Windows 10 will reach EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. For more information, see this article.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Thunderbird Has the Email, But Won't Display the Whole Thing (with McAfee Total Protection Antivirus)

more options

Greetings!!

I started getting the most bizarre problem over the last couple of days from Thunderbird. Suddenly, for certain emails (not all of them), Thunderbird will start truncating the email. The email just stops loading partway through, and the email is not marked as read as it usually is. There is no progress bar at the bottom to indicate that the email is still loading. But, if I view the message source (via the View menu), the whole email is there. It typically happens with emails with either images or ones that fetch some sort of dynamic content.

I've repaired folders, rebuilt summary files, removed parent.lock, restored a backup of both program and message files from two days prior to the problem starting, reinstalled my current version of Thunderbird, rebooted the computer by holding the power button down for a minute, tried Thunderbird Troubleshoot mode, tried Windows 10 Safe Mode, disabled all add-ons, cleared my cache (under disk space), cleared my startup cache, created a new profile, compacted folders, and (temporarily) gave it a free pass through my Firewall. Nothing had any effect.

The Thunderbird Error console doesn't show anything in particular different between emails that load fully and those that do not.

To say I am at my wit's end is an understatement. Is there some sort of simple solution I am totally missing, by any chance? Thank you for any assistance!!!

Greetings!! I started getting the most bizarre problem over the last couple of days from Thunderbird. Suddenly, for certain emails (not all of them), Thunderbird will start truncating the email. The email just stops loading partway through, and the email is not marked as read as it usually is. There is no progress bar at the bottom to indicate that the email is still loading. But, if I view the message source (via the View menu), the whole email is there. It typically happens with emails with either images or ones that fetch some sort of dynamic content. I've repaired folders, rebuilt summary files, removed parent.lock, restored a backup of both program and message files from two days prior to the problem starting, reinstalled my current version of Thunderbird, rebooted the computer by holding the power button down for a minute, tried Thunderbird Troubleshoot mode, tried Windows 10 Safe Mode, disabled all add-ons, cleared my cache (under disk space), cleared my startup cache, created a new profile, compacted folders, and (temporarily) gave it a free pass through my Firewall. Nothing had any effect. The Thunderbird Error console doesn't show anything in particular different between emails that load fully and those that do not. To say I am at my wit's end is an understatement. Is there some sort of simple solution I am totally missing, by any chance? Thank you for any assistance!!!
Attached screenshots

Modified by Wayne Mery

Chosen solution

Ok. I backed up everything once more and did the desperate thing: uninstalled it fully using the Control Panel, scrubbed the Programdata, Program Files, and both AppData (Roaming and Local) folders, rebooted, did a fresh install, and copied back -only- the Profile folders and profiles.ini file.

Whatever was wrong is now fixed.

I really should've just tried that first before bugging you poor folks. Thank you again for your help and patience!

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (7)

more options

Thanks for image: The Source view shows 'plain text' section The email on the right is not using Plain text - looks more like 'Original HTML' and it also looks like you have enabled remote content.

so it's not possible to directly compare - you would need to post all the 'html section.

What happens when you select the following from the 'Menu Bar' toolbar View > Message Body as > 'Plain Text'

Do you see all the message in Plain Text view so it matches the Source view info?

Do you have a restriction on amount downloaded: In 'Account Settings' for the account for Pop under 'Disk Space' for imap under 'Synchronisation & Storage' > Disk Space section

Do you allow Anti-Virus to scan emails?

Helpful?

more options

Thank you for the help!! I appreciate it so much!!

Plain Text does show more of the email (yay!!), but the email is still not marked as read. I will be viewing things in Plain Text for now, thank you!! The only problem I run into with this is that some emails are completely different in Plain Text. My USPS summary emails show only a link, rather than the postal mail being delivered today, for example.

There are no restrictions on disk space.

I have McAfee Total Protection (Antivirus), Acronis True Image (Anti-Ransomware), and Windows Defender Firewall. Disabling all three at once and also turning off Thunderbird's internal option to allow Scam Detection and Antivirus Scanning did not help. Emails still truncate in the same spot. (And I felt so naked!) I've also had all three of those going on my computer for years with no issue.

Again, thank you for the help!!

Helpful?

more options

Only a pop account is affected? Starting immediately upon updating to version 141 or 140.1.1esr (and not before)?

Helpful?

more options

I just checked -- it is a pop account!

However, this is an older version of Thunderbird that I never upgrade. That's why I came for help, I literally changed nothing and suddenly a large smattering of image-rich and/or content-rich emails stopped loading fully. I was honestly hoping I just had a corrupted file somewhere. Don't get mad -- it was v102, the last version that worked with the MoreLayouts extension.

For the sake of being thorough, I upgraded fully (goodbye, dear layouts...) to v140.1.1esr (eclipse) and... it didn't fix it.

I saw a post on Reddit for someone with a similar issue saying to try archiving emails, but that also did not help.

I'm really sorry, I appreciate your help, and I hate weird bugs that can't be replicated easily. It's so frustrating.

Helpful?

more options

Thanks for the info. No need to apologize.

So updating solved it?

Helpful?

more options

Unfortunately not.

I can load the Moziilla Support emails fine. Also fine are emails from Nintendo, Pomegranate, Patreon, Reddit, Home Depot, ArtStation, and Ko-Fi.

But, Amazon shipped and ordering emails don't load (except in plain text mode) all the way, nor Seven Seas, Graphixly, Costco, Pinterest, LinkedIn Job Alerts, Kickstarter, Game Developer Daily, LostMarble, Etsy, National Geographic, or Substack.

USPS Informed Delivery emails do not load fully, but USPS Expected Delivery emails do.

If the darned thing didn't contain my life and a heapload of personal information I'd screenshot the heck out of it for you folks.

Since I've tried reloading my backups, reinstalling in place with the same version, and upgrading -- is it worth just trying to scrub the entire app and start over with a fresh install?

Helpful?

more options

Suluhisho teule

Ok. I backed up everything once more and did the desperate thing: uninstalled it fully using the Control Panel, scrubbed the Programdata, Program Files, and both AppData (Roaming and Local) folders, rebooted, did a fresh install, and copied back -only- the Profile folders and profiles.ini file.

Whatever was wrong is now fixed.

I really should've just tried that first before bugging you poor folks. Thank you again for your help and patience!

Helpful?

Uliza swali

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.