Latest Thunderbird desktop questions: Mon Feb 2 00:02:01 UTC 2026

Automated · Automated · commit 781750427a3e · 2026-02-02T00:02:01.000Z
diff --git a/.answer_poll_count.txt b/.answer_poll_count.txt
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diff --git a/2026/2026-01-22-2026-01-22-thunderbird-answers-for-questions-desktop.csv b/2026/2026-01-22-2026-01-22-thunderbird-answers-for-questions-desktop.csv
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ id,question_id,created,updated,content,creator,is_spam,num_helpful,num_unhelpful
 1796243,1561552,2026-01-25 13:32:18 -0800,2026-01-25 13:32:18 -0800,"<p>Sorry, Ruth. My bad ...English.  I wanted to say ""move by a copy/paste action""....  In a case like yours it's always more secure to copy a folder (or messages) and paste them in the new location. So if you inadvertently pasted a copy in a false location you can always return the the original folder and restart your operation instead of desperately searching where you had pasted the copy.... </p>",Mapenzi,false,1,0
 1796265,1561552,2026-01-25 15:17:20 -0800,2026-01-25 15:17:20 -0800,"<p>Right, thank you for clarifying. That’s what I thought but best to be sure. I’ll have a go at it tomorrow and post my progress on here. R </p>",ruthnichollsphotos,false,0,0
 1797443,1561552,2026-01-31 12:01:22 -0800,2026-01-31 12:01:22 -0800,"<p>To Mapenzi and Matt, </p><p>Thankyou. Having followed your instructions, I think I have retrieved all the folders and subfolders. They are all now in Local Folders. Not sure that all the emails are there, but I will have to trust that they are. I cannot thank you enough as I was getting in a panic about it. However, all is not quite sorted yet without a bit more help. Because, before I asked my original question, I had asked a local IT chap who knows about Macs to have a go at retrieval. Turns out he didn't know about Thunderbird, although he did get his head around it, sort of.  He decided to add another account, a duplicate of my gmail account but as IMAP. The original gmail account is POP. He then made the IMAP account download everything. It was very slow and limited to a certain amount of data per 24hrs.  While this was happening, I asked my original question on this forum, which you have solved for me. But I have now ended up with a mess, and many duplicated folders, many of which are not complete, do not have all/any of the emails or the subfolders. I think the best way to show you is for me to do some screenshots.  So there are 5, in sequence, showing the whole left-hand column in TB from top to bottom , with a small amount of overlap for continuity. If you have the time to look at this you will see what a mess and how much duplication there is. If for example, you look at all the Inboxes, you will see that each one has a different number of unread files, which implies to me that not all emails are in all the inboxes, ie the inboxes are not all identical. </p><pre>So I need to be able to compare them, side by side on the same screen, to cross check. I hope you understand. So, my question is, what can I do about this other than to compare one folder with the same one froma different bit of the tree? I can get two TB folders to open together in two adjacent windows, and make comparisons, and then am I right that if I delete from one side the other side will not be changed? not be deleted? </pre> <p>Is there a better way to do this?  Eventually, when I get rid of the duplication I want to also remove one of the gmail accounts, as they are the same email address and all incoming emails go to both. So is it better to try to preserve the original POP account, or go with the IMAP one? I think I have to make this decision before starting to remove duplicates. I confess I don't know what the difference is and which is better. (I have an iPhone and gmail works well on that with the app and through Apple Mail). </p><p>I'm sorry this is such a marathon post......  Thankyou if you're prepared to go on helping me. I'll attach the screenshots now. </p>",ruthnichollsphotos,false,0,0
-1797574,1561552,2026-02-01 09:21:28 -0800,2026-02-01 09:22:52 -0800,"<em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote> While this was happening, I asked my original question on this forum, which you have solved for me. But I have now ended up with a mess, and many duplicated folders, many of which are not complete, do not have all/any of the emails or the subfolders. I think the best way to show you is for me to do some screenshots.  So there are 5, in sequence, showing the whole left-hand column in TB from top to bottom , with a small amount of overlap for continuity. If you have the time to look at this you will see what a mess and how much duplication there is. </blockquote> <p>Undeniably this is a big mess but actually you are the only person to sort out this mess since you have created all those thematic ""archive"" folders in Local Folders. You know what they contain and where they belong in the folder hierarchy. No helper in this forum can do this for without sitting before your screen, opening all folders and subfolders to verify their contents and to compare with other folders or sub-folders having the same name but perhaps not the same message contents.  </p> <em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote> So I need to be able to compare them, side by side on the same screen, to cross check. I hope you understand. So, my question is, what can I do about this other than to compare one folder with the same one from a different bit of the tree? I can get two TB folders to open together in two adjacent windows, and make comparisons, and then am I right that if I delete from one side the other side will not be changed? not be deleted?</blockquote> <p>You can open two folders having the same name in two different Thunderbird windows side by side by R-clicking on the folder name &gt; ""Open in a New Window"", then compare their messages in the thread panes. And you can copy selected messages from one folder to the other (see image). I'd prefer ""copy"" to ""move"" to avoid moving to wrong folders and then missing them in the original folder </p> <em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote> Is there a better way to do this?  </blockquote> <p>I only know the manual way I just proposed.  </p> <em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote>  Eventually, when I get rid of the duplication I want to also remove one of the gmail accounts, as they are the same email address and all incoming emails go to both. So is it better to try to preserve the original POP account, or go with the IMAP one? I think I have to make this decision before starting to remove duplicates. I confess I don't know what the difference is and which is better. (I have an iPhone and gmail works well on that with the app and through Apple Mail). </blockquote> <p>Difficult question. Some people get better along with POP accounts than with IMAP, often because the began emailing with with POP accounts. Eventually, when both your gmail POP account and your gmail IMAP account have the same folders with the same messages contents, you could delete one of them. But since you also use this gmail address on your iPhone with Apple Mail it might be better to keep the IMAP account in Thunderbird in order to synchronise messages between Thunderbird and iPhone. </p>",Mapenzi,false,0,0
+1797574,1561552,2026-02-01 09:21:28 -0800,2026-02-01 12:13:28 -0800,"<em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote> While this was happening, I asked my original question on this forum, which you have solved for me. But I have now ended up with a mess, and many duplicated folders, many of which are not complete, do not have all/any of the emails or the subfolders. I think the best way to show you is for me to do some screenshots.  So there are 5, in sequence, showing the whole left-hand column in TB from top to bottom , with a small amount of overlap for continuity. If you have the time to look at this you will see what a mess and how much duplication there is. </blockquote> <p>Undeniably this is a big mess but actually you are the only person to sort out this mess since you have created all those thematic ""archive"" folders in Local Folders. You know what they contain and where they belong in the folder hierarchy. No helper in this forum can do this for without sitting before your screen, opening all folders and subfolders to verify their contents and to compare with other folders or sub-folders having the same name but perhaps not the same message contents.  </p> <em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote> So I need to be able to compare them, side by side on the same screen, to cross check. I hope you understand. So, my question is, what can I do about this other than to compare one folder with the same one from a different bit of the tree? I can get two TB folders to open together in two adjacent windows, and make comparisons, and then am I right that if I delete from one side the other side will not be changed? not be deleted?</blockquote> <p>You can open two folders having the same name in two different Thunderbird windows side by side by R-clicking on the folder name &gt; ""Open in a New Window"", then compare their messages in the thread panes. And you can copy selected messages from one folder to the other (see image). I'd prefer ""copy"" to ""move"" to avoid moving to wrong folders and then missing them in the original folder. When both folders have identical messages, you can delete one of them.  </p> <em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote> Is there a better way to do this?  </blockquote> <p>I only know the manual way I just proposed.  </p> <em><p>Ruth Nicholls <a href=""#answer-1797443"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote>  Eventually, when I get rid of the duplication I want to also remove one of the gmail accounts, as they are the same email address and all incoming emails go to both. So is it better to try to preserve the original POP account, or go with the IMAP one? I think I have to make this decision before starting to remove duplicates. I confess I don't know what the difference is and which is better. (I have an iPhone and gmail works well on that with the app and through Apple Mail). </blockquote> <p>Difficult question. Some people get better along with POP accounts than with IMAP, often because they began emailing with with POP accounts. Eventually, when both your gmail POP account and your gmail IMAP account have the same folders with the same messages contents, you could delete one of them. But since you also use this gmail address on your iPhone with Apple Mail it might be better to keep the IMAP account in Thunderbird in order to synchronise messages between Thunderbird and iPhone. </p>",Mapenzi,false,0,0
 1795464,1561569,2026-01-22 00:50:42 -0800,2026-01-22 00:50:42 -0800,"<em><p>Kami Scott <a href=""#question-1561569"" rel=""nofollow"">said</a></p></em> <blockquote>My previous computer crashed and got a new one (Win 11 of course - new for me).    I downloaded Thunderbird.  With the help of an Earthlink (my email) tech, all but one of my emails (gmail) were entered.  Then I downloaded and began reading them.    The first thing I noticed was the Next and Previous buttons are missing (or placed where I don't see them).  The second thing I noticed is that when I click on one email to read, all the emails in the respective Inbox also open.  This is very annoying.  I also hope someone can tell me the info I need to add a gmail account.  (I rarely use it, but there two websites which require a gmail email to log on.)  And I had made a T-bird ""backup"" but haven't used it yet.  I'd like to IF I can locate it.      P.S.  Is it possible to shut off the AI ""help"" while writing this.  I find it annoying, slows me down. </blockquote> <p>1. R. click the Toobar &gt; Customize &gt; drag the Next and Previous buttons up to the toolbar. </p><p>2. Second thing: I haven't heard of that ever happening. Does it also happen in <a href=""/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-mode-thunderbird"" rel=""nofollow"">Troubleshoot mode</a>? </p><p>3. New Gmail account - see <a href=""https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en"" rel=""nofollow"">https://support.google.com/mail/answer/56256?hl=en</a>. If you want to use TB to access Gmail, see <a href=""https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-gmail/"" rel=""nofollow"">https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/thunderbird-and-gmail/</a>. </p><p>4. AI - probably not. </p>",siffemoz,false,0,0
 1795626,1561569,2026-01-22 12:09:49 -0800,2026-01-22 12:09:49 -0800,"<p><strong>Thanks!  </strong> 1.  Found Customize, dragged several commands. (The placement is different from before.  It used to be over the right side of the message window, which was very convenience since I'm right-handed.) </p><p>2.  I'm pretty sure now that happened because I clicked on the first message of a Thread.  I don't remember that happening in the version I had on previous computer.  I guess I should UNcheck Thread in the Options.  😼 3.  Will do. 4.  😒 </p><p>5. <strong> Thanks</strong> to the poster here who mentioned ""Win ."" for emoji's. 5a:  I can't remember how to get to the Tbird window to get the emoji add-on I had before - it's the largest and easiest to use. </p>",KJS-LES,false,0,0
 1795628,1561569,2026-01-22 12:15:12 -0800,2026-01-22 12:15:12 -0800,"<p>2. Double clicking on the first message in a collapsed thread opens all the messages. In that view, the first message represents the whole thread. Expand the thread, and the first message acts as an individual message. </p>",mozilla98,false,0,0
diff --git a/2026/2026-01-22-2026-01-22-thunderbird-creator-answers-desktop-all-locales.csv b/2026/2026-01-22-2026-01-22-thunderbird-creator-answers-desktop-all-locales.csv
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 id,created,updated,locale,product,title,is_solved,solution,solved_by,is_spam,last_answer,answers,topic,tags,creator,content,involved,is_archived,is_locked,is_taken,metadata,num_answers,num_votes_past_week,num_votes,taken_until,taken_by,updated_by
-1561552,2026-01-21 16:20:31 -0800,2026-02-01 09:22:52 -0800,en-US,thunderbird,Thunderbird Profile restore,false,,,false,1797574,1795384;1795447;1795466;1795732;1795799;1796210;1796213;1796239;1796243;1796265;1797443;1797574;,import-and-export-email,thunderbird;import-and-export-email;,ruthnichollsphotos,"<p>Is it possible to copy just the Mail folder from a Thunderbird Profile backup in Time Machine on Mac?  I have deleted an email account from Thunderbird and I did not tick Delete Data so the emails are still there in my Profile but they no longer show up in the tree in Thunderbird on my Mac ( OS 14.8 Sonoma). I had a lot of subfolders into which I had put incoming and sent emails on particular topics. For example I had a folder called Family, and inside that I had a subfolder called Birthdays as well as many other family related topics.  