Thunderbird Community Forum

If Desktop Thunderbird has been around for many years, why does it still have so many problems? I am having no end to the problems in trying to connect my to Gmail accounts effectively. This should be simple?

Example why question is being asked:

Three separate GMX email accounts, each with its own unique password, and NOW Application-specific password for Thunderbird. Aliases are not used or desired. Three different separate accounts that should each have its own outgoing server.

Worked fine until updates to Thunderbird and changes to the GMX server, and Application-specific passwords became a requirement to send and receive email.

Seems like updates to nearly every program and/or app that may be released with the intent to resolve an issue or include a new feature breaks something else. M$ is horrible with updates and labels nearly everything as a critical update so it gets pushed through even when updates are turned off or supposedly permanently disabled by a registry hack; Windows 11 being the absolute worse ever. Why I only have one computer with M$ while all the others are Linux. Problems all the time with M$ while Linux simply continues to work.

Regardless, can setup each GMX account but the default email account name must be used as the user name on the other two GMX accounts on the outgoing server in order to send email. Then the recipient sees the name for the default account rather than the name assigned to the other two accounts, and the Application-specific password for Thunderbird must be changed to that of the default. Then attempting to pull down email for the other two pop accounts comes to a halt, and email messages can only be viewed by going to the online account.

Two separate accounts for yahoo, two for gmail, and one for Charter work fine, each has its own name and outgoing server. Should be the same way for GMX but is not because Thunderbird requires one of the three GMX accounts is set to Default.

Appears by having a Default email account, users are not only restricted by the default account, but email that is sent is done so with he incorrect name, The purpose for three different emails is for email segregation and better management; personal correspondence, business related, and Internet stuff.

Instead of having a 'Default' email account, makes more sense to use a valid email to register Thunderbird after downloading and installing, and then using that email for Support, Boards, assistance, etc. The default email requirement causes too many frustrating unneeded issues that should not occur, along with wasted time, stress and grief. Computers were suppose to make our lives easier and allow us more time for the real world. Biggest lie told since the Bell Labs created the transistor.

Thunderbird 158.0.1 (64-bit) Thunderbird codename Meadow badgeMozilla Thunderbird Flatpak en-USthunderbird-flatpak - 1.0

Computer OS:

 Kernel: 7.0.0-38-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 13.3.0 clocksource: tsc
 Desktop: Cinnamon v: 6.6.9 tk: GTK v: 3.24.41 wm: Muffin v: 6.6.3 vt: 7 dm: LightDM v: 1.30.0
   Distro: Linux Mint 22.3 Zena base: Ubuntu 24.04 noble

I'm using Thunderbird 153.5.Oesr (64-bit) on a Linux machine (Zorin OS).

Most of my email addresses use POP, but with a new email address, I decided to use IMAP. When I'm disconnected from the internet, that particular email address keeps checking for new emails and saying it can't connect. I don't WANT it to connect. A message pops up every few seconds or so and is very annoying. I need to unplug my ethernet cable/adaptor periodically, since it seems to overheat, so keeping it connected to the internet continually won't work.

I have un-selected the boxes in Server Settings to check for messages. See the images below.

Any ideas? Thanks!

I have read the topic "Microsoft EWS to Graph Migration October 2026". I have followed the instructions meticulously MULTIPLE TIMES. Unfortunately for me, it DOES NOT WORK!! After deleting the EWS account, I proceed to create the new Graph account, but it fails (has failed) EACH AND EVERY TIME I've tried it. I finally had to give up, and restore/re-install/setup the Thunderbird EWS version. The failure reported on each failure was an "authentication failure".

My OS is macOS Tahoe 26.7.1; My Thunderbird version is 158.0. This is distressing! If there is an issue, I would expect T'bird to belay the update until the issues were fixed. If there is a "trick" required, I would appreciate someone sharing it with me. I'm aware that the causes of these issues is "Microsoft Incompetence", but AFAIK incompetence is not "contagious" - I don't understand T'bird/Mozilla releasing a fix with detailed procedures without testing.

EDIT: One other piece of information that may or may not be useful. The article "Microsoft EWS to Graph Migration October 2026" mentions a "Microsoft 365/Exchange Online email account". My account is an "Exchange Server" account; the Exchange server is hosted by Microsoft.

Thanks for any advice.

Best Regards, ~JM

Hi,

I just had to reinstall Windows 11 on my desktop computer because Windows Update would not update anything. It would start to install the update and upon the first reboot, it would fail with 0xc000021a and would back out the update. I tried updating Windows while keeping my data and it would fail at the first reboot with the same code.

I made note of where Thunderbird stored the profile (C:\Users\rayli\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\pghy27s4.default, and C:\Users\rayli\AppData\Local\Thunderbird\Profiles\pghy27s4.default).

Prior to starting the wipe and reload installation I made a System Backup (using EaseUS ToDo Backup Home) of my boot drive (all 4 partitions). After the new copy of Windows was running I used the backup program to restore the above 2 files to the original location.

I then downloaded and installed the latest Thunderbird from the website and before I launched it the first time, I launched the Profile Manager from Terminal (Admin) and my old (restored profile) was not listed. I shut down the Profile Manger, launched Thunderbird, and proceeded to add my Comcast email account and my Gmail account.

What I need help with is recovering the 2 address books from the old profile and a folder where I save emails to.

