Common misconceptions about Thunderbird: Difference between revisions

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==IMAP accounts should have the same menu commands as POP accounts==
==IMAP accounts should have the same menu commands as POP accounts==
POP and IMAP accounts are quite different. You read new mail in a POP account by downloading it from the inbox. It has a very download-centric view of the world. You read a new message in a IMAP account by opening a remote folder. It only downloads message headers. It has a client-server view of thr world. That's why you can things such as read mail in all of your folders and upload messages.
POP and IMAP accounts are quite different. You read new mail in a POP account by downloading it from the inbox. It has a very download-centric view of the world. You read a new message in a IMAP account by opening a remote folder on the server. It only downloads message headers. It has a client-server view of the world. That's why you can do things such as read mail in all of your folders and upload messages.


A POP account needs settings such as "keep messages on server" because it downloads them to the hard disk and may delete the original (depends upon "leave message on server" setting"). There is no need for those settings with an IMAP account because it keeps the message on the mail server when it reads it. It fetches a copy which it stored in memory, but never stored on the hard disk.
A POP account needs settings such as "keep messages on server" because, by default, it downloads them to the hard disk and may delete the original (depends upon "leave message on server" setting"). There is no need for those settings with an IMAP account because it keeps the message on the mail server when it reads it. It fetches a copy which it stored in memory, but never stored on the hard disk.


Tools -> Server Settings -> Synchronization & Storage -> "keep a copy of all messages for this account on this computer" is something completely different. It creates a optional [[Offline_folders | offline folder] in the profile which has a copy of the folders messages. You can't read those messages unless you're working offline and they had no effect on whats stored on the mail server.
Tools -> Server Settings -> Synchronization & Storage -> "keep a copy of all messages for this account on this computer" is something completely different. It creates a optional [[Offline_folders | offline folder] in the profile which has a copy of the folders messages. You can't read those messages unless you're working offline and they had no effect on whats stored on the mail server.

Revision as of 12:11, 16 September 2010

This article was written for Thunderbird but also applies to Mozilla Suite / SeaMonkey (though some menu sequences may differ).

A lot of users have mistaken ideas about what Thunderbird is or how it works that cause problems when they try to use it. This article tries to clear up some of the most common misconceptions. It assumes you are using Thunderbird 3.1 or later under Windows though it is still useful if you're using an earlier version or a different operating system.


Thunderbird will assign you a email address

Thunderbird is just a email client, not a email provider. Your email provider provides the mail server(s) that get, store and send messages. Thunderbird sends it commands using the POP3, IMAP or SMTP protocol after remotely logging in to your account on that mail server. While Thunderbird provides a lot of extra functionality, its basically just providing an alternative to logging into webmail using a browser.

If Thunderbird was a email provider, then you would lose any new email sent to you whenever your PC was powered off. The reason you don't lose any messages is because the mail server gets, stores and sends the messages. The mail servers are provided by a email provider such as your ISP, university, AOL, Google (Gmail), GMX, Yahoo, Microsoft (MSN) etc. , who assigns you your email address. Its associated with the username/password you got when you created an account with them.

If your add-on isn't supported you need to wait for a version of Thunderbird that supports it

Frequently you can install and use an add-on that doesn't formally support your version of Thunderbird if you disable the version checking, or edit the add-on to "bump" the version limit. It depends upon what API's it uses whether it works. Counter-intuitively, the older an add-on the less likely there is a problem. If it doesn't work its extremely rare for it to do any harm, just uninstall it.

Version checking was intended as a way to minimize problems by making certain that users only used add-ons that were meant to be used with their version of Thunderbird. That is why the Mozilla Add-ons web site tests all add-ons (including any updates) before accepting them. It was a good idea.

Unfortunately, many authors delay releasing an updated version because typically all it does is "bump" the version, the Mozilla Add-ons web site imposes restrictions on the maximum version an add-on can support, a good number of authors release most updates on a different web site such as the Add-ons Mirror or their personal web site due to the hassles and delays of submitting it to the official web site and Mozilla Messaging does nothing to notify authors when they changed something in Thunderbird that might break their add-on (such as changing an API).

