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Deleted messages reappear in Thunderbird Inbox

Thunderbird Send and receive email
Lin replied
cminarik
cminarik

I've been a Thunderbird user for years without problem. However, since May 22, three specific messages continually reappear after deleting them from my Inbox.

I keep my Inbox empty and it stays that way, except for these 3 messages. Removing them from the Trash folder has not solved the problem.

My email provider is netaddress.com via POP3 account. I signed on to look at my inbox on their site via a browser, and the messages aren't there.

I have tried repairing and compacting the inbox, but the messages continue t reappear.

Do you have any other suggestions?

TIA.

ChuckM

I've been a Thunderbird user for years without problem. However, since May 22, three specific messages continually reappear after deleting them from my Inbox. I keep my Inbox empty and it stays that way, except for these 3 messages. Removing them from the Trash folder has not solved the problem. My email provider is netaddress.com via POP3 account. I signed on to look at my inbox on their site via a browser, and the messages aren't there. I have tried repairing and compacting the inbox, but the messages continue t reappear. Do you have any other suggestions? TIA. ChuckM

All Replies (3)

Lin
Lin
  • Top 10 Contributor

Sounds like you've checked out the obvious solutions. If you have deleted every trace of the message from Inbox and Trash, and they're not visible in the web mail interface, it must be a "phantom" message. Usually that's due to a corrupt folder index, and repairing the folder should fix it by rebuilding the index. But you can go one step further by physically deleting the index, which will automatically regenerated.

To find it (I'm assuming Windows):

- go to <Account Settings | (the account in question) | Server Settings | Local Directory>. Make a note of that location, or copy it to the clipboard. Use your system file browser to go to that location.

- EXIT THUNDERBIRD!

- You will see pairs of files, each representing one of your folders. The ones with a .MSF extension are index files, and can safely be deleted because they will be automatically recreated on demand. Delete INBOX.MSF (and it wouldn't hurt to delete TRASH.MSF as well.)

- Now, restart Thunderbird, and hopefully the phantom messages will be gone.

cminarik
cminarik Úinéir na ceiste

Lin, I tried your suggestion but it didn't work.

Thanks,

ChuckM

Lin
Lin
  • Top 10 Contributor

OK, as long as you're sure that your inbox is SUPPOSED to be empty and there's nothing in it you want to save, the next most brute-force thing to delete the local folder file. It will be recreated when you next fetch email. Also we will delete the popstate.dat file, which keeps track of what messages you have elected to keep on the server (if you have that option enabled) so they don't get downloaded again. By the way, this is a fragile method of managing a POP3 mailbox, which is one reason IMAP is preferred these days. You can accomplish the same effect and it's more bulletproof.

Go to the same location as in my post above. Exit Thunderbird. This time, delete the following files:

Inbox Inbox.msf popstate.dat

Restart Thunderbird, and hopefully the phantom messages will be gone. Next time you fetch email the three files you deleted will be regenerated.

You might need to reset your POP3 Server Settings to your preference (see <Account Settings | (the account in question) | Sever Settings | "Leave messages on server"> .

Cuir ceist

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