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Thunderbird has stopped saving sent messages.

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by bushwah

bushwah
bushwah
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Note that this Q&A did not help with today's problem: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1204781

Thunderbird gives the message: "Status: Copying message to Sent folder" interminably.

When "Cancel" is clicked, there is the message: "There was an error saving the message to Sent. Retry?" Clicking "Okay" just starts the loop over again. Trying to close the message then gets the question of whether to save in Drafts. The only way to escape the loop is to say "No".

The messages are being sent and received by the addressees, they are just not being saved by Thunderbird. I am having to BCC myself in order to save my outgoing messages (as received mail, in Inbox, where I don't want it).

I would suspect this of being a problem caused by my ISP, but I am in Ontario and a client in Iowa is now experiencing the same problem.

Thanks for any info / help.

Note that this Q&A did not help with today's problem: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1204781 Thunderbird gives the message: "Status: Copying message to Sent folder" interminably. When "Cancel" is clicked, there is the message: "There was an error saving the message to Sent. Retry?" Clicking "Okay" just starts the loop over again. Trying to close the message then gets the question of whether to save in Drafts. The only way to escape the loop is to say "No". The messages are being sent and received by the addressees, they are just not being saved by Thunderbird. I am having to BCC myself in order to save my outgoing messages (as received mail, in Inbox, where I don't want it). I would suspect this of being a problem caused by my ISP, but I am in Ontario and a client in Iowa is now experiencing the same problem. Thanks for any info / help.

All Replies (2)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You could try rebuilding the Sent folder according to these instructions. This means copying the existing messages to another folder, then closing TB and deleting the Sent mbox file and Sent.msf file. A new Sent folder will be created next time you send, and this one should work properly.

Also, disable antivirus scanning of email if it's in place. In fact, start Windows in safe mode with networking before you rebuild as above to see if the problem remains. If it works in Windows safe mode, this suggests AV as the source of the problem, and a rebuild of the folder may not be necessary.

bushwah
bushwah Question owner
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Hm, the fact that this has suddenly happened to two unrelated users in different countries on the same day just makes it seem like it isn't a problem at our end.

If no one else in the world is experiencing the same problem, that would just be one of those strange flukes, I guess.

For now, we are taking the "wait and see" approach. I have really zero desire to embark on the kind of process involved in the "these instructions" you linked to. If I have to, I may just give up and use my back-up Gmail account as my main one.

Thanks and I will keep you posted. ;)