Thunderbird Community Forum

I am now getting a spinning wheel with annoying frequency while using/trying to use Thunderbird on my MacBook Air 2017 running Monterey. Everything was fine for the first 6-9 months, but over recent months the spinning wheel has appeared more and more frequently while I'm trying to read mail, answer mail, scroll through messages, etc., etc. Now it comes up every few minutes and delays me doing anything for about 15-30 seconds at a time. It's really frustrating. I recently ran Onyx, which was designed to clear cache, etc and make everything run smoothly. But the only program it required me to quit before it started was Thunderbird. Is there some cache or something I need to clear on a (semi-) regular basis to keep it working at a reasonable speed without this godforsaken spinning wheel interrupting everything? Thanks for any/all your help.

TB 137.0.1 (64-bit) Edition Windows 11 Pro Version 24H2 OS build 26100.3775 Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.66.0

Was repeatedly encountering "Cannot read summary file" when opening TB. Some research indicated this issue goes back many years and can be intermittent. After much "repair folder" the issues seems to have abated. However, as part of my research I explored the user-local filesystem tree for TB for one of the larger email accounts I monitor, as in

C:\Users\user_name\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<8_chars_profile_id>.default\ImapMail\<mail_server_name>\email_top_level_folder_names_as_NTFS_directory_names.

From this I discovered that with a Message Store Type of File-per-folder, TB constructs a filesystem directory tree that replicates the email folder tree, including the naming, presented by the IMAP email server. Not an unreasonable design choice but one with a potential flaw. Given that a Windows user_name can be 20 characters, an FQDN hostname can be 253 characters, and the max IMAP folder name length can be uncertain but apparently good practice is no more than 250 characters,...

• What happens when TB goes to create a deep-in-tree directory having a pathname that exceeds the Windows maximum of 260 bytes?

• Suppose this deep-in-tree directory is not originated from the TB UI but rather from a TB update scan of an IMAP server?

The user could have created IMAP folders via a Web interface with longish names in a 3 or 4 deep hierarchy not understanding the total pathname length limit in how TB echos the IMAP folder tree with a directory tree. The user then points TB at this email account and oops. Does TB fall over?

The default leading part of the TB AppData pathname above could be 93 characters alone before we get to the email server FQDN. Windows 11 Pro does offer a Group Policy setting to enable long pathnames up to 32k for manifested apps but this policy is not configured OOB.

Regards.

To whom it may concern,

My manager is having issues with the drag-and-drop feature in her Thunderbird account. One of her most favoured features is being able to drag emails from the inbox section of her email account into a designated folder. However this feature seems to have been disabled or is unresponsive for her.

Additionally she is getting a notification which says "Not enough disk space' We have a team of administrators who assist with inbox management and clearing of spam and junk however due to the busy nature of her work she receives hundreds of emails on a daily basis. How would she go about increasing her disk space? And are these two issues related?

Look forward to your response and assistance. Kind regards Ines

I do see how easily it is to move an email that shows on my inbox list; right click and then choose move. Once I open the email though I can't find a similar process to move the email to another folder. Is there a way? What I currently do is to close the email window and then right click on the email as is shown on my inbox list.

I have Thunderbird installed on windows 11 and have the import export NG tools add-on. I have an mobx file locally that I am trying to import to thunderbird. I created a local folder and started the import but almost immediately I get this error: "TypeError: window.ietngAddon.mboxCopyImport is not a function", and the only thing that gets imported is the name of the mbox file, as a subfolder

With the default settings, it is impossible to open a window without the email tab open. How do I enable this to show just the calendar in its own window. In my workflow, I like to have one window open for my email and a separate window that I keep open with just the calendar. The tab bar is always open when the calendar is open and it's a waste of usable space. Is there a setting to fix this?

Can the nesting of emails be turned off? I constantly have to search my emails to find a specific one. This was so easy before the nesting was implemented. Now everything is hidden. It's getting to be as bad as gmail.

