Thunderbird 社群討論區

Hey

Thunderbird has a well-functioning Search function that uses the cache (or rather, what the background search process/function "read" and saved in global-messages-db.sqlite).

With a newly configured account (IMAP), it works like this:

- establishes the directory tree - downloads message titles (including sender, date, etc.) - *.msf summary files - then a process that downloads the entire message for local storage - in the background, an indexing process (GLODA?) starts, which creates a search database (subject, from, to, keywords in the message body) using the global-messages-db.sqlite file.

For very large mailboxes (>100k msg, ~50GB), this means that the server's content is transferred to the local disk (and stored in ImapMail).

The question is: how do I configure TB to run in "thin" mode, meaning after connecting a new account: - establish a directory tree - download message titles (including sender, date, etc.) -> *.msf - DO NOT download messages for local storage - start the indexing process, which will download and index the subject, from, to, and keywords in the message body (it will download and "read" the message, but not save it locally) and save it to global-messages-db.sqlite

Setting "mail.server.default.offline_download" to "false" will cause this behavior, but the message body will not be indexed (only from, to, and subject).

I tried to work around this by: - configuring the mailbox with the download option for offline use - waiting for it to download - setting "mail.server.default.offline_download" to "false" - deleting all "cur" directories (I use maildir) or deleting all *.eml files from the ImapMail directory.

Content search works for messages that have been downloaded (and indexed) previously; it doesn't work for new messages.

Why am I trying this? Some people have "air" laptops (meaning - weaker processors, small SSDs) and need access to email (via IMAP), including full search, without having all their email downloaded locally.

In other words, how can I configure TB via IMAP to: - download the directory and subdirectory tree - download the headers of all messages - "read" and index all messages (including their content) and store them in "global-messages-db.sqlite," but not store all messages locally (online mode only)?

Regards Chris

I am having isue on one installation with searching for emails, for example, by date and to find emails in the subfolders under INBOX. If I enter to search for a date after, say, July 1, 2025, it will only return those in the INBOX even though there are emails in subfolders after this date. Search subfolders is ticked off.

I have deleted all *.msb index files and reinstalled TB but same result.

When I attempt to search for emails with a date (such as after Sept 30, 2025) in the INBOX plus subfolders (checked off), it only returns those in the INBOX. There are emails in subfolders dated after Sept 30, 2025.

If I search for a word without any date, it lists all emails. If I add a 2nd condition with a date as noted above, only the INBOX is displayed. Is this a bug?

Often times, when performing a search in Thunderbird, the pointer in the message index (ie: your INBOX) will be updated downward (if you have a lot of messages, like I do). You have to manually scroll back to the top after -- but would it make sense to just have a button that does this, that brings your pointer back to message 1 in the view index (however you have it sorted) and updates the view accordingly?

Basically, press the button and you're back to the beginning of the message index.

In the Global Search view (without title "Global search" but the one you get when you press ENTER on the quick filter) I find 178 messages, but when I click on "display in list", then I get 0 results.

When I remove a Quick Filter, I'd like the list to move to the most recent message (my msg lists are sorted by date desc). Instead what happens is that after showing the full list, which includes redrawing the list so that it moves to the top, it forces the re-selection of the message that was selected when the Quick Filter was in place. What happens, a lot, is that after checking a message via filter from months ago, the filter is released, the full list appears briefly, I select the top message if I'm quick, and then it re-selects the message from months ago. I then have to scroll to the top or use ctrl home.

It's very stubborn about this behavior. Even if I

• select another email account which would not contain any hits for the filter
• wait for it to build that list
• select an email at the top of that list
• select the All Accounts top level Inbox folder

it will re-select the email that was selected when the filter was in place.

I filter a lot and each time I have to fiddle around with this to return to the top of the unfiltered list, which takes time.

It seems like a rather lame behavior, not sure if it acts like this by design or not. But it be better to at least have the option to have thunderbird go to the first message in the list. By the time the Quick Filter is released, doesn't it make sense to return to what would have to be the normal selection for most users, the top of the list?