See Updating add-ons for more information.

There is only one type of indexing

There are four types of indexing:

  • Windows Integration (integrates Windows Search under Vista and Windows 7)
  • Gloda (global search)
  • IMAP (offline folders created if you check Tools -> Server Settings -> Synchronization & Storage -> "Keep messages for this account on the computer"
  • Updating the .msf index files for a folder.

You may see a lot of indexing status messages in the status bar for a couple of days when you upgrade from 2.0.0.24, if you have a large profile. It takes time to build the search index for global searching, and to download all of the messages for a IMAP account in the background. Some email providers (such as Gmail) also throttle the bandwidth, causing attempts to fetch a message to temporarily fail until the bandwidth limit is reset.

If you see a "Building summary file" message that's due to it rebuilding the index file (*.msf) for a folder. It needs to do that whenever it downloads a new message. If you see that status message for a long time while trying to open the inbox that means the folder is corrupt. See Inbox stays blank.

If you disable global search you can't search

There are four different ways to search:

  • Global search using the edit field in the top right corner of the main window
  • The QuickSearch Toolbar (just above the folder listing and under the global search edit field)
  • Edit -> Find
  • Use a desktop search program that supports Thunderbird such as Google Desktop or Copernic

Which is the best choice depends upon your personal preferences and your configuration. The global search is very useful if you have multiple accounts and don't know what folder the message is likely to be in. The QuickSearch Toolbar is very useful if you know what folder its in, perhaps because you have organized a folder hierarchy. Edit -> Find is useful if you miss Thunderbird 2's quick search.

Thunderbird looks in the profiles directory to find your profile

Thunderbird doesn't discover profiles by noticing them in the default location. It looks in the [profiles.ini] file to find what profiles exist and where they are. This lets you store a profile almost anywhere, including file shares. When you create a new profile using the [[profile manager] it updates profiles.ini for you. When you backup or restore a profile using [Mozbackup] it examines the contents of profiles.ini to find what profiles exist and where they are.

Thunderbird can find the profiles.ini file due to it always being created in the same location on your boot drive, based on your Windows username and what version of Windows you are using. That is also why your profiles "disappear" if you re-install Windows using a different Windows username. They're still there, and the old profiles.ini file is still there, but the new profiles.ini file doesn't know anything about them.

You can't import messages or address books from a email client if its not listed in Tools -> Import

Thunderbird has built-in support for importing messages and address books from a few email clients if it detects they're installed. However, you can use add-ons such as ImportExportTools to import folders if they're stored as mbox or .eml files, you can use Tools -> Import -> Address Books -> Text files to import an address book if it was exported as a .csv or .ldif file. See Importing and exporting your mail for some other methods, and instructions for other email clients such as Window Mail, Mail.App, The Bat!, Incredimail etc. That includes other Thunderbird profiles.

Thunderbird is buggy because it uses too much memory

There are many types of memory. The number Task Manager returns includes memory that is allocated but not used and memory shared with other applications. What really counts is whether you have a performance problem, not what the number is, or how much larger it is than with Thunderbird 2.0.0.24.

However, a good rule of thumb is that if you use 150MB or less of memory with Thunderbird 3.* you don't have a memory problem, while if you use more than 250MB you probably do. It can be due to a bug in Thunderbird, in one of the add-ons, your anti-virus scanner or firewall, a problem with one of the SQLite databases etc. Its easy to just blame Thunderbird but usually your configuration is at least part of the problem. See Memory Usage Problems for a checklist that might help you isolate the culprit. A good first step would be to temporarily run in safe mode to temporarily disable all add-ons and disable your anti-virus program from scanning messages. Set View -> Message Body As -> Plain text , and don't click on any links or open an attachment while your anti-virus program is disabled.

