Thunderbird Community Forum

On Saturday morning 27 June 2026 I tried to login my Orcon email account via Thunderbird (which I have been using for a long time). But my login didn't work, I got a message saying "login to POP3.orcon.net.nz with username habitation failed." On 30th June 2026 I reported the problem to Orcon.

Orcon gave me the following settings for Thunderbird. I have done that and even made a new account: Incoming Server Type: IMAP Mail Server: imap.orcon.net.nz Port: 143 SSL: Off Authentication: On (username and password required)

Outgoing SMTP Server: Mail Server: smtp.orcon.net.nz Port: 25 SSL: Off Authentication: Off

Since then I have spent many hours and going around in circles with Orcon's Technical Support to resolve this, but no luck. They blame Thunderbird. I used Thunderbird Troubleshoot Mode. The message that comes up reads: login to server mail orcon.net.nz with username habitation failed. Please can you check that your server settings above are correct? And if there is a bug? Irma

My wife has a computer that hasn't been used for about 7 years and it contains a lot of emails that she would like to have on her newer computer.

The older computer has an older version of Thunderbird which doesn't allow the Importexport ng extension to be added.

Although I've copied her old profile, I can't see how to extract the emails from it into the newer version of Thunderbird on the newer computer. Is it possible and if so, how please.

Thanks.

I have a Trash Bin which had Subfolders under it.. Not thinking I emptied the Trash Bin and the SUBFOLDERS DELETED as well. Is there any way I can RECOVER THE SUBFOLDERS and Emails in them. I am 74 years of age and not very Computer or Email savvy so please keep it simple. Thanks Joe

As explained in the subject line - title, I do NOT need nor use the Today Pane.

It use taking up needed space for the down arrow & popping up distracting me.

How do I eliminate it? I will even, if necessary edit Thunderbird to get rid of it.

'AND bold text' somehow, a new version of Thunderbird was created - downloaded and all my passwords AND bookmarks are gone. I looked for the profile, but it's new so does not contain passwords NOR bookmarks.

THANKS! Remain WELL & be SAFE!

Robin

Hello,

I *can* resize the folder pane in the first/main folder tab, but, I *can not* resize the folder pane in subsequent folder tabs I create using "open in new tab". 

This occurs using any layout (Classic, wide, vertical view). In the first tab I get the double-headed arrow to resize the folder pane, but in subsequent folder tabs I don't get it.

When I open a  folder in a new tab, the folder pane is the same width as the parent tab, but, I can't adjust it.

I'm using Thunderbird 152.0.1, but, this has been going on for a long time from what I can remember.

I've tried a number of suggested things to fix this: - Deleted xulstore.json - Cleared Startup Cache. - restarted in Troubleshoot mode (and I get the same issue there). - Switched layout views - Toggled folder modes - Adjusted interface density. - Toggled hardware acceleration. - Deleted the UI Cache Folder (shader-cache)

Nothing worked.

Please help me with this!

Thank you, Jim

Yahoo spam folder deleted by mistake. TB version 152.0.1. How to move spam folder out of trash?

I have tried everything that I can think and everything I can find that others have tried (except the FolderFlags add-on that is not compatible with TB version 152).

Any ideas?

Thunderbird causes my machine to 'hang' from time to time,

1. often for up to a second and usually a number of times in quick succession on each ocasion. Sometimes this happens frequently - say every 5 or 10 minutes - sometimes only after an hour or more since the past occurrance.

2. My machine hangs completely - nothing will work, mouse, keyboard, sound, other apps etc. If I happen to be typing (into any app - including Thunderbird - when this happens, input ceases, the cursor freezes and - if the problem persists for a second or two, Windows reports "[app] is not responding"

3. I cannot be certain, but I believe the problem occurs whilst messages are being retrieved.

This is a very serious problem as it means that I can never leave TB running as the problems it causes are not acceptable.

4. This means I cannot deal with incoming messages without periodically re-starting TB - which is an utter PIA.

I am running Win 11 Professional on a 2-year old machine with 64 Gb of memory. I have run TB in Troubleshoot mode, I have confirmed that the problem occurs regardless or whatever other apps are running (or none) and I have proven conclusively that no other app causes any kind of similar problem.

Looking forward yto hearing if others have had the same issue and what can be done about it.

Use the X-Note addon, and has worked fine for ages, but reinstalled my system, and now the font for XNote is almost unreadable - Cursive, of some sort.. How can I change this? Thanks.

My computer was hacked a month ago, well... I got phished when I was sent an email that looked like it came from a client, it was a bit premature to receive a file from her but... it was very late, I wasn't at my best, and there it is. I always thought I was savvy. So. I did catch it in time to save my Google account and they didn't succeed in getting at any money, did lose my longtime alt-email address. My computer tech was able to restore most of Thunderbird, except for all my client information (18 years' worth), which I theorize is because the bad file was filtered into my client folders so those 2 main/many subs were deleted (or it could be because those client folders and a couple others missing were near the bottom of the folder tree and the tech guy's backup program failed at that point, he did try again but no luck). Fortunately I still keep a paper schedule so I was able to figure out who to talk to, and the autofill feature of TB was able to give me most of the emails I needed. [I have since learned about and have moved my Profile into my Documents in a separate folder so that my cloud backup picks it up every day (idrive). I really think it should be a LOT LOT easier to find and utilize the information on the Profile because EVERYONE should be backing that up every day, and the best way is to automate it. [My tech guy (re)installed Windows 11 Pro, I had Home by preference, have a tutorial from a trusted source about going back to Home without losing anything, because I do not need or want the architecture of Pro. But not doing that until I get my computer stabilized.]

