All my past mail is downloaded again from POP server
I am running TB 38.6.0.
I have two mail accounts that are connected in POP-mode to the same server. The server settings are effectively the same for both. I have enclosed a snapshot of some information for an impression.
With account 1, at the point of getting new messages, TB starts off with downloading **all** messages stored in the web server instead of the new ones. I immediately stop the process since it would entail downloading ~4000 duplicates in my mailbox. This issue is entirely sudden and new.
Oddly enough, this does not happen with account 2. There, only the new mail is downloaded (again, same server, just another box).
A minor difference is that this account 2 deletes the mail after 14 days, but this should be immaterial. There is old mail in the remote mailbox that does not get downloaded once again, as expected. One other point of difference is that the failing account 1 is the 'default' account for TB. However, nothing changes if I make the account 2 default. That: account 1 was and is bad, account 2 was and is good after swapping the default status.
It had been working like a charm until yesterday. What can be the reason of this issue? Fixes and workarounds? Thanks for helping out.
Chosen solution
I found a workaround for the combined problem of the huge list of old messages to download again and of the retrieval error. Shared in case it relieves your distress too.
I refer to the suggestions on http://kb.mozillazine.org/Duplicate_messages_received (last modified 2010). Please take the time to consider it. By this one workaround, I avoided setting up a new mailbox and related hassles.
I went into my webmail inbox (a yahoo one in my case). There I archived all messages that had already been downloaded --- these can be selected fairly rapidly, especially if you visualize them in compact mode. So the inbox ends up containing only the most recent messages.
So long as the old messages stay in the remote archive folder rather in the remote inbox folder, they will not slump my local mailbox once again at point of download. Since the downloaded message need not stay in the remote inbox, this is a neat workaround for me.
Now I download only the most recent messages again. I suspect that something went wrong in the first place when Thunderbird crashed and corrupted some files.
The retrieval error can still occur from time to time but it's not as obnoxious as earlier.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (3)
A reason and a remedy are suggested here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Repeatably_downloading_the_same_messages
amanchesterman said
A reason and a remedy are suggested here: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Repeatably_downloading_the_same_messages
Thanks. This reference says that, after application of the remedy,
"It will download all of the messages for that account one last time since it has no record of having ever downloaded them. However, after that it should work normally."
Well, "downloading all of the messages for that account" is exactly the problem in point to fix.
The topic parent to that quoted http://kb.mozillazine.org/Duplicate_messages_received shows that this is an known oddity.
I have indeed deleted popstate.dat and restarted TB. I should note that in the corresponding folder of the other account (#2, working fine) there is no popstate.dat file at all. Isn't that interesting?!
I have then begun to download the 3900 messages again, aiming to use the tag 'Order received' and single out the duplicates to delete in one go. (It may pay off to disable the filters so all the duplicates are in the main box and one hasn't got to chase them in each and every destination folder.)
However, a problem arises here, since every 15 to 30 or so messages there's an error
"The RETR command did not succeed. Error retrieving a message. Mail server pop.mail.yahoo.com responded: problem retrieving message."
whereby I have to restart downloading the mail ... for a projected 3900/15=260 times?!
I am still hopeful that someone has a better solution than setting up a new profile, as a last but one resort. Thanks for thinking along.
Modified by XavierStuvw
Chosen Solution
I found a workaround for the combined problem of the huge list of old messages to download again and of the retrieval error. Shared in case it relieves your distress too.
I refer to the suggestions on http://kb.mozillazine.org/Duplicate_messages_received (last modified 2010). Please take the time to consider it. By this one workaround, I avoided setting up a new mailbox and related hassles.
I went into my webmail inbox (a yahoo one in my case). There I archived all messages that had already been downloaded --- these can be selected fairly rapidly, especially if you visualize them in compact mode. So the inbox ends up containing only the most recent messages.
So long as the old messages stay in the remote archive folder rather in the remote inbox folder, they will not slump my local mailbox once again at point of download. Since the downloaded message need not stay in the remote inbox, this is a neat workaround for me.
Now I download only the most recent messages again. I suspect that something went wrong in the first place when Thunderbird crashed and corrupted some files.
The retrieval error can still occur from time to time but it's not as obnoxious as earlier.