TB 142.0 Very Slow IMAP Updating
I am having severe problems downloading and syncing my emails with TB 142.0. I opened TB this morning, for example, and it took more than 20 minutes for it to download my emails. When I go to the next email, it takes a couple of minutes to load it. I have had some issues with slow syncing before, but this is very bad. I note that the emails work fine on my phone. Also, this happens on my main Gmail hosted account, but also on my other Siteground hosted accounts. TB seems to be lost in some kind of loop when syncing.
All Replies (10)
I tried later in the day, and the issue is still there. It does seem to be coming from TB 142.0. As I noted, I have seen somewhat slower loading of emails for the last several versions. For example, I would delete an email. While the email did disappear from the list right away, and the previous email opened, I saw the lower right bar from the activity manager activated for a minute or so. I also noticed that, if I try to compact files while the lower right bar shows activity, the compact process takes much longer. Even with 142.0, the process does eventually work as it should.
Since I really cannot work with this, I restored to TB 141.0. It gave me a error that I was using an older version on my profile. Just to be safe, I restored the profile as it was on 8/20 before I made the upgrade to 142.0. After the restore, I am back to the performance I had before. I am sorry I could not provide more information as I am only a moderate skill when it comes to software, and I was not sure what else to look for or try.
Help. I started having the same issue with TB 141.0 today, even though it had been working fine. This time I am getting authentication errors with imap.google.com. Of course, it has been working fine. No changes were made since I turned of the computer last evening. I tried reinstalling TB 141.0. That made no difference.
This is disparate. Every time it tries to load a message it takes forever, apparently because of the authentication issues. This make TB usable.
I thought this might be a Bitdefender issue, since Bitdefender apparently made a major update this morning. However, I have listed the thunderbird.exe folder as an exception in Bitdefender -- and that does not seem to have helped. I did file a case with Bitdefender, and I am waiting for a response.
I have now confirmed that this is mostly a Bitdefender issue. Listing Thunderbird.exe as exceptions, suggested by the Bitdefender team, did not make any difference. Bitdefender does not have a way to pause all activity, like my old Kaspersky did. However, after turning on and off various settings, I found that changing the last setting under Online Threat Prevention to "Don't Scan Emails" seems to have corrected the issue. I still see a few slow responses from time to time, but that might be Google.
Having said that, it seems to me that the protocols used within Thunderbird to access IMAP email and various other activities seems to have changed in the later versions of TB, past around 128. I just seem to see a lot more activity, including authentications, when I do things as simple as delete one email and go to the next. Perhaps these actions by TB are necessary to insure proper syncing, but I just wonder if there might be less verbose methods that would be faster and perhaps also less prone to trigger reactions from things outside Thunderbird like AV.
I still have a case open with Bitdefender to address the slowing email issues.
Mark Lang said
I still have a case open with Bitdefender to address the slowing email issues.
Sorted out I hope?
Yes. I found that setting Bitdefender to not scan emails was an effective workaround. Shortly thereafter, Bitdefender stopped causing issues even when set to scan emails. I still seem to see a lot more interaction taking place to keep up with IMAP than I used to see on older versions of Thunderbird. It causes delays of a minute or so from time to time, but nothing like I was experiencing before with Bitdefender. I think Bitdefender was just slowing down all those different communications.
I am not using bitdefender but have this same problem - all email folder sync, compose, and send are super slow with my UW Google account.
My system is windows server 2025 and it is running Crowdstrike EDR on it. What logs should I look at?
Thunderbird is unusable
Application Basics
Name: Thunderbird Version: 145.0 Build ID: 20251112194829 Distribution ID:
Update Channel: release User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:145.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/145.0 OS: Windows_NT 10.0 26100 OS Theme:
Launcher Process: Enabled
Multiprocess Windows: 0/0
Fission Windows: 0/0
Enabled by default
Remote Processes: 1
Enterprise Policies: Inactive
Google Location Service Key: Missing
Google Safebrowsing Key: Missing
Mozilla Location Service Key: Missing
Safe Mode: false
Memory Size (RAM): 256 GB
Disk Space Available: 3,139 GB
Mail and News Accounts
account1:
INCOMING: account1, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.uw.edu:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account2:
INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
account4:
INCOMING: account4, , (imap) imap.fastmail.com:993, SSL, passwordCleartext
OUTGOING: , smtp.fastmail.com:587, alwaysSTARTTLS, passwordCleartext, true
account5:
INCOMING: account5, , (imap) outlook.office365.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.uw.edu:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account6:
INCOMING: account6, , (imap) outlook.office365.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.uw.edu:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account8:
INCOMING: account8, , (imap) outlook.office365.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.uw.edu:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account9:
INCOMING: account9, , (imap) outlook.office365.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.uw.edu:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
account10:
INCOMING: account10, , (imap) outlook.office365.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.uw.edu:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true
Libraries
Library
Status
Expected minimum version
Version in use
Path
RNP (OpenPGP)
OK
0.17.1
0.17.1.MZLA.145.0.botan
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\rnp.dll
OTR
Failed to load. OTR chat encryption will not work.