All that said, to get to the point. When I collect email in TB (I have a gmail account using POP into TB as I do not like syncing and use TB to track), I usually have more than 200 emails at a time before I d/l into TB. Several times each d/l session, I get the following error message (header is cut off, it just contained my email address):

<<Unable to write the email to the mailbox. Make sure the file system allows you write privileges, and you have enough disk space to copy the mailbox.>>

I have write privileges and there is plenty of disk space. I press OK and the d/l continues for a few more emails and then stops. I then press F5 again to start d/l again. Several times a session. There is no information about which folder isn't there or what is missing or causing the error.

It appears to me that the filters are telling TB to filter into a now-nonexistent folder. I did reconstruct my client folders, but plenty of room for error there I imagine (I use QuickFolders and that actually told me which of the visible tabs no longer existed). My old laptop died in the process of all this so no longer have another version of TB as a guide. I have 367 filters (been using TB since Eudora went away), but they are only searchable by name of filter, not by possibly now-missing folders.

1. I assume that this error only means the email isn't filtered, it doesn't mean it has been deleted or anything. yes? Or am I totally wrong about the meaning of this error message, and if so, please help! 2. What can I do to fix the error? With 367 filters, it would be nice if there were some way I could figure out a way to know which filter is failing, if indeed this is a filter problem?

Thank you for any input about this. I have tried and tried to figure this out.

All best wishes, --Victoria

Hi,

I use AltSnap and its snap feature a lot because I have multiple 40" TVs as monitors.

That means I often deal with thunderbird floating windows rather than maximized, and I often resize it.

And I notice that my message list is always getting too small !

I realized this is because when you resize the thunderbird window vertically, the preview pane stays a constant size, but it is the message list that resizes.

Over time the message list gets squished out and not even one message is visible.

I think if the message list remained of a constant size during vertical resize and it was the preview pane that got resized along with the window, it would prevent that and the message list would always be, the size that you last set it.

I am trying to connect my Outlook email hosted by Godaddy so I can send/receive on Thunderbird. Godaddy said that the problem was on Thunderbird's end. I have attached the error message that pops up when i try to load email. E-mail is mike@watershedguardians.org

Thank you!

Something seems to have changed recently with the PDF rendering in Thunderbird. I received an email with a PDF file attached. When I view it on the screen it looks fine, but when printing it out from within Thunderbird part of the top of the first page missing; it looks like part of the image is behind a white rectangle.

When I save the file and print it using Acrobat Reader it renders fine.

I don't know what to make of this behavior, but it does seem to be new and there is a difference between how the file is printed from Thunderbird as opposed to printing using Adobe Reader.

Thunderbird 152.0.1 on Windows 11 PC.

Hi, I have two accounts in my Thunderbird. They are Gmail (regular gmail account) and CFCC (an institutional account). The CFCC shows up in my Unified Folder list but the Gmail does not. Is that normal? The main Inbox is showing all incoming emails from both accounts so no performance issues, just wondering how to get rid of the CFCC (if that's possible) to eliminate clutter. Thank you. GES

I have been using Thunderbird on my PC for years and when I got my last PC, I found a article to help me move my files. I am now looking for instructions on how to move my Thunderbird files from the PC to the Mac so I can continue using it as I have been.

Having tried all solutions I can find on the web nothing works. Computer is new windows 10 with only edge and thunderbird.. My other established computer windows 11, established thunderbird with yahoo and Plusnet working ok but outlook keeps failing despite test connections working and message from Microsoft saying thunderbird has accessed my outlook account. The problem is outgoings. Incoming gine

Since I upgraded to 152.0.1, some s/mime encrypted messages do not display. This happens for both old and new messages. Moreover, for these messages, the flag of "new" stays active even after I click on it, suggesting that thunderbird did not "read" the message. The encryption is done by posteo.de automatically for any email that arrives to me. Even the simplest email just written "test" fails systematically when I send it to myself, but some messages sent from others also fail to display. I have installed the extended support version 140.12.1esr (aarch64) to check, and the emails display fine with it.

Anyone with a similar issue or idea of the problem, which I guess might be a bug? Thanks, cassio.

In the email address tree on the start up page of Thunderbird, how can I manually sort the email address order? I have an address I would like to move to the top of the list.

I know it can be done, but I can not for the life of me remember how. Please help.....

I've read a lot of suggestions on the FAQ section, but what they are offering, I do not have listed in/on my Thunderbird.

Thank you.

There is (of all things!) almost too much information to process about using Firefox's email, messaging, and security options. It seems there is no longer a dedicated email application, and I cannot disentangle what I need to do to either move completely from gmail or mask my gmail account somehow through a maze of layers.

After many years of using Thunderbird I am now considering ditching it. I am continually getting the Authorisation Failure message when trying to open Thunderbird. Why does this keep happening? It does not happen on my Android devices, just on Windows 11. I have tried deleting all three gmail accounts and re entering them. All is fine until I close down Thunderbird and then open it again. I run Norton 360 and have tried taking off Norton email security, but that didn't work. Any ideas, please?