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Cannot see contents of one e-mail when viewing on Google, why?

  • 2 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by jvanpotter

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A recent e-mail was found to show as blank when viewed in Thunderbird and on g-mail. Previous e-mails of the same type (a weekly newsletter from my Boy Scout troop) are visible in Thunderbird, but not when viewed in my g-mail account. All these seem to be viewable when I use IE8 (on XP) to access my g-mail account, or if I use Safari on my iMac. I can also view the content of the e-mail when downloaded to my iPad.

Something in Firefox is causing this e-mail content to not appear when viewed on Google's server. Unfortunately, that problem now extends to Thunderbird also.

This is a showstopper: if I can't solve it, I have to cancel my plan of installing Thunderbird on my iMac and migrating my e-mail to it. I'll have to come up with a completely non-Mozilla solution.

A recent e-mail was found to show as blank when viewed in Thunderbird and on g-mail. Previous e-mails of the same type (a weekly newsletter from my Boy Scout troop) are visible in Thunderbird, but not when viewed in my g-mail account. All these seem to be viewable when I use IE8 (on XP) to access my g-mail account, or if I use Safari on my iMac. I can also view the content of the e-mail when downloaded to my iPad. Something in Firefox is causing this e-mail content to not appear when viewed on Google's server. Unfortunately, that problem now extends to Thunderbird also. This is a showstopper: if I can't solve it, I have to cancel my plan of installing Thunderbird on my iMac and migrating my e-mail to it. I'll have to come up with a completely non-Mozilla solution.

All Replies (2)

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Boot the computer in Windows Safe mode with network support to see if that has effect in case security software is causing problems.

See also:


You can try these steps in case of issues with web pages:

You can reload web page(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.

  • Hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
  • Press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
  • Press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)

Clear the cache and remove the cookies from websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Options/Preferences).

"Clear the cache":

  • Firefox/Options/Preferences -> Advanced -> Network -> Cached Web Content: "Clear Now"

"Remove the cookies" from websites that cause problems.

  • Firefox/Options/Preferences -> Privacy -> "Use custom settings for history" -> Cookies: "Show Cookies"

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Appearance
  • Do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Safe Mode start window
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Tried the Firefox safe mode after deleting all cookies that had anything to do with Google, but problem still remains. If security software is the problem, I think it would affect the performance of IE 8 also, but that works (with the expected warning messages from Google that the browser is unsupported). This problem (not displaying contents of e-mail) exists only with Firefox and Thunderbird. I've decided to search for another option for moving my mail from old PC to new iMac: for now, I'm not installing any Thunderbird or Mozilla software on it, Safari works just fine.