Why does Thunderbird indicate I have exceeded my outlook.com quota, yet outlook.com does not?
I access my outlook.com emails via Thunderbird. I have done so for months with no problems.
Suddenly, Thunderbird fails to retrieve new emails. It also fails to display the emails in many (but not all) old folders. The error message reads: 'The current operation on Inbox {or other folder name} did not succeed. The mail server for account {my email address} responded: [OVERQUOTA]. The Mailbox does not have enough space remaining to complete this operation.'
However, if I log in directly to my outlook.com account online, I can still receive / view / send / move / delete emails to my heart's content. There is no indication that I have reached any kind of quota limit. I have deleted a number of superfluous emails, but this has made no difference to the failure occurring in Thunderbird.
Any ideas? Many thanks.
All Replies (6)
The message came from the providers server. The message states that. Thunderbird just delivered the message. It did not make it up. When was the last time you Compacted your folders in Thunderbird? I would try that. Deleting messages mark them for deletion and hide them. The disk space is not freed up until you Compact the folder. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_Tips_:_Compacting_Folders
I have tried compacting the folders. It made no difference.
I appreciate that the message must have come from the server. it just seems rather peculiar that the account appears to have ground to a complete halt when accessed via Thunderbird, yet continues to function perfectly when outlook.com is accessed directly via a browser.
when you turn on a hose in your yard you get water. Turn on the fire hydrant in the street you also get water. Does an issue with one imply that there should be an issue with the other? Same here. Perhaps the folk at outlook only meter IMAP.
After reading some pages over at outlook.com it would appear you get 5Gb total. That I assumed included onedrive, but I appear to have 15Gb there so I really don't know.
Furthermore, Microsoft support assure me I have not reached my limit, and my account is fully operational. As indeed it is, as long as I access it directly via a browser.
ok, log the connection. https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging
If you see a message coming from the outlook server saying you are over quota you will know the Microsoft support people have an issue with the truth, or their server does.
Regardless way we really need that sort of information to move forward. I think the issue will be over at the money making end of things. It is a well known issue with IMAP that some servers lie about quota. But in this case you are getting errors because of it, so it is not lying.
FurryCanary said
Furthermore, Microsoft support assure me I have not reached my limit, and my account is fully operational. As indeed it is, as long as I access it directly via a browser.
Microsoft support do not know the difference between IMAP and POP. They also keep referring to sending mail by POP. Seriously, my grand daughter is more technically skilled.
I have wasted many hours trying to get answers from them So far I am sure everything they say is 100% technically correct and 100% useless.