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Thunderbird won't show folders w/ Office365 account

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  • Last reply by nick.mount

nick.mount
nick.mount

I'm using the latest version of Thunderbird (78.13.0) to access email in my company's Office365 account. About a week ago, all my folders disappeared from Thunderbird except Inbox and Trash. If I right-click my account and select "subscribe," I can see all my folders, and I can check the boxes and select subscribe, but when I click "ok" it doesn't save the checkmark(s). If I subscribe to all my folders, then close and re-open Thunderbird, I see the folders for a split second and then they disappear, leaving me with only Inbox and Trash.

It look like other people have experienced versions of this issue before, especially with Office365: e.g. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1105043#answer-832402 in 2013 and https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunderbird/comments/nrdr3n/anyone_else_having_problems_with_office365/ in 2021.

The only solution anyone seems to have found is a workaround, not a fix: Server Settings/Advanced/ uncheck "Show only subscribed folders" will restore all folders. This worked for me too, but it's less than ideal, partly because Outlook comes with a lot of junk folders I don't want and can't delete, mostly because after 20+ good years with Thunderbird I've accumulated a lot of folders that I want to keep but don't need to see every day, for which "unsubscribe" used to be the perfect solution, leaving the folder on the server in case I needed it but getting it off my desk, so to speak.

The O365 support people here of course believe the issue is with Thunderbird, a setting of some kind. I've tried pretty much every Thunderbird setting and I increasingly think the problem is caused by office365's servers, probably some new security feature (OAuth2?) that isn't playing well with in Thunderbird's sandbox. The problem is, the user settings in the latest version of the Office 365 Outlook mail app (File/Options/Mail) are extremely limited (one of the many reasons I don't use it), so I can't even check if it's configured properly for sharing IMAP folders: I think all that stuff is now hidden away somewhere in the admin back-end, safely away from us mortals.

I've tried removing my account in Thunderbird, uninstalling, reinstalling: same issue. I've also tried prayer, no results yet. :) Can anyone here beat the gods to it? Any ideas appreciated.

Nick

I'm using the latest version of Thunderbird (78.13.0) to access email in my company's Office365 account. About a week ago, all my folders disappeared from Thunderbird except Inbox and Trash. If I right-click my account and select "subscribe," I can see all my folders, and I can check the boxes and select subscribe, but when I click "ok" it doesn't save the checkmark(s). If I subscribe to all my folders, then close and re-open Thunderbird, I see the folders for a split second and then they disappear, leaving me with only Inbox and Trash. It look like other people have experienced versions of this issue before, especially with Office365: e.g. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1105043#answer-832402 in 2013 and https://www.reddit.com/r/Thunderbird/comments/nrdr3n/anyone_else_having_problems_with_office365/ in 2021. The only solution anyone seems to have found is a workaround, not a fix: Server Settings/Advanced/ uncheck "Show only subscribed folders" will restore all folders. This worked for me too, but it's less than ideal, partly because Outlook comes with a lot of junk folders I don't want and can't delete, mostly because after 20+ good years with Thunderbird I've accumulated a lot of folders that I want to keep but don't need to see every day, for which "unsubscribe" used to be the perfect solution, leaving the folder on the server in case I needed it but getting it off my desk, so to speak. The O365 support people here of course believe the issue is with Thunderbird, a setting of some kind. I've tried pretty much every Thunderbird setting and I increasingly think the problem is caused by office365's servers, probably some new security feature (OAuth2?) that isn't playing well with in Thunderbird's sandbox. The problem is, the user settings in the latest version of the Office 365 Outlook mail app (File/Options/Mail) are extremely limited (one of the many reasons I don't use it), so I can't even check if it's configured properly for sharing IMAP folders: I think all that stuff is now hidden away somewhere in the admin back-end, safely away from us mortals. I've tried removing my account in Thunderbird, uninstalling, reinstalling: same issue. I've also tried prayer, no results yet. :) Can anyone here beat the gods to it? Any ideas appreciated. Nick

Chosen solution

Update: the problem seems to have been with Office365, apparently just barely still compatible with IMAP folders. In Thunderbird, I checked "Show only subscribed folders" in the Server Settings/Advanced, then toggled Server Settings/Authentication method from the new OAuth2 to the old "normal password" and back again. Problem fixed, but I don't know if that's what did it or it fixed itself in the interim.

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nick.mount
nick.mount Question owner

Chosen Solution

Update: the problem seems to have been with Office365, apparently just barely still compatible with IMAP folders. In Thunderbird, I checked "Show only subscribed folders" in the Server Settings/Advanced, then toggled Server Settings/Authentication method from the new OAuth2 to the old "normal password" and back again. Problem fixed, but I don't know if that's what did it or it fixed itself in the interim.