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Thunderbird limits messages in local folders to a maximum of 30 messages...

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  • Last reply by Dottotto

Dottotto
Dottotto
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Some time ago I realized that my Thunderbird (now V52.5.2 using POP3, recently upgraded on Windows 7 but also happened in earlier versions on Windows XP) only shows a maximum of 30 messages in all local folders and sub folders. As soon as a 31st message is added to any folder the oldest message is no longer visible.

Examining the folder file with a text editor shows that the missing messages are still in the file. They are just no longer visible in Thunderbird. All folders except the 'drafts' folder do this. Compacting folders does not fix the problem.

The drafts folder is the exception it can display many messages. For a test I was able to rename and copy one of my 30 message limited folders as the drafts folder with index file. The drafts folder then showed more than 30 messages in the copied folder.

I have very many messages in many local folders and think there may be some size limit involved [?] but can't find that mentioned in any support topic.

This is a weird problem defying my abilities to correct and I would appreciate any help, or suggestions of things to try.

Many Thanks in advance, Dottotto.

Some time ago I realized that my Thunderbird (now V52.5.2 using POP3, recently upgraded on Windows 7 but also happened in earlier versions on Windows XP) only shows a maximum of 30 messages in all local folders and sub folders. As soon as a 31st message is added to any folder the oldest message is no longer visible. Examining the folder file with a text editor shows that the missing messages are still in the file. They are just no longer visible in Thunderbird. All folders except the 'drafts' folder do this. Compacting folders does not fix the problem. The drafts folder is the exception it can display many messages. For a test I was able to rename and copy one of my 30 message limited folders as the drafts folder with index file. The drafts folder then showed more than 30 messages in the copied folder. I have very many messages in many local folders and think there may be some size limit involved [?] but can't find that mentioned in any support topic. This is a weird problem defying my abilities to correct and I would appreciate any help, or suggestions of things to try. Many Thanks in advance, Dottotto.

All Replies (2)

Matt
Matt
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  • Top 10 Contributor
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Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled". If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.

Dottotto
Dottotto Question owner
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Thank you for your prompt response. The message response "Was this Helpful to you" can only be answered YES or NO. Your response WAS helpful to me but didn't solve the problem so I answered No.

I checked my TB add-ons and deleted all but one I need which I disabled. Restarted TB, that didn't solve the problem.

I then started TB in safe mode as you suggested and again tested a new local folder by copying sixty messages into it but still no change. The folder still only displayed the last thirty messages copied into it.

As I said in my initial posting I have very many folders with very many messages which I have successfully imported into Windows 7. The size of files in my .../profile/mail/local folders directory and all it's sub directories is currently 3,57 Gigabytes...

My problem initially showed up in Windows XP and took me quite a while to realize what was going on... It may be related to some sort of size limitation [?] but I can only find info for limits for message size and folder size, not any overall size limit. Surely TB would only need to read indexes for the current folder?

The Drafts folder works fine and can show many messages but no other folder. I can only see a maximum of 30 messages in all folders except Drafts. Win 7 has access to 8 GB of memory whereas XP could only access 3 GB of it. The data for all messages is in the files but TB just doesn't seem to be able to index more than 30 message in any local folders. What have I got configured wrong?  :(