Thunderbird v68.1.2 is hanging (spinning dial) on Mac/Catalina
I upgraded my MacAir to a Mac PowerBook. Thunderbird started hanging on Mojave. So I upgraded to Catalina. Same problem. I get a spinning dial. I think it is stuck downloaded mail - sometimes it says "downloading 1 of 28123" messages in the lower left. I have tried running in safe mode, compacting, disabling add-ons, etc. Force quitting and starting again 'fixes' the problem.
I have a fairly large inventory of email. I have seen this kind of problem come and go over the years. Sometimes it doesn't hang but takes a long time to come back. I think it is perhaps indexing the mail. But often now it just hangs forever.
Has anyone seen this on Catalina?
Thanks.
All Replies (8)
If you use an Anti-Virus software please make sure Thunderbird folders are made exempt from scanning and disable scanning incoming and outgoing mail.
I don't use antivirus software.
I think it has something to do with not being able to reach the IMAP server to load messages from a folder.
-Joe
If it is indexing that causes the hang, you might notice this in Tools/Activity Manager. If you have global search indexing enabled (Preferences/Advanced/General), try rebuilding the database, or temporarily disabling global search. Disable Spotlight search, under Systems Integration in General, as well.
If its not an indexing issue, it might be as simple as the common problem of a corrupted message blocking downloads.
Is it loading messages? Or when you are sending messages?
It always seem to happen with I send a message with an attachment, and then control returns to the main TBird window. It seems like it is getting hung trying to update its folder.
Someone suggested global indexing could be the problem, but I turned all that off. I also have disabled add-ons and run in Safe mode.
I do a lot of grading of my courses via email, so I get into a mode where I am sending lots of emails with attachments. It is not uncommon for it to hang every three or four messages.
Very disconcerting.
-Joe
It is not global indexing. See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1381485#c104
Great - nice to know others are seeing the problem. I'll await a solution. This happened once before I think - about 3 or 4 years ago.
-Joe
I have the same problem, and have been seeing this since updating my Mac mini (2014) to Mojave. It's worse under Catalina, and now Firefox is also experiencing frequent hangs. I have to Force Quit. In my case, it's not after sending a message, though, but it happens (in Thunderbird) at random times, and most often after I first load up the program the first time in the morning. It seems like after Thunderbird/Firefox gets "warmed up," the problem becomes less noticeable.