Windows 10 will reach EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. For more information, see this article.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Synchronization and opening of new messages is very slow on Gmail.

more options

For a few days now, synchronization and opening new messages from a Gmail account configured in Thunderbird have been very slow. I use Thunderbird 140.x, which is regularly updated, and the mailbox has been configured for at least 5 years. Only in the last week has the problem emerged, rendering it unusable. Timeout errors and opening a new message after 2-3 minutes. I've cleared the cache, the database, and re-indexed, but nothing has changed. I've deleted and reconfigured my Gmail account, but nothing has changed. My Gmail mailbox is about 45 GB (I've seen much larger ones without losing performance). I tried installing Thunderbird on a new, clean PC, but the same thing. Extremely slow. Google support hasn't found any issues. Do you have any other suggestions for getting Thunderbird back up and running? Thanks.

For a few days now, synchronization and opening new messages from a Gmail account configured in Thunderbird have been very slow. I use Thunderbird 140.x, which is regularly updated, and the mailbox has been configured for at least 5 years. Only in the last week has the problem emerged, rendering it unusable. Timeout errors and opening a new message after 2-3 minutes. I've cleared the cache, the database, and re-indexed, but nothing has changed. I've deleted and reconfigured my Gmail account, but nothing has changed. My Gmail mailbox is about 45 GB (I've seen much larger ones without losing performance). I tried installing Thunderbird on a new, clean PC, but the same thing. Extremely slow. Google support hasn't found any issues. Do you have any other suggestions for getting Thunderbird back up and running? Thanks.

All Replies (4)

more options

Disable Antivirus if you have one ( for testing purposes ) to see .

Helpful?

more options

I tried disabling both antivirus (default Microsoft) and firewall (Microsoft) and nothing changed.

Helpful?

more options

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Memory_Usage_Problems walks through potential performance factors.

Helpful?

more options

While I'm following the instructions, I should point out that the slow performance occurs exclusively with my Gmail inbox. I have other (non-Gmail) mailboxes in Thunderbird that work properly, with "normal" performance. For example: when Thunderbird starts, messages from all mailboxes are downloaded in a few moments, while my Gmail inbox takes over an hour to sync and 5-10 minutes to preview a new message.

Helpful?

Yi tambaya

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.