Thunderbird Community Forum

In account setup There is an error: "Incoming Server already exist"

Damn bloody right it already exists. Or do I need to specify servers that don't exist. Just make one up or so ?

Hi, I’m using Thunderbird with a Yahoo Mail account and I’m seeing two Draft folders in the left pane:

Drafts Draft

Their IMAP locations are different: imap://…/Drafts imap://…/Draft

Thunderbird only saves drafts into the Drafts folder (plural). The Draft folder stays empty, but it always shows up.

What I tried so far: • Account settings → Subscribe Unchecked “Draft” there, but it doesn’t save. After reopening Subscribe, it’s checked again and the folder is still visible. • Restarted Thunderbird multiple times. • Server Settings → disabled “Show only subscribed folders”. • Checked folder Properties, but there are no options to hide it or control visibility, so it looks hard locked by Yahoo.

Conclusion so far: Yahoo seems to force both system folders via IMAP and ignores unsubscribe, so Thunderbird can’t hide or remove “Draft”.

Is there any supported way in Thunderbird to permanently hide or ignore the extra Draft folder for Yahoo accounts, or is this a known Yahoo IMAP limitation?

Thanks

My email provider is terminating the existing email domain name, and replacing it with a new domain name. I want to retain all existing Thunderbird folders and emails for use with the new email. Example: username@q.com becomes username@myclk.com. (Yep, it's Centurylink.)

Can I change my existing Thunderbird account name and email and retain all existing folders and emails in the account? Some server settings would also be changed.

Or, do I need to set up a new account?

Thanks

I was using Thunderbird Portable 136.0.1, from Portableapps.com . I then upgraded it to Thunderbird 146.0.1, by following Portableapp's instruction of installing the Portableapp 146 version to the same path of the old installation.

I then I added an Office365 Business email account to Thunderbird, but there was a problem with the SMTP configuration. I tried to change it, but then I found out that there's something wrong with my Account Settings for all accounts; they don't save the changes.

Let me explain: if I right click an account and choose "Settings", a new tab opens [image 1]. Whatever changes I make there, to "Account Name", "Your name", "Color", etc. don't get saved; as soon as I switch to another account and come back they are gone.

This also applies for "Edit outgoing server..." at the bottom. It always reverts to "Default server" and then every time I want to send an email I must change the default SMTP settings to the right settings of that specific account.

The "Delete" button for deleting the account also doesn't work, if I click it nothing happens.

Interestingly, if I switch to "Server settings" or "Copies and folders" the changes there do get saved and are displayed correctly for the different accounts.

What can I do to solve this? I already tried Troubleshooting Mode to no avail. I am currently trying to install Thunderbird Portableapp to a different folder, how can I then import all local folders and accounts to this new install?

I just today returned to Thunderbird. I successfully inclued my 3 email accounts but two of them only have inbox and trash folders none of other folders such as drafts, spam ,deleted or trash etc. folders. My G-mail has all these folders. Do I need to delete the two accounts with the missing folders and reinstall or is there a setting I need to change. Regards Mike

Thunderbird issues Version 146.0.1 Jan 2026

This is a collection of issues observed in the setup of TB. These have persisted for over 6 months.

1. Subfolders in email folders are not correct. o Specifically, the Drafts, sent or Sent and Archives folders appear in the Local Folders Account and not in the account for the email. It seems that these Local Folder entries follow the email name that is set as the default.

2. I cannot delete these folders in the Local account. Creating new folders in the email accounts does not do anything. 3. I have uninstalled TB and re-installed it, but all the accounts come up the same way. 4. I have imported address books from past savings but they cannot be accessed as an address book. TB sees their names as non addresses. If I retype the names in these to a new address book, I can treat them as a group address as in the past.

It seems that the underlying data base indexing is mis-aligned. Is there a way to re-initialise the indexing to get these accounts in sync?

Peter DeVita Try email

peterd1@devita.com

I kept seeing a message saying my libero account had failed to connect to server even though messages were still coming in (and going out?) but then my sent Folder started having gaps and messages not recorded. I decided to delete the account before re-entering it. Now, when I try to renter the details the 'new' account fails to appear and there is an error message saying 'incoming server already exists. Perhaps I didn't cancel enough when I deleted - there were 2 options, I think, but how do I now delete this 'preexisting' server connection which is blocking me???

Hello! I want to set up TBird to: 1) Get all my messages and attachments stored locally, and... 2) Remove *most* of the above from gmail's server to avoid the data limit, but... 3) Keep, perhaps some months or a year of activity on gmail's server so I can access recent items from wherever.

Questions: 1) I have 10s of thousands (more?) of msgs, many with attachments. Is it better to just set up TBIrd and let it grab all the messages, or start by using Google TakeOut? 2) I presume I use IMAP vs. POP? 3) To preserve messages on my harddrive, I could archive to a local folder. Then I could safely delete those same messages on the gmail web interface? 4) If this turns into a disaster, can I just remove the entire account from TBird without suffering a loss of my entire email history? 5) Any insurance maneuvers to prevent the disaster of accidentally losing my entire email history while attempting to set this up? (Obviously will need to be religious about backing up my own system, though keeping a year of email on the gmail server offers a bit of insurance once the set up is successful.)

I am really hoping to avoid creating a unholy mess of my email/spending a week trying to fix it. (Indeed, I have avoided this project for years for this reason, but I really, really want to do this.)

Bei der Einrchtung des Gmail-Kontos wird mir der Anmeldeprozess immer mit dem Fehler 400 abgebrochen. Cookies habe ich erlaubt; VPN wurde deaktiviert. Auch die Anmeldung meines Outlook-Kontos wird abgebrochen. Was mache ich falsch?

