Also, if I have to recreate all my filters, I hope there is a way to print out at least the list of the filters, and better print out the body of each filter.

I thought I might copy the list of all of my filters to a separate file (not the entire filter, just the name) so that I could recreate each filter. Not possible because Thunderbird won't let me copy the list, and, of course, Thunderbird won't let me copy the fiters either. So, I may have to write down every filter name, open the filter, write down the information, then erase ALL my filters and start all over again. Ugh.

It might help if you showed a screenshot of one of the misbehaving filters, suitably obscured if it contains email addresses.

Here is the screen shot. I don't consider this to be particularly exotic. I have another filter for my wife. If the email has her address in "to, from, or bcc," it is supposed to go to a folder with her name on it. Instead, it sometimes goes to ebills. (the filter I have uploaded). As these filters have worked for several years - until they didn't, I don't really think the screenshot will be much help. But here it is.

I can't upload a shot of the filter that keeps on filtering even though I deleted it - for obvious reasons.

That filter matches any. You complains of spam and advertising. exactly how does the mail causing trouble not match one of those names in the from. I would assume ALL mail from you electricity supplier would have their name in the from for example. BE it advertising or not. even if it was only in the domain part of the email address. For example I would expect all mail from bellsouth to have bellsouth somewhere either in the email address/Domain or the display name that forms part of the From.

Have yo opened the message source of one of these "wrong" emails to confirm that one of the words from your filter to not appear in the From: message header? IT is often not exactly as it appears in Thunderbird as Thunderbird uses the display name from your address book to display the from information in lists and emails.

Huh? What does "that filter matches any" mean? in English?

I never said anything about either "spam." I'm not sure why you think I did. As for ads, I am only interested in how they go to her box.

I am sure that when my wife sends me an email, she doesn't use the words "duke-energy.com," "Bellsouth," "Synchrony," or "Chase" in the address.

As for mail from "duke-energy.com," I don't mind if it ends up in the ebills folder, but I don't understand how it gets into my wife's folder, which has only her nicknames (as in nickname@bellsouth.net) in the filter, since she isn't getting the mail. I also don't understand how my wife's mail ends up in the ebills box when she sends me a photo, for example.

I really don't care how it happens, but I would like to fix the problem without having to completely remove Thunderbird and lose all my old email (which is located in the profile), and then begin all over with recreating every single filter.

I just checked an email she sent me today. The ONLY address is hers. I clicked on her address in the message and then went to "edit contact." No surprises there - hers is the only name anywhere in the details.

Wow what is list.

1. Removing Thunderbird and reinstalling it will not fix your problem, nor will it change any Thunderbird settings or change any mail.

2. that filter matches any of the words in any email address. SO mail from me that uses any of those words in the email address will be subject to your filter.

3. what you are testing is the From: header field. this is what a reply from this forum looks like. Mozilla Support Forum <no-reply@support.mozilla.org> is if one of the words was no or reply in a filter it would match, even though Thunderbird does not display either of those words.

4. I was not saying to check the email address in the address book. I was saying it was used to display who the email is from. If I had <no-reply@support.mozilla.org> in my address book as Idiot Thunderbird forum, that is what would be displayed in Thunderbird not what was in the email.

5. You refer to your wife's email address as a nick. It is either an email address that receives email or it is not. nicks are things folk in chat rooms use. IF it is an email address it should be set up as an account in Thunderbird and mail should go there, no filters necessary.

6. Filters are executed in order, so if an early filter matches a mail and moves it it is no longer available for other filter to work on it.

7. Most filter issues I have seen recently have been folks that set up the filters on the server, forgot about it and then could not find the corresponding filter in Thunderbird or felt it was still running after they deleted it.

Wow what is list. 1. Removing Thunderbird and reinstalling it will not fix your problem, nor will it change any Thunderbird settings or change any mail. Of course not. I am aware that the settings are kept in a profile. I have had more than one occasion to wipe out Windows entirely so that I then had to reload Thunderbird and get it to use the saved profile instead of a new one. 2. that filter matches any of the words in any email address. SO mail from me that uses any of those words in the email address will be subject to your filter. Of course. That is why my filter for mail from bellsouth.net says only "bellsouth." HOWEVER, YOU MAY HAVE HIT ON SOMETHING. My wife's address is wife@bellsouth.net, so her mail contains "bellsouth" AFTER THE @, and I had been thinking only about BEFORE the @. 3. I'll remove the "bellsouth" part of my filter- that should help. what you are testing is the From: header field. this is what a reply from this forum looks like. Mozilla Support Forum <no-reply@support.mozilla.org> is if one of the words was no or reply in a filter it would match, even though Thunderbird does not display either of those words. As in #2, this is true. 4. I was not saying to check the email address in the address book. I was saying it was used to display who the email is from. If I had <no-reply@support.mozilla.org> in my address book as Idiot Thunderbird forum, that is what would be displayed in Thunderbird not what was in the email. Also true 5. You refer to your wife's email address as a nick. It is either an email address that receives email or it is not. nicks are things folk in chat rooms use. IF it is an email address it should be set up as an account in Thunderbird and mail should go there, no filters necessary. I did not say her address was a nickname, nor did I use the word "nick." Let's say for the sake of argument her name is Joanne Jones, and her address is Jojo@xyz.net. I call "jojo" a nickname without regard to some sort of internet practice. The word "nickname" can be found in dictionaries printed before the internet existed. 6. Filters are executed in order, so if an early filter matches a mail and moves it it is no longer available for other filter to work on it. True 7. Most filter issues I have seen recently have been folks that set up the filters on the server, forgot about it and then could not find the corresponding filter in Thunderbird or felt it was still running after they deleted it. These filters were set up years ago, with the possible exception of the ebills filter, which might be more recent, and the source of some of my concern. Only in the past few months have I "set up filters on the server," or at least I understand that is what I am doing with my Gmail account.

Modified June 19, 2018 at 10:21:56 PM PDT by Matt

Thanks for your help - it has probably helped me identify the problem.

Matt, This is the other problem - and the reason for going to Gmail. I think I got so tangled up with Gmail that I never followed up on our last two posts. Then I was on vacation and forgot. Now I have to study the problem and your responses and finally try to reset my passwords.