-
-
-
Calendar Settings
mbw@uw.edu
Name
Value
Name:
Type: gdata
Disabled: true
Username:
URI:
Refresh Interval: 30
Read-only: false
Suppress Alarms: true
Cache Enabled:
iMIP Identity: id1
iMIP Disabled:
iMIP Account:
Organizer Id:
Force Email Scheduling:
Popup Alarms Supported:
Alarms on Invitation Supported:
Max Alarms Per Event:
Attachment Supported:
Max Categories:
Privacy State Supported:
Priority Supported:
Event Supported:
Task Supported:
Local Time Supported:
UTC/GMT Supported:
Auto-Scheduling Supported:
matt.and.chiaki@gmail.com
Name
Value
Name:
Type: gdata
Disabled: true
Username:
URI:
Refresh Interval: 60
Read-only: false
Suppress Alarms: false
Cache Enabled:
iMIP Identity: id3
iMIP Disabled:
iMIP Account:
Organizer Id:
Force Email Scheduling:
Popup Alarms Supported:
Alarms on Invitation Supported:
Max Alarms Per Event:
Attachment Supported:
Max Categories:
Privacy State Supported:
Priority Supported:
Event Supported:
Task Supported:
Local Time Supported:
UTC/GMT Supported:
Auto-Scheduling Supported:
Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
Remote Processes
Type: Count
GPU: 1
Add-ons
Name
Type
Version
Enabled
Location
ID
Amazon.com extension 1.1 true app-builtin amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org
Bing
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
bing@search.mozilla.org
DuckDuckGo
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
ddg@search.mozilla.org
Google
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
google@search.mozilla.org
Wikipedia (en)
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
wikipedia@search.mozilla.org
System theme — auto
theme
1.4.2
true
app-builtin
default-theme@mozilla.org
Provider for Google Calendar
extension
128.5.7
false
app-profile
{a62ef8ec-5fdc-40c2-873c-223b8a6925cc}
Dark
theme
1.3.1
false
app-builtin
thunderbird-compact-dark@mozilla.org
Light
theme
1.3.1
false
app-builtin
thunderbird-compact-light@mozilla.org
Security Software
Type: Name
Antivirus:
Antispyware:
Firewall:
Legacy User Stylesheets
Active: false Stylesheets: No stylesheets found
As noted on the other thread -
slow performance occurs exclusively with my Gmail inbox - I have multiple mailboxs in "the bird" and my pobox email work as expected while gmail is very slow
In my case, Bitdefender was interfering when Thunderbird tried to authenticate to Google. Apparently, this authentication happens very frequently, much more often than I would have thought. Perhaps there is something else on your system that has the same effect? Other than that, I don't know enough to really provide any helpful advice.
I appreciate the information in this thread.
I have had a similar, and possibly related, issue. That is, my e-mail up and down from gmail has slowed to a crawl. There is a long history that I will relate, but the most recent symptoms are pertinent to this thread.
I am running Thunderbird 142-esr on Windows 11 with all updates current. How I came to be on esr is one of life's little mysteries, but here I am.
Downloads from gmail are much slower than they were a few months ago. I see in the crawler that TB is lookin up the server, connecting, logging onto gmail, checking capabilities, and possibly running through one or more of these processes several times before opening the inbox and downloading messages. Downloads, which used to be instantaneous, now may take seconds to minutes.
My workaround has been to reduce the number of messages downloaded (setting the time to 7 days). That helps.
Send speed, which used to be instantaneous is now laborious. As an example, I sent a test message to myself. I got several process messages, including "copying to sent mail folder" that used to be instantaneous. After 8 seconds, the mail was sent, and it came back in my inbox at 50 seconds, even though I was repeatedly trying to download messages manually.