The current profile is stored in "C:\Users\rayli\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\9nfxwsrx.default-release". The profile containing the info I need is in the same folder and is named "pghy27s4.default". I added a screenshot of the folder.

Note that I also have an SSD that I cloned my old system to, which I can install in my computer and boot from. My system has a second SSD (it is D:) that contains a lot of my data, so I can copy whatever I need to it.

With a previous Windows 11 reinstall-in-place attempt, I had used the Export function of Thunderbird to backup the profile. After updating Windows 11 I installed the latest Thuderbird and tried the Import function but it failed before completing the Import, so I did not Export this time.

I just added a Gmail account to Thunderbird. It is showing the following folders: Inbox Drafts Sent Sent All Mail Spam Spam Trash Important Starred

I would like to delete the duplicate folders, all mail, important and starred. Any idea how to do that? OS is Windows 11 Pro on my desktop PC.

Appreciate information.

The note said "You are receiving this message because according to our records, you have recently logged into your . . . Google account using an outdated protocol (IMAP). This is usually through an external application such as Apple Mail or Outlook. We will be applying some security updates on October 28th, including disabling access to email via IMAP. Apple Mail and Microsoft Outlook use IMAP so these will no longer work after IMAP is disabled. You should start using the web interface on your computer and the GMail App on your iPhone immediately to make sure that you don't miss any emails.

So does this mean I won't be able to use Thunderbird any more?

I have Thunderbird installed on a desktop and laptop (both running Windows 11) and an Android phone. I can no longer receive emails on the two PCs, though the phone still works OK. Webmail works fine on all three devices. I have tried all the remedies I can find on the web, but so far without success. When I send a test email to myself it goes out OK and appears in my webmail, but does not appear in my Sent box. I tried doing Repair Folder on my desktop Inbox. This caused all the existing messages in the inbox to disappear, though the folder size still shows as 400Mb. I have a secondary email address which I use occasionally (a gmail address). This is still working OK. All help gratefully received. Alan

I have received emails from today, 10/21/26 but noted that emails from 10/19 and 1020 are missing, Can you please figure out why for me. I use Thunderbird/ Freedom. Thank you.

I deleted one of my emails accounts because it was hacked; I logged in to Ionos (hosting my email) and had to change my password; I changed the password but now I can't reinstall it; Authentication failed; FYI when I use the webmail using the new password, I can check my emails. Please help; Thank you.

I stopped getting e mails 9 days ago on Thunderbird. I found out that plusnet that used to have me had passed on to greenby. I can get onto greenby but i would prefer to be on Thunderbird because of my saved business e mails. Mike

Hi all!

Years back, I created my first account using POP3 when IMAP storage was expensive. Over the years I added many message filters to organize my tasks. Now I'd like to switch to IMAP and found everything I need, except for how to move/convert/copy my message filters. So my question is how can I transfer my message filters when recreating the account using IMAP? (I have a lot of filters, recreating them is no good option...)

I also noticed, that I have some filters for "Local Folders" and some for my POP3 account. Whats you're recommendation for that? Merge them into a single list assigned to the account? How can I do that?

Pauliman

I have Proton Mail, and Proton Bridge. It was working until Yesterday. Starting Yesterday, New emails would show up in the Web app, and the ProtonMail Desktop App, but would not make it to the Thunderbird Inbox. The first email that did this arrived at 1:30PM on 10/19. When a new email arrives, a new email windows notification will popup in the lower right hand corner. I checked Spam, and it is empty (I find this hard to believe). My phone also displays a new mail notification.

I know Thunderbird is receiving the emails. I can find the new emails by using "Quick Search", and searching for the email address of the sender of the new email. The results are completely without formatting, and do not indicate what folder they are in.

For example: I have a Gmail Account (redacted@Gmail.com), and I sent a test message to my ProtonMail address (redacted@Proton.me). That email contained the subject line "Ping 10/20" and it contained my auto signature. If enter "redacted@gmail.com" into the quick search, and I hit the return button, it only finds a message I sent about 7 weeks ago.

If I then click on the magnifying glass icon, a new tab opens up with the results. It displays the first 10 results of 54 results searching for "redacted@gmail.com". At the top of the results is my "Ping 10/20" test email. I could not find the folder name where my "Ping 10/20" test email is located on this results tab.

I see that the text "Ping 10/20" is a hyperlink, so I click it. The tab shows up, and strangely, it show the email and one reply. No reply was received by the Gmail account.

I have done troubleshooting of the ProtonMail bridge. The fact that the email is found somewhere in my thunderbird installation, I don't think ProtonMail Bridge is the issue.

When I click "extensions" under Tools > Add-ons and Themes, I get the following message:

Sorry, you have been blocked You are unable to access thunderbird.net

I.e. going from https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/search/ to https://addons.thunderbird.net/En-uS/thunderbird/extensions/

This happens in Thunderbird, Firefox and Vivaldi, both from my job or my home network (using NordVPN). Funnily search still works, so I suspect the link itself might be broken. Cloudflare tells me to contact the site owner, but they have made themselves incommunicado and refer me to community support who obviously aren't able to fix the problem!

(It is also disconcerting that Cloudflare asks me to enable cookies in Thunderbird, which is a huge privacy issue. However I get the same error in browsers with cookies enabled, so that is not the real issue here.)