re :Every email from my banks, government, school and family is marked as spam.

If they are in an imap account 'Spam' folder then they may have been put there by the server filters and when Thunderbird connects with server, it just displays what is on server. If server is the culprit then Thunderbird has no control over it. You will need to see what control is offered on the server.

Not sure what you have got set in the Account Settings > Junk Settings for the account - you would need to post an image showing that information. Otherwise it's just guesswork.

If all those email addresses are in your Address Books, then have you selected those address books as a whitelist ? If no then select them.

Have you selected the option 'Trust junk mail headers set by:' If yes, then if a server spam filter has decided it is spam then Thunderbird will do as requested and put them in the 'Junk' or 'Spam' folder as directed. To see if that is causing the problem, deselect that option.

It would also be useful to know what settings you have got set up in the Preferences. Menu app icon > Preferences > Privacy & Security Under 'Junk' Is 'Enable adaptive junk filter logging' selected ? If yes, then click on 'Show Log' as it may offer some insight into what is occuring.

If you have manually created some Message Filters then I would need to know, just in case you have set up something which is classifying a load of emails. In which case, I advise you to check the 'Message Filters' - click on 'Filter Log' button and see what is going on. If it is currently empty, then perhaps it needs to be enabled - select checkbox 'Enable Filter Log' and click on 'Close' Then later, after some filtering has occurred, go back and see wha is reported. This will help to identify which filter is moving emails incorrectly.

re: every real spam mail from all over the world passes inspection I've discovered recently that spammers are getting really innovative. for example: if you get a spam email to do with McAfee - (which is not really from McAfee). You may find code separating the letters into eg: 'Mc' and 'A' and 'fee', so they appear as separate words which get around filters. Or they are putting part of your own email address in the 'From' - so if you have a folder for family, then they may be marked as junk but still end up filtered to desired folder and not junk even when marked as junk. There are plenty of new tactics being used and it's really annoying.

re : I assume there are no coders working on Thunderbird. And why was I sent to Mozilla to file this feedback when they are not supposed to be working on Tbird?

I'm assuming that comment is supposed to be sarcastic and therefore a rhetorical question.

There are developers working on code, security, major bugs etc . There are even more volunteers who offer their time in an unpaid capacity either to test on reported bugs or to fix bugs. In the same way as they offer their time freely in this Support Forum to help other Thunderbird users. I don't think those people would find the comment so amusing. Bugs must be reproduceable in order to work out the code that is causing the problem. It is common to see several bug reports but in actual fact they may be duplicates. With limited personnel, bugs get prioritised for obvious reasons. Sometimes people report bugs when they are not bugs. Note: Bugzilla is not a Help Forum but it can sometimes be useful.

first: you have a very interesting username. and: Your reply is excellent but it will take some time for me to explore your suggestions. finally: A year ago I was informed that Mozilla will no longer support Tbird. Today on the thunderbird.net site this message remains:

"As of today, the Thunderbird project will be operating from a new wholly owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation, MZLA Technologies Corporation. This move has been in the works for a while as Thunderbird has grown in donations, staff, and aspirations. This will not impact Thunderbird’s day-to-day activities or mission: Thunderbird will still remain free and open source, with the same release schedule and people driving the project.

There was a time when Thunderbird’s future was uncertain, and it was unclear what was going to happen to the project after it was decided Mozilla Corporation would no longer support it. But in recent years donations from Thunderbird users have allowed the project to grow and flourish organically within the Mozilla Foundation. Now, to ensure future operational success, following months of planning, we are forging a new path forward. Moving to MZLA Technologies Corporation will not only allow the Thunderbird project more flexibility and agility, but will also allow us to explore offering our users products and services that were not possible under the Mozilla Foundation. The move will allow the project to collect revenue through partnerships and non-charitable donations, which in turn can be used to cover the costs of new products and services."