This smells like a Google problem, and I am wondering if it is deliberate. If it is anything with TB, it can't be new, because I'm on esr and should not have received updates (unless this is a product of the conversion to esr that I never requested and can't determine when it occurred).
Below is a copy of the troubleshooting information. I cut it off before GRAPHICS as I ran out of space in this window. Any advice would be appreciated.
Application Basics
Name: Thunderbird Version: 140.7.1esr Build ID: 20260123195141 Distribution ID:
Update Channel: esr User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:140.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/140.7.1 OS: Windows_NT 10.0 26100 OS Theme:
Launcher Process: Enabled
Multiprocess Windows: 0/0
Fission Windows: 0/0
Enabled by default
Remote Processes: 3
Enterprise Policies: Inactive
Google Location Service Key: Missing
Google Safebrowsing Key: Missing
Mozilla Location Service Key: Missing
Safe Mode: false
Memory Size (RAM): 15.7 GB
Disk Space Available: 162 GB
Mail and News Accounts
account1:
INCOMING: account1, , (imap) imap.gmail.com:993, SSL, OAuth2
OUTGOING: , smtp.gmail.com:465, SSL, OAuth2, true
account2:
INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext
Libraries
Library
Status
Expected minimum version
Version in use
Path
RNP (OpenPGP)
OK
0.17.1
0.17.1.MZLA.140.7.1esr.botan
C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\rnp.dll
OTR
Failed to load. OTR chat encryption will not work.
-
-
-
Calendar Settings
Home
Name
Value
Name:
Type: storage
Disabled: false
Username:
URI:
Refresh Interval:
Read-only:
Suppress Alarms:
Cache Enabled:
iMIP Identity: id1
iMIP Disabled:
iMIP Account:
Organizer Id:
Force Email Scheduling:
Popup Alarms Supported:
Alarms on Invitation Supported:
Max Alarms Per Event:
Attachment Supported:
Max Categories:
Privacy State Supported:
Priority Supported: true
Event Supported:
Task Supported:
Local Time Supported:
UTC/GMT Supported:
Auto-Scheduling Supported:
c.vmbra@gmail.com
Name
Value
Name:
Type: caldav
Disabled:
Username:
URI:
Refresh Interval:
Read-only: false
Suppress Alarms:
Cache Enabled: true
iMIP Identity: id1
iMIP Disabled:
iMIP Account:
Organizer Id:
Force Email Scheduling:
Popup Alarms Supported:
Alarms on Invitation Supported:
Max Alarms Per Event:
Attachment Supported:
Max Categories:
Privacy State Supported:
Priority Supported:
Event Supported: true
Task Supported: false
Local Time Supported:
UTC/GMT Supported:
Auto-Scheduling Supported: true
Holidays in United States
Name
Value
Name:
Type: caldav
Disabled:
Username:
URI:
Refresh Interval:
Read-only: false
Suppress Alarms:
Cache Enabled: true
iMIP Identity: id1
iMIP Disabled:
iMIP Account:
Organizer Id:
Force Email Scheduling:
Popup Alarms Supported:
Alarms on Invitation Supported:
Max Alarms Per Event:
Attachment Supported:
Max Categories:
Privacy State Supported:
Priority Supported:
Event Supported: true
Task Supported: false
Local Time Supported:
UTC/GMT Supported:
Auto-Scheduling Supported: true
Crash Reports for the Last 3 Days
Remote Processes
Type: Count
GPU: 1
RDD: 1
Extension: 1
Add-ons
Name
Type
Version
Enabled
Location
ID
Amazon.com extension 1.1 true app-builtin amazondotcom@search.mozilla.org
Bing
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
bing@search.mozilla.org
DuckDuckGo
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
ddg@search.mozilla.org
Google
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
google@search.mozilla.org
Remove Duplicate Messages
extension
0.6.4
true
app-profile
{a300a000-5e21-4ee0-a115-9ec8f4eaa92b}
Wikipedia (en)
extension
1.0
true
app-builtin
wikipedia@search.mozilla.org
System theme — auto
theme
1.4.1
true
app-builtin
default-theme@mozilla.org
Dark
theme
1.3
false
app-builtin
thunderbird-compact-dark@mozilla.org
Light
theme
1.3
false
app-builtin
thunderbird-compact-light@mozilla.org
Security Software
Type: Name
Antivirus: Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Antispyware:
Firewall: Windows Firewall
Legacy User Stylesheets
Active: false Stylesheets: No stylesheets found
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