Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

New install of Thunderbird not seeing all folders

  • 4 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • Last reply by sfhowes

more options

I recently completely erased an extra old MacBook I have and installed the latest version of Sonoma (14.6.1) on it to experiment with. I then configured Applemail to work with my email provider (outlook.com), which went fine, but I'm really not a fan of the latest version of Applemail, so I thought I'd try Thunderbird (which I used to use years ago, and generally liked OK).

So I downloaded a fresh version of Thunderbird (v128.2.0esr) and configured it with my outlook.com account, which finished the authorization process without a problem. The issue, however, is that Thunderbird will not "see" many of my email folders. I have LOTS of stored email, organized into hundreds, if not thousands, of folders and subfolders. For some reason, about 75% of the folders simply don't appear in the Thunderbird folder tree on the left. I have no problem accessing them via Applemail, but Thunderbird just doesn't seem to realize they're there. The other 25% or so seem to work fine and contain all the messages I expect to be in them.

I've checked some of the folders to make sure that some slightly odd folder names (a few start with a hyphen or have a comma in the names) weren't causing issues, but changing the folder names in Applemail or via the outlook web interface does not make them appear in Thunderbird, and some of the folders whose names contain those characters DO appear in Thunderbird, so I don't think that's the issue.

If I create a new folder in Thunderbird, it appears in Applemail immediately. However, if I try to create a folder with the same name as a folder that appears in Applemail, the operation fails with the message "The current command did not succeed. The mail server for account ******@outlook.com responded: Folder name is reserved." in the Activity Manager window.

If I create a new folder in Thunderbird, then use Applemail to move some messages from a folder that Thunderbird can't see into that new folder, those messages then DO appear in that new folder in Thunderbird. So I assume it's not a problem with the messages that's causing the folders to not be visible in Thunderbird.

It really seems that Thunderbird is simply not iterating through the folder structure completely. Since the folders aren't appearing at all in Thunderbird, I have no way to select or deselect them for synchronization for offline use. Is there some way to view Thunderbird's internal retrieval of the folder structure from the server? I've tried restarting Thunderbird many times, including in Troubleshooting mode and clearing the startup cache, but they made no difference.

Any help would be appreciated! I'm liking Thunderbird's look and functionality, but I need it to access all my email or I will have to go back to Applemail, or, god forbid, try the Outlook email client :-(

Thanks!

I recently completely erased an extra old MacBook I have and installed the latest version of Sonoma (14.6.1) on it to experiment with. I then configured Applemail to work with my email provider (outlook.com), which went fine, but I'm really not a fan of the latest version of Applemail, so I thought I'd try Thunderbird (which I used to use years ago, and generally liked OK). So I downloaded a fresh version of Thunderbird (v128.2.0esr) and configured it with my outlook.com account, which finished the authorization process without a problem. The issue, however, is that Thunderbird will not "see" many of my email folders. I have LOTS of stored email, organized into hundreds, if not thousands, of folders and subfolders. For some reason, about 75% of the folders simply don't appear in the Thunderbird folder tree on the left. I have no problem accessing them via Applemail, but Thunderbird just doesn't seem to realize they're there. The other 25% or so seem to work fine and contain all the messages I expect to be in them. I've checked some of the folders to make sure that some slightly odd folder names (a few start with a hyphen or have a comma in the names) weren't causing issues, but changing the folder names in Applemail or via the outlook web interface does not make them appear in Thunderbird, and some of the folders whose names contain those characters DO appear in Thunderbird, so I don't think that's the issue. If I create a new folder in Thunderbird, it appears in Applemail immediately. However, if I try to create a folder with the same name as a folder that appears in Applemail, the operation fails with the message "The current command did not succeed. The mail server for account ******@outlook.com responded: Folder name is reserved." in the Activity Manager window. If I create a new folder in Thunderbird, then use Applemail to move some messages from a folder that Thunderbird can't see into that new folder, those messages then DO appear in that new folder in Thunderbird. So I assume it's not a problem with the messages that's causing the folders to not be visible in Thunderbird. It really seems that Thunderbird is simply not iterating through the folder structure completely. Since the folders aren't appearing at all in Thunderbird, I have no way to select or deselect them for synchronization for offline use. Is there some way to view Thunderbird's internal retrieval of the folder structure from the server? I've tried restarting Thunderbird many times, including in Troubleshooting mode and clearing the startup cache, but they made no difference. Any help would be appreciated! I'm liking Thunderbird's look and functionality, but I need it to access all my email or I will have to go back to Applemail, or, god forbid, try the Outlook email client :-( Thanks!

All Replies (4)

more options

If you right-click the account in the Folder Pane, Subscribe..., Refresh, can the missing folders be subscribed (checked)?

Helpful?

more options

sfhowes said

If you right-click the account in the Folder Pane, Subscribe..., Refresh, can the missing folders be subscribed (checked)?

Nope, the refreshed list is the same as is shown in the left-side folder list. It's as if Thunderbird knows nothing about the invisible folders.

Helpful?

more options

One interesting thing: If I use Thunderbird to create a new folder, then a new folder inside that, those both are visible. If I then use Applemail to move a folder that is Thunderbird-invisible to be inside that first created folder, Applemail then happily shows the two folders (the newly created subfolder and the problem folder) inside that new parent folder. But viewing even after refreshing/restarting in Thunderbird still only shows the one new empty subfolder inside that new parent folder. There's something about the old folder that Thunderbird just doesn't like.

Helpful?

more options

The only things I can think of are problems with using non-standard characters in the folder names, or, since you have many folders and subfolders, you're running into limits on the string length of folder names:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Limits_-_Thunderbird#Folder_hierarchies

Helpful?

Ask a question

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.