Unexpected Thunderbird X-platform Simultaneity
Hi, I am transitioning from Mac, after 30+ years, to Linux. Part of this is making sure that certain heavily used applications can be relied-upon in Linux. A couple days ago I successfully installed Thunderbird and moved my Profiles into the Linux version of Thunderbird. (This really needs better guidance from Mozilla! What I found on the subject was definitely NOT accurate!! Instructions should NOT be identical for all platforms). In a cautious abundance of excess, I repeated the same transfer onto a second Linux machine. Now I have Thunderbird running on my desktop Mac Mini AND on two separate Linux machines. Eventually, it will be removed from the Mac. What I never expected was that every time I received, deleted, read, etc., email, the same action would occur on the other two machines, regardless of on which machine I made changes. All accounts are set up as POP accounts, BTW. How is this possible? are the three instances of Thunderbird aware of each other on my local network? Or, is there some sort of updating processing happening from my ISP? Regardless, I am thrilled that I can potentially use Thunderbird simultaneously on different machines, but... Down Side: Apparently, not everything is mirrored. I just moved a newly received email from the inbox to a local folder inside Thunderbird. That action was NOT copied on the other two machines. Is there anything I can do to keep ALL the folders in sync? Thanks very much.
All Replies (11)
Hi David,
The instances are not aware of each other.
Do have a setting set to leave messages on the server? Then all clients will fetch the same messages. That may be what you are seeing.
If you want full synchronization, you must use IMAP acccounts. See here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/switch-pop-imap-account
davidkachel said
Hi, All accounts are set up as POP accounts, BTW.
I don't think so. Thunderbird has no sync capacity of it's own, so unless you have the profiles located in some truly unsupported location like on a NAS and it is shared on all three, the only way that could happen is with IMAP (or perhaps EWS)
Please access the troubleshooting information , it is one the help menu and have a look under the mail and news account heading.
Drag you mouse over the entire table to highlight it and then use Ctrl+C to copy.... then come to the forum and paste into a response to this topic.
Matt, You are correct. Everything is IMAP. I set up these accounts years ago as POP. I don't get it!
Here's what you asked for: ID Incoming server Outgoing servers Name Connection security Authentication method Name Connection security Authentication method Default? account1 (imap) server215.web-hosting.com:993 SSL/TLS Normal password server215.web-hosting.com:465 SSL/TLS Normal password true account2 (none) Local Folders None Normal password account3 (imap) server215.web-hosting.com:993 SSL/TLS Normal password server215.web-hosting.com:465 SSL/TLS Normal password true account4 (imap) imap.gmail.com:993 SSL/TLS OAuth2 smtp.gmail.com:465 SSL/TLS OAuth2 true
Is there a way to turn on server storage for Local Folders? Thanks, dk
Matt said
davidkachel said
Hi, All accounts are set up as POP accounts, BTW.I don't think so. Thunderbird has no sync capacity of it's own, so unless you have the profiles located in some truly unsupported location like on a NAS and it is shared on all three, the only way that could happen is with IMAP (or perhaps EWS)
Good catch, Matt. Thanks for jumping in.
davidkachel said
Is there a way to turn on server storage for Local Folders?
No. Local in this context means only on the local drive. If you want messages on the server (as well as in a local cache), they must be in server (IMAP) folders.
OK, is there some way I can create new folders that will be recognized as IMAP folders, and therefore, have that advantage? Otherwise, Thunderbird isn't really usable for multiple machines because it requires all that manual filing of messages on multiple machines, instead of just doing it on one and having it duplicated on the others.
Yes, just create the folders in the IMAP account. Everything gets sync’d.
Rick, pardon my ignorance, but where do i create new folders in the IMAP account?
Right click on the account name in the folder pane and select "New folder" in the drop-down menu that appears.
Or left click on the account name in the folder pane and press File menu > New > Folder.
I will bow out with this final word of warning.
Nothing on your local machines related to an IMAP account can be considered a backup or an archive. More of a local cache. If something happens to the account (like your do not renew the hosting package) or you do something questionable like delete all the mail server side or in another instance of Thunderbird or even if your mail server gets hacked and the hacker deletes the account contents. The next time Thunderbird goes online your local copies will be toast.
So I strongly suggest to anyone with Business records to maintain to use something other than IMAP to make your legally required archives. You can export all the mail in an account from Thunderbird periodically as a backup, but you can not rely on IMAP. https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/addon/importexporttools-ng/?src=ss
Matt, that is precisely why I originally set up these accounts as POP accounts.
Thanks, Rick.