Compacting folders progress bar
Currently using TB 153.0, Win 11 on desktop PC.
In past versions there was a progress bar on right end of the status line, along bottom edge of the screen, that showed progress while TB was compacting folders. That bar hasn't been visible in last few updates.
When prompted today, I allowed TB to start compacting. I'd permanently deleted a really big bunch of old emails in last few days, so probably a lot of space that could be recovered. I kept waiting and waiting and waiting, but without the progress I had no idea if TB was busy or possibly frozen. So I just left it alone. When I came back and tried to manually start compacting, it immediately said "Done, 0K saved". So it had obviously done the compacting.
If it's an option, how do I enable that progress bar? If not currently available, please consider restoring it in future TB updates. I -for one- think it's a very useful feature.
THX!
All Replies (8)
As I understand it, the progress bar now only shows for activities of significant length . But the activity of each individual "Compacting folder xxxx" is very short, so no progress bar.
Wayne Mery द्वारा सम्पादित
What decides "long" vs "short"? It took at least 5 min, if not longer, to compact all folders in my 4 separate email accounts, especially after I deleted so many old messages. So how's a user supposed to know it's working vs frozen?
As I said, I think the compacting progress bar should be there...
I don't have more detail for you than what I have described about how it now works.
Compact hasn't changed for about a year now, and is not expected to change. So the typical total length of time should not change. And you can go about your business while compact is in progress.
Are you worried because you've had it freeze in recent months?
Thanks for helping...
Yes, TB has frozen several times in recent days. Just had 153.0.1 freeze today, 8-1-26. Previous time was with 153.0.0.7 on 7-28-26.
The PC does not freeze. I can open any other apps, eg Firefox, Task Manager, Office, etc, but TB is rock solid frozen. Ending all TB processes in Task Manager doesn't help. The only way to fix TB is to close all other open apps and do Win 11 Restart. Haven't had similar problems with any other software installed on this desktop PC.
Latest Event Viewer says: Log Name: Application Source: Application Hang Date: 8/1/2026 5:31:29 PM Event ID: 1002 Task Category: Hanging Events Level: Error Keywords: User: SYSTEM Computer: DESKTOP Description: The program thunderbird.exe version 153.0.1.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed. To see if more information about the problem is available, check the problem history in the Security and Maintenance control panel.
Event Xml: <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="Application Hang" Guid="{c631c3dc-c676-59e4-2db3-5c0af00f9675}" />
<EventID>1002</EventID>
<Version>0</Version>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>101</Task>
<Opcode>0</Opcode>
<Keywords>0x8000000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2026-08-02T00:31:29.8111022Z" />
<EventRecordID>34049</EventRecordID>
<Correlation />
<Execution ProcessID="13032" ThreadID="18776" />
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>DESKTOP</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-18" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data Name="AppName">thunderbird.exe</Data>
<Data Name="AppVersion">153.0.1.0</Data>
<Data Name="ProcessId">0x3038</Data>
<Data Name="StartTime">0x1dd2215ec7dd12d</Data>
<Data Name="TerminationTime">60000</Data>
<Data Name="ExeFileName">C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe</Data>
<Data Name="ReportId">18e657d6-7246-429e-8d89-bb9f6ba555e8</Data>
<Data Name="PackageFullName">
</Data>
<Data Name="PackageRelativeAppId">
</Data>
<Data Name=HangType>Unknown</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>
The previous time had same Event ID 1002 and same HangType>Unknown. I been using TB for years and don't remember having freezes like this previously, regardless of version installed...
rohe1318 द्वारा सम्पादित
It may be worth noting you've had problems in the past:
The Compacting progress bar is important to me. First, I searched but did not find an answer: Is it potentially harmful to close the program or force laptop shutdown while compacting?
If so, my multiple accounts and thousands of emails takes minutes to compact, and I do not know when it is safe to close or shutdown to get on the plane. The progress bar, or lingering messages, or click-to-close popups would be hugely helpful. Else I have no indication it is working or done. Even the "done" message only flashes up for a blink of time and easy to miss.
Please restore the progress bar or an equivalent message system that informs status to the user. Thanks!
[EDIT] I have requested before, that a Compact Now button for all accounts (not just one) would relieve a lot of the fumbling with prompted compacting, when I know there is time. Please also consider adding that.
psig द्वारा सम्पादित
psig said
The Compacting progress bar is important to me. First, I searched but did not find an answer: Is it potentially harmful to close the program or force laptop shutdown while compacting?
No.
However, for a multitude of reasons, you should be backing up your data on a regular basis.
psig said
If so, my multiple accounts and thousands of emails takes minutes to compact, and I do not know when it is safe to close or shutdown to get on the plane. The progress bar, or lingering messages, or click-to-close popups would be hugely helpful. Else I have no indication it is working or done. Even the "done" message only flashes up for a blink of time and easy to miss.
How big is your Thunderbird profile folder? What is the compact threshold value in your Settings?
If you are hitting long compact at inconvenient times, then maybe disable automatic compact?
psig said
Please restore the progress bar or an equivalent message system that informs status to the user. Thanks!
I think this is unlikely to be brought back in the previous form.
I waited for the latest version to see changes. There were some:
Wayne Mery said
How big is your Thunderbird profile folder?
9 email accounts and some limited RSS feeds at approximately 10 GB total, so it takes some time to compact, and it won't do anything else while it does. I hope you see the problem here, that I can't do TB work, don't know the progress, nor do I know when it is complete so I can get back to work.
Wayne Mery said
What is the compact threshold value in your Settings?
Currently 2MB, but have tried various thresholds. I use low values in order to have it prompt me opportunities more often, as I am at the mercy of when it decides to prompt. The Compact prompt at these settings would still wait for 30 to 60 MB before prompting. Some accounts receive large volumes of SPAM, which may be adding to the Compact time. However, the latest version has reduced to perhaps 12 to 20MB before prompting. It is getting better! My personal preference would be to compact all accounts on-demand when I'm done working for the day. Just give me a menu option.
Wayne Mery said
If you are hitting long compact at inconvenient times, then maybe disable automatic compact?Thank you, and I do this as default, so I can plan better when I can stop working in TB.
Oddly enough in the last version, TB auto-checked the automatic setting in the popup, and again yesterday actually enabled automatic, which I had to go into settings to change back to manual. This is not only frustrating, it is disturbing that selections and options are being forced.
psig said
Please restore the progress bar or an equivalent message system that informs status to the user. Thanks!Fortunately, I do not want the previous form. I just want information. I need to know when I can compact all, where it is in the process or how long until it will allow me to continue work, and some kind of alert when it is finished so I can do other things while waiting. Are these requests unreasonable?Wayne Mery said
I think this is unlikely to be brought back in the previous form.
Additionally, the old request of a manual Compact All Accounts on-demand option (similar to the current Compact for single accounts) would be extremely helpful, rather than waiting for TB to offer Compact All when it feels like it.
Thank you for looking into this! David
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