My last Time Machine back up is about a month ago but that would be good enough to restore from.  I tried ‘Import’ in Thunderbird but it only imported the main folders and the emails within but not the subfolders.  I have another email address besides the deleted one and if I overwrite the whole Profile with the older one from Time Machine it will lose a lot of new stuff accumulated since that backup.  Any help most appreciated </p>",ruthnichollsphotos;MattAuSupport;Mapenzi;,false,false,true,";useragent:Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 26_0_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) CriOS/144.0.7559.85 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1;os:Mac OS Sonoma 14.8.1",12,1,1,2026-02-01T09:31:04.711119,"{""username""=>""Mapenzi"", ""display_name""=>""Mapenzi"", ""avatar""=>""https://profile.accounts.firefox.com/v1/avatar/d""}",
+1561552,2026-01-21 16:20:31 -0800,2026-02-01 12:13:28 -0800,en-US,thunderbird,Thunderbird Profile restore,false,,,false,1797574,1795384;1795447;1795466;1795732;1795799;1796210;1796213;1796239;1796243;1796265;1797443;1797574;,import-and-export-email,thunderbird;import-and-export-email;,ruthnichollsphotos,"<p>Is it possible to copy just the Mail folder from a Thunderbird Profile backup in Time Machine on Mac?  I have deleted an email account from Thunderbird and I did not tick Delete Data so the emails are still there in my Profile but they no longer show up in the tree in Thunderbird on my Mac ( OS 14.8 Sonoma). I had a lot of subfolders into which I had put incoming and sent emails on particular topics. For example I had a folder called Family, and inside that I had a subfolder called Birthdays as well as many other family related topics.  My last Time Machine back up is about a month ago but that would be good enough to restore from.  I tried ‘Import’ in Thunderbird but it only imported the main folders and the emails within but not the subfolders.  I have another email address besides the deleted one and if I overwrite the whole Profile with the older one from Time Machine it will lose a lot of new stuff accumulated since that backup.  Any help most appreciated </p>",ruthnichollsphotos;MattAuSupport;Mapenzi;,false,false,false,";useragent:Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 26_0_0 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) CriOS/144.0.7559.85 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1;os:Mac OS Sonoma 14.8.1",12,1,1,,,
 1561556,2026-01-21 16:44:55 -0800,2026-01-21 16:44:55 -0800,en-US,thunderbird,transferring old email files to new computer using POP3 & Thunderbird,false,,,false,,"",import-and-export-email,windows-11;thunderbird;import-and-export-email;,eller7015,<p>How do I move old emails (Outlook) from a Windows 10 computer to new computer and use POP3 Thunderbird? </p>,eller7015;,false,false,false,";useragent:Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/143.0.0.0 Safari/537.36;os:Windows 11",0,0,0,,,
 1561569,2026-01-21 19:24:07 -0800,2026-01-26 13:56:38 -0800,en-US,thunderbird,Thunderbird on new computer - missing Next & Previous on Inbox; opens all emails in folder when I click on one.,true,1795710,siffemoz,false,1796450,1795464;1795626;1795628;1795642;1795710;1795711;1796450;,customization,thunderbird;customization;,KJS-LES,"<p>My previous computer crashed and got a new one (Win 11 of course - new for me).   </p><p>I downloaded Thunderbird.  With the help of an Earthlink (my email) tech, all but one of my emails (gmail) were entered.  Then I downloaded and began reading them.   </p><p>The first thing I noticed was the Next and Previous buttons are missing (or placed where I don't see them). </p><p>The second thing I noticed is that when I click on one email to read, all the emails in the respective Inbox also open.  This is very annoying. </p><p>I also hope someone can tell me the info I need to add a gmail account.  (I rarely use it, but there two websites which require a gmail email to log on.) </p><p>And I had made a T-bird ""backup"" but haven't used it yet.  I'd like to IF I can locate it.   </p><p><br> </p><p>P.S.  Is it possible to shut off the AI ""help"" while writing this.  I find it annoying, slows me down. </p>",KJS-LES;siffemoz;mozilla98;,false,false,false,";useragent:Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/144.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 Edg/144.0.0.0;os:Win 11;solver_id:4233293",7,0,0,,,
 1561570,2026-01-21 19:46:22 -0800,2026-01-22 00:43:27 -0800,en-US,thunderbird,Help recovering an email I sent with an error in the address,false,,,false,1795463,1795463;,send-and-receive-email,firefox-14701;firefox-1470;windows-11;thunderbird;send-and-receive-email;,DZip,<p>Help recovering an email I sent with an error in the address. I'm trying to get the files in included in the email. </p>,DZip;siffemoz;,false,false,false,;useragent:Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:147.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/147.0;ff_version:147.0.1;os:Windows 11,1,0,0,,,
