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Thunderbird is downloading 200 copies of the same message each time I hit get mail.

  • 4 replies
  • 2 have this problem
  • 9 views
  • Last reply by taracat

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I am using 24.4 Windows 7. My online account only has one copy of each email. All my other devices with Thunderbird on them work fine. This has been happening since April 3. I use avasti. I am so tired of deleting and would appreciate help. It is discouraging that I cannot contact Mozilla Thunderbird directly.

Thanks for any suggestions Susan

I am using 24.4 Windows 7. My online account only has one copy of each email. All my other devices with Thunderbird on them work fine. This has been happening since April 3. I use avasti. I am so tired of deleting and would appreciate help. It is discouraging that I cannot contact Mozilla Thunderbird directly. Thanks for any suggestions Susan

Chosen solution

In Profile > xxxxxxxx.default > Mail > mail account name

See Image:

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re 'It is discouraging that I cannot contact Mozilla Thunderbird directly. '

it is a free product and so does not have resources to maintain a call centre for support.

re: duplicates

This sounds like your popstate .dat file has become confused. It keeps a record of what has already been downloaded. Info at links.

You would need to delete the 'popstate.dat file and then Thunderbird will create a new one. The downside is that it will download everything that is on your server again, but just once.

Then look in the \Profiles\xxxxxxxx.default\Mail\account name folder for 'popstate', a DAT file.

  • Delete the 'popstate.dat' file.
  • Open Thunderbird.
  • Click on GetMail.

Download will happen and you will need to sort through the mail. This should fix the popstate file so that it has an uncorrupted record of what has been downloaded.

This will redownload everything once more but that should fix the duplicate issue. After fixing the popstate file you may have loads of duplicate email messages. You can use this Addon to help remove them:

Modified by Toad-Hall

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Thanks, Toad Hall (love the name) for your great instructions. And I followed them, but apparently my popstate.dat file doesn't exist. I did a complete computer search for the file as well as going to the appropriate folder and it just ain't there. So, Thunderbird doesn't seem to be replacing it since it doesn't exist anywhere.

Do you know "now what"?

I really appreciate your help.

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Chosen Solution

In Profile > xxxxxxxx.default > Mail > mail account name

See Image:

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Yay!, Toad Hall (many thanks for the extra effort) using the image somehow helped me find the right folder and, thus, file. I didn't know I was 'file-finding challenged' but a picture is worth.....

And I really appreciate your info, too, sfhowes. This forum has been wonderful.

Again thank you, so far so good.