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Larger images into Thunderbird

  • 4 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by Matt

When inserting several larger images (JPEG, 1.4 MB, 1770x2440 px, 300 dpi) directly into the message body (i.e. not as an attachment), Thunderbird crashed and the draft of the written message was not saved.

Is there a limit to the maximum size or format of an image that can be inserted directly into the body of the message?

I am using THB release 140.6.0esr/32-bit

When inserting several larger images (JPEG, 1.4 MB, 1770x2440 px, 300 dpi) directly into the message body (i.e. not as an attachment), Thunderbird crashed and the draft of the written message was not saved. Is there a limit to the maximum size or format of an image that can be inserted directly into the body of the message? I am using THB release 140.6.0esr/32-bit

All Replies (4)

Short answer is no. You might however find you antivirus has some undocumented limit, or your provider has a low message size limit. That image will be around 30% larger when it is included in the email, either as an attachment or inline and using IMAP the draft would be saved server side so subject to the providers message size limit, whatever that might be. Some ISPs still have limits around 5Mb (as did everyone 25years ago) others like Google opt for to the other extreme.

I use an email account on google.com. There, the size of the attachment cannot exceed 25 MB. What could the antivirus have to do with it (in your opinion)? It keeps an eye on me so that no unwanted things get through... There is no option to limit the size of files sent - you can only limit the size of files during the antivirus scan (e.g. files larger than 1 GB will be excluded from the scan).

When you build an email the images and attachments are all written to the system temp folder. Windows does an appalling job managing the content of that. Actually is does nothing automatically. So antivirus starts messing with the files as they are written and then anything can happen. Thunderbird will then write another temp file to hold the message before it is saved to drafts (usually every 5 minutes) or send again the antivirus comes into the picture making it's usual mess like a bull in a china shop really. Then the email hits the wire and you guessed it, the antivirus wants another go, so it decrypts the encrypted communication does whatever it is that is does, puts it all back together again (usually correctly) and puts it back on the wire. This is despite the in memory process also being monitored. So what does the antivirus have to do with it. Everything really as nothing writing to disk or writing to the wire or memory is exempt from it's microscopic examination. Really nothing on your system gets to function without it's oversight and in many cases interference. SO if something crashes, or a disk write fails, or any other intermittent or odd event occurs is far more likely to be the antivirus glitching than the malware it purports to protect us from.

Ferdinand said

I There is no option to limit the size of files sent

That does not mean it does not run out of memory to scan them!

BTW Windows disk cleanup is your friend, especially in regards to the system temp folder. It is often a good idea to clear the Thunderbird cache after a crash, just as insurance. There is an option for that in both settings and Troubleshooting information. They both do the same thing.

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