Thunderbird Community Forum

I've just started getting error messages that I need to enter my password to send emails. I've tried that but it still keeps saying unable to connect to the server. This has been happening for about two days now. I've tried updating Thunderbird, restarting Thunderbird and restarting my PC. None of this has worked. I made no changes to my system, software or home network. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Dave

Thunderbird recently upgraded (?) to Version 15 on my Windows 10 laptop. Since them, when I go to look at the "Trash" folder, I get the message: "Unable to open the summary file for Trash on username@gmail.com. Perhaps there was an error on disk, or the full path is too long." I was able to fix it temporarily by restarting Windows 10, but the error is back a few hours later.

I have an iMac (Core 2 Duo) running Thunderbird 115.8.1 on Mac OS X 10.13 High Sierra. Thunderbird works fine when I'm actively using it. The problem arises when I close the window and switch to a different app. If I let Thunderbird run in the background for a while, the processor gauge (iStat Menus) will indicate that Thunderbird is using more than 100%, typically about 120-130% cpu usage. As soon as I switch back to Thunderbird (click on it in the Dock), the processor usage drops way down to normal (about 2%) and will stay that way as long as Thunderbird stays in the foreground as the active app. If I close the window and switch to the Finder or Firefox, Thunderbird will eventually start overusing the CPU again. It doesn't happen immediately... probably about 20-30 minutes of being idle in the background.

I've got Thunderbird set up to check one Gmail account. Nothing else. I used to have a different email account, but removed it.

Checking the logs in Console hasn't been helpful thus far. High Sierra seems to flood the logs with unrelated information.

I've noticed this issue for several revisions. I kept hoping that the next update would fix things. No such luck as of 115.8.1. Anyone have ideas how to fix this?

Edit 2024-03-14: I changed the subject to indicate that the problem occurs when the window is closed. It has nothing to do with being in the background vs. foreground.

What does repair folder actually do?

A search online gets answers like 'it rebuilds the index', but that's not very explanatory. Does it recreate the index by looking at the folder contents or by going back to the server and downloading emails again?

After a couple of odd things happening (emails appearing in the web version of Gmail, but not in my Thunderbird Inbox), I decided to repair my Inbox. It's an IMAP account with Gmail, and has got over 700 messages in it (yes I know, time for a clear out...).

Thunderbird went slow for quite a long time (like half an hour at least), and messages kept flashing up in the status bar at the bottom saying stuff like "Downloading message 237 of 700". When clicking on messages with large attachments, while the repair was apparently still underway, the messages took some time to load, though they seem to be about normal now.

Was it really downloading emails? I ask, because I have some archive folders MUCH bigger than the Inbox, and would like to know what to expect if I have to repair other folders.

For info: Thunderbird 91.11.0 (64-bit) running under Linux Mint 19.1

All of our "read" emails, --from all of our accounts -- have suddenly disappeared. All of the folders and subfolders are still present. We still get new email, but as soon as we read it, it's gone. We have had these same email accounts for years and have not made any changes. In Account Settings --> Synchronization & Storage --> "don't delete any messages" is checked. "Read" messages are still on our server.

So, 1) Why did this happen? 2) Is there any way we can get our messages back in Thunderbird?

Hello community. My company decided, right before Christmas, to force-migrate all e-mail addresses from the functioning old servers to "Exchange Online", which not only made the web-browser based access more complicated, but also required changes in Thunderbird. While they provided instructions, which I slavishly followed (despite being usually rather hand around the computer), I still cannot send e-mails with my work address - they get timed out. My company IT are notoriously unwilling to help with issues on the private computer and have recommended even beforehand to from now on only use the web-based access to avoid trouble - which is laughable, for me, as I need my e-mails offline as well. So before harassing them more loudly, I wanted to make sure it's a fault on their end not on mine.

Some details: New server is outlook.office365.com, SMTP port 587. Security level is STARTTLS, authentification OAuth2. These are the changed options requested by the company IT. The window popping up when trying to send a message asks me to chose a certificate for athentification and suggests "Adobe Conetent Certificate 10-7". Neither installing this manually, accepting, or changing something under "further options" changes the outcome that the message will be timed out. As my private e-mail also uses port 587, and it still works perfectly normal, this port is not generally blocked by the windows defender or antivirus (I use Kaspersky).

Maybe someone has an idea what it happening here? Or knows if to slve it by installing a particular different certificate?