Hi, Can't make out how to use "search" I find the address i'm looking for in the list proposed then when I go there I get "no matches match your search" As the mail is probably in "trash" i've ticked box in "properties" with thanks

I was using a Quick Filter search on an inbox and sent and then decided to check the Local folders and discovered that you have to turn down each subfolder and search it separately. Is there a way to have a quick filter search subfolders?

My Thunderbird was not finding messages that I could see were there.

I followed the advice here https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database.

I deleted the (large) global-messages-db.sqlite (I have been using Thunderbird for a long time - and I am monthly contributor).

The rebuild gets to a certain point and then stops (as indicated by Tools Activity Manager). Always at the same point. I guess there is a bad message in there somewhere. But now I am worse off than before.

I tried rebuilding several times. I have also compacted the account folders of the account that stopped and then tried rebuilding.

I have many years of messages in there and I need a functioning search. What can I do?

I want to continue using TB but a few things really make me despair of it. But there may be workarounds. If I have a question, when did these people last send me an email, or have any of these people responded to something, there seems to be no way to get to a list. But. I found a way to do it. Using sqlite3.

I have been wanting a CLI for interacting with TB for a while. You know, that folder I have with 10k+ emails and if I click on it, the UI spins forever. What is even in that?

Now I can do this: 1) copy the global-messages-db.sqlite from the active profile to another place 2) run: sqlite3 global-messages-db.sqlite 3) ```sqlite> select m1.c3author, min(m2.date), max(m2.date) from messagesText_content m1, messages m2 where m1.docid = m2.id group by m1.c3author order by m1.c3author; ... ray kiddy <ray@ganymede.org>|1732124816000000|1759268233000000 ruby29@something undefined|1756740716000000|1756740716000000 salvatore@someother undefined|1758733831000000|1758733831000000 support@linode.com undefined|1755126295000000|1755126295000000 ... ```

Holy sender dates, Batman! Now I can see the earliest and latest email sent by any user. Now I can filter, sort, and see every person who sent me something in a time period. And whether it was 1 email or 1000, I just see the names and not an enormous amount of other information.

So, is this the only way to get this? Or the best? I have no idea. Please let me know if there is a better way, perhaps one using TB itself. It would be nice.

In the meantime, I will be wrapping this in a python call, doing some formatting and it will work and I can stop worrying about not seeing their email.

There still does not seem to be any way to search for an exact term. For example, if I search for "provider", I get matches for things like "provide", "provides", etc. This makes Search anywhere from unhelpful to completely useless: imagine trying to find emails that mention your friend "Don".

I am sure the people behind Thunderbird think that this "feature" is helpful, and occasionally it is, but it is disastrous when the user knows precisely what they want but can't find it.

Please can we have an option for exact matches only?

BTW, from I can tell people have been asking for this for at least five years.

That ACTUAL email was a SINGLE email, in a lot of emails that have been going backwards and forwards, between myself an another.

I clicked on THAT email, to open ONLY IT, and not to see a conversation of some 10 other emails.

I also see INCOMING / OUTGOING and "IMPORTANT"

How do I get Thunderbird, to ONLY OPEN the email, that was shown to contain the search term AND to HIDE the "Important" classification of some emails..... It's simply duplication that adds more clutter to the seaches.

I'd like to have this as a global setting.

Thanks in advance.

Good morning, Please help me solve this problem. I had to change the system date and time for a while, and since then, Thunderbird can't find my messages through a quick search, even though they're in my inbox. How can I get this back?

I'm trying to understand why the Quick Search (which I use all the time and is generally *amazing*) is not working for one specific email. The sender is "Marlene Hulda". I have attached the following screenshots:

1. A screenshot of my Inbox showing the email, along with a few others 2. A search using the word "Marlene". That search results in "no message found". 3. A search using the word "Hulda". That search results in "no message found". 4. A search using the word "welcome". In this case, it does find the email.

Any suggestions on why it cannot find the email in step 2 or step 3?

Thanks for your help.

how do I search by date. I found one reference that said to go to the menu app icon and select "find" but there is no "find". Why is this so damn difficult to find?