2. Messages ended in filtered 3. Messages ended in Inbox
The download count is let's say 60, the number filtered (showing in the filtered folder) is 10, but the number in the Inbox is 20. There are 30 missing emails that I can't account for. They do not show up in any of the folders (I have scanned for all messages from today, as an example). As you might imagine, this is a concern.
I am thinking the best might be to start over; that is, create a new profile. If I do this, please tell me a few things.
- Where the missing emails could be - Is there a cleaner alternative? As this is IMAP, I don't see a strong reason to save off the emails, as I'll get them when I sync. I would probably save off ones that are a bit older (let's say a week ago). - when I create the new profile, does this bring anything with it? Will the existing filters come with it or will I need to create those anew (I don't see this as a real issue as most are spam filters and if I start clean, I will just start flagging ones that I don't want anymore) - is there an alternative that uses the existing profile? How would that work? How do I remove all spam filters so nothing is filtered (so I can see that the numbers add up)?
I appreciate your help, David
All Replies (3)
I do not understand the problem. With IMAP, every message is online. If you check the account online you should see the same messages. It isn't clear what you're counting or where those folders are, whether on server or PC.
I am speaking of the message counts as TB downloads messages. It shows the total messages, as well as counts of ones that are new and ones that are filtered out. These are all on my PC. I have compared messages to what is on the server directly and have not seen an issue. Maybe its only an issue of the way TB counts but it raises concerns that messages are disappearing in the ether somewhere. As a software engineer, I understand how counts can be off but it is very concerning and if I have to always check emails directly, it kind of removes the reason to use TB at all. As a software person, I also know firsthand that simple mistakes in a process can result in inaccurate answers; hopefully, this is only a cosmetic issue (counts) but I can't imagine that this only effects me, so others would have had a similar experience.
The above is on a Windows 10 pc. I converted an older pc to linux and installed TB there. I don't normally have this one up (I brought it up so others in the family can see if they want to shift. My local servers are all Linux.) I see the total message count, which exactly matches the downloaded count. This is a new install and has NO filtering being done.
Maybe if I can remove all the filtering and start over the counts will even out. What method do I use to remove ALL the filtering? After that, we'll see where we stand.
If you just want to test briefly without filters, you could exit thunderbird, locate msgfilters.dat in the imapmail\<accountname> folder in the profile and rename it and restart thunderbird.