Hi, after upgrading the programs to version 115.10.1 after restarting, all folders in the folder panel disappeared. I still have all accounts visible in the account settings. I attach a screenshot.

I follow someone instructions: Menu icon > Help > More Troubleshooting Information Under 'Application Basics' - Profile Folder - click on 'Open Folder' A new window opens showing contents of your 'profile name' folder Exit Thunderbird now - this is important Scroll down - delete all of the following files.

   folderCache.json
   folderTree.json
   session.json
   xulstore.json 

Start Thunderbird With no results. Thank you for any help.

Here is a very strange problem: 1. all my notifications about interac are attributed to only one person: INTERAC e-Transfer: A money transfer from X has been automatically deposited. Under correspondents I have Y, no matter what X is. 2. When I do a global search for INTERAC, all notifications show up, but attributed to Z, different from X and Y. Further, Z only sent me an interac transfer once, maybe 10 years ago. Indeed, if I global search for Z, none of the interac notifications show up. 3. this is ONLY on Thunderbird, not at the server.

Any ideas?

Opened Thunderbird and found Two folders Duplicated Draft and Sent the Second Sent is titled Sent mail. See image below. The first Draft file is the one that saving a draft goes to, Tested it. Send files go into both Sent folders. Have check the properties of the folders and all are tied to the Imap folders. I have tried repair folders with no change. I have tried the two help request in support and followed the instruction in them with no change. In Google mail it shows two Draft and two sent folders one in the top of folder list and one in the labels section. See image below. I have tried hiding the two in the labels list, restarting Tbird with no change.

I have the icon color set to Black in properties so I know which is original and correct folder, but this does not correct the problem. Thank you for your help. Dana

Thunderbird 115.1.8 (most recent), Windows 10

This is going to drive me awy from Thunderbird - at random, it refreshes and opens all folders when connecting to IMAP accounts, leaving all folders open. Screenshop attached of part of folder tree - it happens to each and every sub-folder in the account(s). Sometimes it's just on one IMAP account that I have defined, sometimes more than one. Some points that might help (or not):

• The status line says that it is downloading messages, even though I've told it to only download headers
• This happens on more than one installation of Thunderbird on different machines (home deskside and laptop), all on Windows 10. I don't have access to Linux but might try it on Linux on a Chromebook. I've avoided Windows11 so far.
• no way to reproduce this on demand; just random
• Persists at random after a clean installation of TBird with completely new profiles
• Takes ages to close all folders - I think I've seen elsewhere that an option to collapse all folders by, for example, a right-click on the top-level folder and an option in the context menu, would be very useful
• happens to different IMAP hosts - my personal accounts are on UK2, but also affect gmail and IONOS-hosted accounts
• is an issue with many previous versions - certainly since Supernova was released, maybe earlier

Much as I like the TBird interface, I can't continue to live with this - I think it's back to Outlook (I have a 365 account so thiis is the full-fat Outlook) or maybe invest in an emClient license, where their limited free version seems robust and has a decent interface. Might also look at the email client in the Vivaldi browser.

Any advice that might help me stay on TBird would be welcome. Thank you

Good morning. I need help with sending emails in Thunderbird. The problem has existed for a couple of days now and is confusing as some emails are sent and others fail. I am receiving mail OK. Details of my setup are :- I am using a HP All-in-one desktop running Windows 11 with Norton 360. My Thunderbird account settings: Server type: IMAP mail server User name: ****@gmail.com Server name: imap.gmail.com Port: 993 Connection Security: SSL/TLS Authentication: OAuth2 Outgoing Server (SMTP): Google Mail – smtp.gmail.com (Default) User name: ****@gmail.com Port: 465 Connection Security: SSL/TLS Authentication: OAuth2

The problem: I only recently set up Thunderbird and at first it seemed to working OK. However, now when I try to send a message, after some time, I the following error message :-

"Send Error Message Sending of the message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to Outgoing server (SMTP) smtp.gmail.com timed out. Try again."

What is particularly confusing is that some messages are being sent. I have tried several fixes that I found from the Mozilla, Google and Norton web sites but none of the fixes resolved the issue. Any assistance would be very much appreciated.

Regards Mike

PS: I have 2 email accounts set up in Thunderbird. I just tried sending a test message from the Gmail account to the Bigpond account. From the Gmail account it appears to have been sent but in the Bigpond account an error message appeared as follows :-

"Could not connect to the mail server smtp.telstra.com; the connection was refused."