Thunderbird will create your account for you

You actually need two email accounts to use a email client. One is the email account created by your email provider. That's used by both webmail and the mail server (on your behalf) when Thunderbird logs you in. The other account is in Thunderbird, and is basically just a set of instructions on how to call the mail server. It specifies whether its a POP or IMAP account, what mail server to use, what username/password etc.

You need to create an account with your email provider before you create the corresponding account in Thunderbird. Otherwise you don't have a mailbox on the mail server and no permission to use the mail server.

IMAP accounts should have the same menu commands as POP accounts

POP and IMAP accounts are quite different. You read new mail in a POP account by downloading it from the inbox. It has a very download-centric view of the world. You read a new message in a IMAP account by opening a remote folder on the server. It only downloads message headers. It has a client-server view of the world. That's why you can do things such as read mail in all of your folders and upload messages.

A POP account needs settings such as "keep messages on server" because, by default, it downloads them to the hard disk and may delete the original (depends upon "leave message on server" setting"). There is no need for those settings with an IMAP account because it keeps the message on the mail server when it reads it. It fetches a copy which it stored in memory, but never stored on the hard disk.

Tools -> Server Settings -> Synchronization & Storage -> "keep a copy of all messages for this account on this computer" is something completely different. It creates a optional [[Offline_folders | offline folder] in the profile which has a copy of the folders messages. You can't read those messages unless you're working offline and they had no effect on whats stored on the mail server.

Deleting a message in Thunderbird has no effect on the messages on the mail server

Another frequent issue effects users who don't know the difference between how a POP account and an IMAP account operate, complaining that they have lost data "just because I deleted messages in Thunderbird and then found they were deleted from the server. Where's the setting to leave messages on the server?"

Thunderbird creates every error that it reports

You need to differentiate between errors returned by the server and ones created by Thunderbird

Differentiating errors that come from the server and ones that are generated by Thunderbird. Examples would be Inbox Full messages and, as I just answered, where bounced email messages are generated. See: viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1958861 There are others that I'm not remembering right this moment

Offline folders are the only way to backup an IMAP account

Offline folders let you read messages in IMAP accounts when you're working offline, and provide a backup. However, you could:

  • Use a program like IMAPSize] to backup the messages as .eml files. Its smart enough to do incremental backups (don't backup the same message again).
  • Sign up for a free second IMAP account that you use just for backing up that account
  • Use a message filter to automatically copy new messages in your inbox to it
  • Use IMAPSize or ImapSync to synchronize the two accounts
  • If your email provider supports server side scripts such as the Sieve mail filtering language you can have your email provider automatically copy a new message to the other email account the moment its added to your mailbox - you don't need to even check for new mail for that to happen. [1]

IMAP is too different for me to use

TBD

Local Folders are just a waste of space

Local Folders only take a few KB if you don't use them. They can be very useful if you want to use "Send Later", send messages in the background, need another location to store messages, or want to use a global inbox. If they bother you either keep them minimized in the folder pane or hide them using the MailTweak add-on.

You don't need to automate compacting folders

When you delete a message its not actually deleted, its just hidden from view and marked as deleted. Its not physically deleted until you compact the folders. If you have a folder with lots of messages in it and frequently delete messages in it (moving a message copies it and then deletes the original) its very prone to corruption. Usually this is an issue just for the inbox folder.

Think of compacting as form of preventative maintenance.

The problem is that its hard to gauge how often is enough, and the downside of guessing wrong can be very bad. If its mildly corrupted you might be able to fix it by rebuilding the index or running Cut MboxD on it. If not, its a lot of work to try to recover messages by editing the mbox file. If a folder is badly corrupted its possible to lose everything when you compact it. That's because the bookkeeping is all messed up. When Thunderbird physically removes one of the deleted messages (when it compacts the folder) if it can't find where that message ends it might delete everything after it. That's a worse case scenario (which periodically happens)

See Also

External Links