Controlling the download of emails from server
Until recently, I've been using Windows Live Mail on a Windows 7 computer. When its Pop 3 download ability stopped working, I started looking for another email program that could read my Windows Mail emails on my computer while continuing to download more recent emails to save on my computer. Thunderbird seemed like it might be the answer. Unfortunately, much to my horror, Thunderbird is in the process of re-downloading everything from my online server back to 1998. I had to close Thunderbird to avoid needless duplication of the emails I already have on my computer. I'm using Thunderbird's IMAP, but after reading various help online articles, it sounds as though the POP3 has the same problem, that you can't configure either Thunderbird protocol to restrict its download to a few months in history without either deleting all of the old emails on the online server, downloading just the headers without the body of the email for past and future email downloads, or restrict the length of time an email remains in either the computer or online systems. I'm very confused by all of these articles, rendering me unable to make a move-- I can't afford to lose almost 3 decades of emails on my online server.
All I want to do is find a program that will pick up where Windows Mail left off, something that downloads the current emails to my computer while leaving the online emails unaltered. Is there anyway I can get Thunderbird to do this? Thanks.
All Replies (1)
You will not find a program that picks up from where windows mail left off. period
Fundamentally POP mail is meant to be deleted from the server on download, but over the past decade or so everyone has become a pack rat with regard to their email. Storing it like it was some sort of national archive. The way POP manages to start again each session is because it stores the last email received information somewhere on the local machine. Thunderbird stores this information in a popstate.dat file in the profile folder, one file for each account. In the case of some pop accounts this file can be huge, with a reference to every email on the server. I have no idea where windows mail stored this information, probably in the registry. I will certainly not be looking, as each program maintains it's own "where am I up to" information and it is not transferable from application to application. Even if you were to import all the mails from windows mail, the status would not come over and everything on the server would still be downloaded again.
So all your mail will have to be downloaded again from the server (unless you provider is like Google and offers some web setting to limit downloads or yahoo who limit downloads per account to 10,000). There is nothing in the POP protocol to tell the server you only want mail after a certain date. So there is nothing in the protocol that allows any mail client to do what you are asking. You are essentially asking for the last 20 gallons of water that fell into your rainwater tank. The systems used have no way to identify which 20 gallons is the last 20 gallons. This is not just a Thunderbird limitation it is a POP IMAP and I think exchange limitation. As those three protocols probably account for 99% of non webmail email activity I think you need to stop looking for solutions that really do not exist in the mail client sphere and accept the reality of how email works. If you have changed over yeas ago when Microsoft told you that the program was being retired you would have had years less mail to be downloaded over again.
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