Grey folders problem
I recently had to create a new IMAP acct for a new mail service that uses Exchange, but Thunderbird seems to be having problems with SOME of the folders I have. In the Subscribe list some are shown as 'subscribed' while others don't even have a checkbox to subscribe them. In the folders list I've tried everything from recreating a new folder with the same name (so they turn black) and then I delete them, but they just keep re-appearing. When they're black I can see them in Outlook.com where I've deleted them, but they still keep reappearing in TB. I've spent 2 days online reading & trying solutions but this is extremely frustrating & I'm running out of enthusiasm for TB (which I've used for years). Please help me Obi-Wan.
All Replies (4)
Have you tried any of the suggestions here?
Thank you for your suggestion, I have tried everything I can find in every possible configuration in your linked post & the others it links to, but they just keep reappearing after I restart TB. The odd thing is that it won't let me unsubscribe to any folders. This has just turned into a black hole of lost time.
Modified by dmotospam
Exchange is a funny animal, and not outlook.com is using it quirks do surface. Paid office365 is actually worse for them I understand.
But my understanding is that the grey usually means it is a folder that can not contain emails, but it can contain sub folder that can contain emails.
THe most common thing I see this in is gmail account where unless you manually specify the imap server directory to {Gmail} then the folder pane in Thunderbird shows a grey GMail folder with sub folders containing mail like the sent folder.
With exchange there are also shared folders, and I think these might be what we are seeing here. Shared folders are not part of IMAP, they are a part of exchange, so if you connect using a mobile device using EAS then they will work, but as Thunderbird does not have EAS they do not function correctly in Thunderbird. They might also be deleted stuff that has not gone through an IMAP expunge. While there are some settings in server settings to expunge the inbox, the easiest way to force an expunge is to use the compact command on the file menu.
Thanks for your suggestions Matt, but I don't they are the problem. The grey folders didn't appear in Outlook.com so I believe they are only in TB, where I could delete them but they'd just reappear after restarting TB. After more than 2 days on this I've since given up & cancelled my Exchange server upgrade with GoDaddy & reverted back to my good old IMAP service.