Aloha, I have been using Thunderbird since decades. Since a few weeks (or even months) by now, it is hanging all the time. Meanwhile it is totally impossible to use it properly. Whenever I klick on something it hangs itself up and I have to wait at least a minute until I can click something else and then it hangs again.

I already tried reinstalling, but that didnt change anything. Of course I also rebooted the computer.

Why is that so and what can be done?

Mahalo, Stefanie

Would someone please make a tool that will diagnose and fix the continuing problem of local folders showing as empty when the profile mail folder shows many message files inside? I've wasted far too many hours following all the suggestions from Mozilla help and Google searches all to no avail. Also, the Add-On ImportExportTools NG does not help or even seem to be working at all. TB 128.9.1 esr

I have three email accounts on my computer, one IMAP and two POP. I need to move these accounts to a new Windows 11 computer. I want all of the accounts on the new computer to be IMAP. So I have two POP accounts containing messages that I need to move to IMAP accounts on my new computer.

When I open the profile folder on my current computer it has a MAIL folder and a ImapMail folder. The MAIL folder contains a Local Folder and a pop.1and1.com folder. Each of these subfolders contains the Inbox, Sent, Trash etc. folders that contain the email messages to be moved to the new computer.

I see lots of information on moving the profile but that doesn't address the POP to IMAP conversion issue or the fact there are three different accounts involved.

I have been using Thunderbird since about 2004 or 2005. It used to be somewhat instinctive to use in comparison to the current version. That's about 20 years ago. It now seems to have a minuscule amount of instinctual usability. My question / statement is where is the Tutorial. Like many products including Microsoft, make what they think are brilliant "improvements," and what they primarily do is cause confusion, frustration, greater difficulty in using the product and for many a wish they fervently pray for: "I I want my old thingamajg back."

I hadn't used Thunderbird since February of 2024 - LAST YEAR. Currently it is unrecognizable from then. I had  been hospitalized with 3 stents, a pacemaker and heart valve, I'm back functioning and love life. However - It would have been simple to make a dozen short tutorials on enough things to easily do the basics. Pleading for donations and not making it simpler to use the product doesn't attract new users & make current users happier. I would be grateful if anyone can point me to some simple tutorial. In my opinion what Thunderbird offers is too cryptic for me to process, I hope my post is noticed by a "Solver" Don't misunderstand me. I liked using Thunderbird for these many years because it was incredibly flexible, usable, and partially simple & instinctive. Today few people have the will or time to spend hours poring through help sheets that are a challenge and confusing to use.

Would appreciate your help.

I am having an issue with the Quick Filter box on two of my computers - it doesn't work the way it used to. Previously, when in a specific folder, I would just type in a partial name or subject that I was looking for and it would bring up all the emails that fit that. "Tom" would bring up all the emails that included 'Tom' as a sender.

Recently, that doesn't work. I'm not sure if it is a new way of doing things or if my program is corrupted.

I no longer am able to send a picture from my iPhone 14 to my email. I have talked with Spectrum, and all is well on their part, as I can access my email from their website, just not directly. Is there a Thunderbird setting I need to change or update?

Witajcie,

Proszę o pomoc z wyszukiwarką w programie Thunderbird 128.9.2esr (64 bity). Do tej pory wyszukiwarka działała poprawnie. Teraz gdy próbuje wyszukać jakieś hasło to wyszukiwarka pokazuje mi wyniki tylko od października 2024 do marca 2005 roku a wiadomości w folderach mam od 2020 roku. W ustawieniach pole Indeksowanie wiadomości i wyszukiwanie mam zaznaczone. Próbowałem odznaczyć i uruchomić program ponownie. Uruchamiałem też Thunderbird w trybie rozwiązywania problemów. Żadne z tych działań nie rozwiązało problemu. Jak wejdę w foldery na koncie to normalnie widzę wszystkie wiadomości od 2020 roku ale wyszukiwarka nie wyszukuje w wiadomościach przed 2024 rokiem. Co dokładnie powinienem zrobić aby to naprawić? Dziękuję za pomoc Pozdrawiam Marcin