Thunderbird emails appearing in "Junk Mail" mysteriously
For the last several months some of my emails have ended up in the "Junk Mail" folder somehow. Previously all my junk mail went to "Junk" and was flagged with yellow flame and shortly deleted. The email now going to "Junk Mail" includes some from relatives and Medicare. Fortunately none is flagged as junk but of course is a pain to move to the inbox manually. Has there been a redesign of Thunderbird somehow causing email to end up in that directory? Is that something that my ISP Charter/Spectrum might be causing? Thanks, besides the constant "Not Responding" messages I get, this is making me wonder if I need to find another email program.
All Replies (18)
Is Charter/Spectrum also your email service provider? Is this an IMAP account? What are the current Junk settings for the account as shown in Account Settings? Which version of Tbird are you using?
Yes, Charter/Spectrum is the email provider. Server type: IMAP mail server. Enable adaptive junk mail controls, Do not automatically mark if sender in Collected Addresses or Personal Address Book, Trust junk mail headers set by SpamAssassin , Move new junk mail messages to Other: flame symbol Junk on xx@charter.net , Automatically delete junk mail older than 30 days . thanks
forgot- Thunderbird 78.3.3
TB 59.9.1 here, I didn't want to update. I like my ext :) Ok, I've been using TB since the beginning of time. I started having my reg email (some) getting dump into the junk\mymail folder Marking Not Junk didn't help and reset adaptive filter didn't help...So After doing some searching and not finding on how to really fix it. I needed to see where the junk filter files were stored. Gotcha.. Junk and Junk.msf files ( one of them was like 428k ) I had backed up my TB from 2018...zipped. I opened my zip file and extracted Junk and Junk.msf (238K) :) I placed them into the TB Mail Local Folders (I did copy of the org Junk and Junk.msf ) before overwriting. Bingo ! waited for the email to start coming in again and the problem is gone for the emails I want.
If you don't have a back up of TB :( You could probably do a new profile and get the new Junk and Junk.msf files from the new profile to overwrite the original profile old ones (save the old ones first) :) Yes, you have to start over on the marking of Junk mail but at least you get all your emails that you really wanted to see again :) Good Luck
There must be an easier solution for this! I appreciate Tony Soprano's reply, but it's too much for a non-geek to follow! I cannot just delete the Junk Mail folder and allow mail to go into Junk (with the flame.) I have to manually move it or assign a junk designation to each email to get it to move to the Junk folder. One of these folders is extraneous! And why is Junk Mail not marked with the flame?
I would be more than happy to help you Melonic What is it doing ? Putting mail into the Junk folder that you don't want it too? I'll walk you through it Let me know Tony
tony saprano, can you please help me to stop email i want going in to the junk folder
No problem Steve... You'll have to use Win File Explorer to find what I'm going to talk about. Go to...(look for) C: Users AppData\Roaming (This is found under your user name) Under Roaming...You should see the Thunderbird directory (click on TB directory) Now, you'll see a Profiles directory, This is your default profile for your TB
I'll stop here to make sure your following along for any questions Steve I'll post images if you have problems.
No problem Steve..Here you go You'll have to use Win File Explorer for the fix.
Looks for C:\ Users Find your user name Under the User name...Find Appdata, then look for Roaming. Under Roaming...You'll see the Thunderbird directory...click on that directory and you'll see the Profiles directory. Under the Profiles directory ..You'll see a TB default directory name. (numbers and letters) Click on the default directory name...You should see a Mail directory..click on the Mail directory
Tell me if you see a "smart mailbox" directory I'll stop here for any questions if you having problems. I'll send images if you need help finding these
I had this problem recently and was referred to this page. I have followed the instructions in the Tony Soprano 3/17/21, 5.06 am and have found the Smart Mailbox directory. I see the list of email boxes, but what do I do now?
Hi Sharron !! Ok, I'm back to help you and walk you through the rest. Good Job on finding the "Smart Mailbox)
In the the "Smart Mailbox" directory. Find two files named. (Junk) and (Junk.msf) These two files will be close to Zero Bytes (Since the Smart Mailbox isn't used) Your going to want to copy those two files into the "Local Folders" (under the Mail directory) Your going to have to overwrite the same two files that in that directory for this to work. That's it !! Just remember, your going to have to start hitting the junk button for any mail that you consider junk when you start receiving new mail. It's like starting all over again but at least you will start seeing the email that you really want to see :) ! I hope my instructions were helpful. I'm here if you need anymore help. Take Care Sharron Tony
Sharron said
I had this problem recently and was referred to this page. I have followed the instructions in the Tony Soprano 3/17/21, 5.06 am and have found the Smart Mailbox directory. I see the list of email boxes, but what do I do now?
Please read response Sharron, Tony
Sorry, missed your response. However, I'm afraid that when I go to Local Folders I do not see files just what is in the attached screenshot. Could you please walk me through what I need to do after seeing those 2 files in the Smart Mailbox directory,
Sharron
Hi Sharron
I guess, I didn't give good instructions on how to find those files and copy them. :( Sorry You have "TB" opened in that image. You can't do the fix inside TB
You have to use Windows "File Explorer" to do this fix. Click on the Start button and type, File Explorer OR this simple short cut, Press Win + E on your keyboard You should see Windows open "File Explorer"
When you get "File Explorer" open...You need to do the finally steps to find those files and directories. (from my previous posts above)
Looks for C:\ Users Find your user name Under the User name...Find Appdata, then look for Roaming. Under Roaming...You'll see the Thunderbird directory...click on that directory and you'll see the TB Profile directories Under the Profiles directory ..You'll see a TB default directory name. (numbers and letters) Click on the default directory name...You should see a Mail directory..click on the Mail directory
I have my fingers crossed you will find the files and directories now with the "File Explorer" opened Keep me posted if your still having problems. Just take your time when looking in "File Explorer" Tony
I don't think my reply posted..I'll be back to post the reply again :(
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Sharron.. Ok, Let me try to post this again. First, I guess I didn't do a good job on explaining how the fix works. You have to open Windows "File Explorer" The image you posted is inside TB. You can't fix it inside TB so close TB. Sharron,open Windows "File Explorer" Press Win + E on your keyboard You should see Windows File Explorer open and you'll be looking at C:drive directories.
Then using my previous posts... Looks for C:\ Users Find your user name Under the User name...Find Appdata and click on that directory, then look for Roaming dir and click on it. Under Roaming...You'll see the Thunderbird directory...click on that directory and you'll see the Profiles directory. Under the Profiles directory ..You'll see your TB default directory name. (numbers and letters) Click on the default directory name...You should see a Mail directory..click on the Mail directory Let me know if you get this far... Just take your time.. Tony
Tony, under my AppData/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/xxxx.default/Mail directory I only have a Local Folders directory. In Local Folders I see the Trash (0 kb) and Trash.msf (4 kb) files. But there is no Smart Mail directory anywhere. Any Ideas? Bryan
Hi bchewitt That's ok not having the "Smart Mail" directory. I only referenced that because it has the two files Junk and Junk.msf with Zero bytes but I found a easier method to fix the Junk mail problem.
Since you only have a "Local Folders" directory. Look inside that directory and find "Junk and Junk.msf You can move both of those files to a backup directory OR you can delete both Junk and the Junk.msf files. Thunderbird will make new Junk and Junk.msf files with Zero bytes when you restart TB.
Just remember, You will have to start hitting the Junk button for anything you consider Junk from your inbox. It's like starting over and it doesn't know what you consider junk. I hope that helps. Let me know how it's going bchewitt. Tony Side note: I'm not sure why TB screws up the junk mail but I have no problem starting over tagging junk mail :)
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