I've had to make some email and computer changes recently:

1. First, Spectrum was making noises about shutting down my old @nycap.rr.com email account and making me use a newer @charter.net account I'd never used, BUT, it's they were able to sync everything up on their end so that I can use either email account through the Spectrum.net webpage, the old @nycap.rr.com (which I have continued to use) but with a new password, or @charter.net with a password specific to that account. On my old machine, I was still able to access the @nycap.rr.com address through Tunderbird using my new password, so now I want to continue using Thunderbird, just on my new computer instead of my old one.

2. Shortly after resolving the email issue with Spectrum, I got a new computer running LinuxMint 22 instead of the old computer that ran LinuxMint 18. When I tried opening Thunderbird on the new machine, it initially said it found my old @nycap.rr.com address with my recently changed password in Mozilla, but then couldn't link up with it at Spectrum, using either mail.twc.com (which Spectrum tells me is the correct server for my @nycap.rr.com address) or mobile.charter.net. Thunderbird did accept the new @charter.net email with the server mobile.charter.net, but that is NOT the e-mail address I want to use, not least because I have thousands of emails saved in my local files under my old email address.

3. Talking with a Spectrum tech support rep today, I changed the passwords for both of my email accounts with them, but Thunderbird would only accept the @charter.net address and its new password, and couldn't recognize the old @nycap.rr.com and its new password.

How can I set up Thunderbird to use my old @nycap.rr.com address on my new computer? Thunderbird won't even allow me to try to set up using the old address because now it seems to only recognize the @charter.net address I was able to log in with. And setting up a new account with my old @nycap.rr.com address doesn't sound right to me. Do I have to go into the old machine and try to log in with the @nycap.rr.com address there and then do something? I'm at a loss.

I am trying to have all my comcast emails and folders and sub-folders added to Thunderbird as a new user. At first I used POP3 and every email loaded except nothing was sorted by folders so it's a useless mess. Then I tried to add the same email account using IMAP and at first it said permission was denied even though my comcast settings explicitly allows third parties like Thunderbird. And then when I tried multiple times to IMAP again I got an error that comcast.net was not a host name. So what steps should I do now to get all the emails and folders over on Thunderbird? Many thanks.

Trying to set up multiple email accounts. The first one worked.

I got configuration errors and I disabled the server hub per a community suggestion. When I try to add a second account (IMAP) now, it says that the server is in the database. When I hit 'done' however, I get this error: "Unable to log in at server. Probably wrong configuration, username, or password." This is happening for multiple accounts - always the same message. I can manually log into these accounts with a browser using the exact same info. Yes, I have checked the server info. It matches.

This is taking place on my desk top. My phone still has all my email accounts. Not sure if all my contacts are in my phone but way more than my desk top. Should mention new computer in Oct.24 with change from windows 10 to windows 11. Two thing, one, my other email accounts are no longer listed in thunderbird. Still have my main email with it's folders. I did the sinking thing with the phone still missing. Two, My contacts are mostly missing. Had Friends list, Business list, Family list and so on, all gone.

Every 10 minutes I get an "authentication required" popup from a deleted icloud email account. I've looked, and there are no cookies or data or anything in the profiles folders referring to this dead account.

How do I make it go away?

I can't access my talk talk account on my desktop anymore. Talk talk say my password has been changed correctly and that if I go in via their website I can access my email - which I can. The man on the helpdesk (actual person) said this is because it is 'controlled' by Thunderbird and he thinks I should close the account via Thunderbird and open up a new one. I am loath to do this in case I lose all my old emails. I am a 69 year old techno phobe so an easy to follow reply would be much appreciated.

I have a working Thunderbird email account on a windows 10 computer. I recently bought a new windows 11 computer and downloaded Thunderbird from the Thunderbird site. I installed it on the new computer and tried setting up my email. It fails in auto and manual setup. Since I have a working account on the windows 10 computer, I should be able to look at the settings and transfer them to the new computer. I am 76 years old and have a difficult time with today's technology. If someone can assist me, I would be grateful and co-operate fully. Thank you.

                                                                                                             Stephen

I've uninstalled and loaded thunderbird 115.18.0 twice and both times missing some of the settings in the server. Incoming server & copies and folders most notably....do I need an older version for windows 7 64 bit?

I had set it up for imap but your installer said it found the correct configuration. I'm on ATT server. I don't think so or the server settings wouldn't be missing. The outgoing was there but not the rest. HELP my email is [edited from public forum] @att.net

I have TB 145.0 on a Mac.

When my trash gets pretty full, I empty the trash then restart TB just to have a fresh start. Been doing this for years. Well, I did it just now and when TB restarted I got a warning that said Thunderbird is an app I downloaded from the internet, do I trust it? First time that has happened.d I clicked on the button that said to go ahead and open it.

When TB opened, it wasn't aware of any of my email accounts. It's almost like I was opening it for the first time – except for 187 random old emails in an inbox.

Is there a way to recover from this? I had a lot of emails stored in inboxes and outboxes that would be disastrous for me to lose. They aren't there right now.

Please Please Please advise how to modify settings to stop copying emails to "All Mail" folder. There are nearly 14K emails in that folder, and it's killing my capacity, I'm getting warnings, etc. Yes, I'm using Gmail.

Yes, I have unsubcribed from it, starting from my account name → Subscribe → unchecked [Gmail] All Mail. To no avail...

Of course, I do not want to delete mails I have saved in my hundreds of other folders. My mail goes back 25+ years, and I want to keep those archives.

Thank you Thank you Thank you!