I don't know if this is a related issue or I have another one to resolve.

Since Thunderbird updated to 115.11.1 (64-bit), , the DEL key no longer deletes messages from within the message window. It DOES still delete the messages from within the message list. Any ideas as to why?

After updating to Thunderbird version 115.12.2(32 bit) two days ago, I can no longer send emails. I get an error message "Authentification error (VM401)" I use Virgin Media. I can receive emails OK. I have not changed any server settings for a long time. I have been in touch with Virgin Media, they say the problem is with Thunderbird as I can send emails from on their one line system. I can also send emails from my Android phone. Any help would be appreciated.

I'm going to ask this question again. Has anyone seen this? If so, what does it mean? When attaching a pdf or other file to an email, I can't open it to check it before sending.

C:\Users\***\Desktop\*****.pdf could not be opened, because the associated helper application does not exist. Change the association in your preferences.

What is a helper application and how do I fix this?

Thank you

I keep getting the message that TB can't connect to my server. I am able to go to my server in a Browser window, I have re-entered the password Multiple Times and it still will not connect. What else can I look at? Tony

I select multiple files in File Explorer and select, right click, Send To, Thunderbird, but only one of the files actually appears in the Thunderbird email. It appears that which one shows up as an attachment to the email is quite random. This used to work fine with all the selected files showing in the email, I haven't upgraded anything so far as I know, and I don't think I have changed anything at all. Any ideas most welcome. Incidentally, if I select only one file to send then it works fine; if I select multiple files to send through Outlook, then that works fine. I just cannot send multiple files through Thunderbird. I am using Thunderbird version 115.4.1 (64 bit). I have looked at the issue on Microsoft pages and they are of the opinion that this is a Thunderbird issue, not a Windows one. Thank you for your help in advance. Cheers

After upgrade to v. 115 I am unable to select the login in OAuth2 signin popup. I need to select the option "use an other account" in O365 sign in popup, but this is not more available. I have some shared folders when the mailbox is e.g. shared@domain.com but I need to sign in using me@domain.com as login, because the account is mine, not the shared's one.

I think there is some bug in the url generated when TB starts signin process to Microsoft's OID endpoint, where it is required an access as "shared@domain.com" blocking it.

All was ok until the upgrade.

thanks

I recieved emails from Microsoft to update Authentication to Oauth as support for basic authentication will soon cease. Whilst I have not been experiencing any issues, after following the instructions, also provided here:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/microsoft-oauth-authentication-and-thunderbird-202,

I now have an unusable Thunderbird client.

This is because I am having to keep authenticating my outlook accounts (I have about ~100 email accounts). They pop up one after the other for each account.

I believe I went through all the troubleshooting steps but to no joy.

I did notice however, when the "Enter your credentials....." pop up box appears and I go through the motions of authenticating my account and TB against my Microsoft account, the following entry appears under the Settings > Saved Passwords > Saved Logins > "Provider" column for that account:

oauth://login.microsoftonline.com (https://outlook.office.com/IMAP.AccessAsUser.All https://outlook.office.com/POP.AccessAsUser.All https://outlook.office.com/SMTP.Send offline_access)

The credentials include a very long auto generated password starting similar to "M.C533_BAY.0.U.-........"

A couple of things to note now regarding the oauth entry:

1. It possibly does not always get created when re-authenticating 2. After quitting TB and then re-launching TB, it dissapears

So the solution would be to somehow ensure this entry is created and it sticks even after quitting TB, since for those accounts that include this I do not have get the "Enter your credentials....." pop up box.

Is this something TB can investigate?

I changed the password for one of my gmail accounts and now Thunderbird can't access it. It kept asking for verification. When I realized the problem I changed out the '@' but I can't change the password in Thunderbird. New emails are accessible in Gmail and Outlook but Thunderbird doesn't show then and nothing happens when I use 'get messages'. I need to delete the problem account to re-enter it, when I try to add the email address as a new account Thunderbird just says it already exists and does nothing.

I have several Comcast.net accounts that I have set up in Thunderbird. About 2-3 times per week, Thunderbird makes me re-enter one or more of my passwords, only for the comcast accounts. It says Authentication Failure, but I have not changed anything on the accounts, including passwords. Entering the same password works - for a while. Any idea how to stop this?