Restart Thunderbird with add-ons disabled (Thunderbird Safe Mode). On the Help menu, click on "Restart with Add-ons Disabled".

If Thunderbird works like normal, there is an Add-on or Theme interfering with normal operations. You will need to re-enable add-ons one at a time until you locate the offender.

Bruce,

Thanks for the reply. I haven't installed any add-ons, but I still went ahead and gave your suggestion a try. Nope, unfortunately, it didn't help. Thunderbird is still reloading the headers when I select a folder.

I suggest creating a new Thunderbird Profile for testing to see if this happens also with the new Profile.

Quit Thunderbird.

Hold down the Windows key and press R.

In the run box, type:

thunderbird.exe -p

This will start the Profile Manager for Thunderbird. Click the "Create Profile" button.

Type in a new profile name. Don't name it "default" or "Default User". Use your imagination.

You can let the Profile Manager create the new profile in the default location, or you can click the "Choose Folder" button to choose where to set up the new profile. I personally put my profile folders where I want them, so it is easier for me to back them up.

After you click "Finish" select the new profile in Profile Manager, un-check "Use the selected profile without asking at startup". Then click "Start Thunderbird".

Thunderbird will now start with nothing set yet.

First up is the "System Integration" window. Click the "Set as Default" button.

Next, is the "Welcome to Thunderbird" window asking if you want a new e-mail address. Click the bottom left button, "Skip this and use my existing email". Then set up your e-mail account.

Once your e-mail account is set up AND tests OK, then see if you see the same bad behavior.

If the problem is solved by creating this new Profile, then import your messages, message filters, address books, and calendar data from the old Thunderbird profile to the new one.

Bruce,

As I'm sure you know, Thunderbird, by default, stores the profiles in the AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird folder. When I deleted that folder, along with the AppData\Local\Thunderbird folder, have I not in effect done what described?

Also, I've forgot to mention in my original post that the email account is an IMAP account.

Can you define "Reloading all headers"?

If this is about messages displaying more than the From/Subject/To header lines, you may just need to select View > Headers > Normal (instead of All).

You might be able to work around the System Integration issue by setting Thunderbird as default email program using the Windows settings: click the Start button, Default Programs, Set program access and computer defaults, Custom, then set TB as the default email program.

RichardR1:

That was a good step and probably enough. Sometimes Thunderbird has problems with the "default" profile it sets up, though, so creating a new profile with a name other than "default" is a good idea. Given my pessimism right now, I figure that won't help you right now, but it might in the future.

I have no other ideas to fix your problem. Sorry.

Tones,

When I click on a folder in the left pane, Thunderbird will display the message like "Downloading message header 1 of 632..." in the status bar at the bottom of the application window and continually update the message until it gets done. In this case, up to 632. That's what I'm referring to when I say that Thunderbird is "reloading all the headers".

The messages are not duplicated or anything like that in the right pane that lists the messages. Nor do I know where Thunderbird is getting the 632 number from, as there's only 300 or so messages in the folder.

Hope that explains what I mean.

Richard

Bruce,

Thanks for trying. I'll go ahead and give creating a new profile a try when I have a little more time. Maybe I'll get lucky...

Richard

1. Open your profile folder as described in this article
2. Close Thunderbird
3. Delete (or move) the global-messages-db.sqlite file in the profile folder
4. Restart Thunderbird, but don’t make it fetch email yet (you may need to disable it before closing)
5. Disable Global indexing in Options > Advanced > General tab > Enable Global Search and Indexer
6. Try to fetch messages.

Any difference? If it works, enable Global Search and check whether the issue returns.

I deleted and reinstalled Thunderbird. Now I'm having this problem.

Possibly relevant: did you reinstall Thunderbird using a limited Windows account?

Tonnes,

I've tried your suggestion and just been giving it couple days to see if it did help. I've disabled Global indexing as per your instructions, and I've left it disabled. Sometimes when I click on a folder, it's seems fine. Other times, Thunderbird stills start downloading a bunch of message headers.

Regarding your question about "a limited Windows account". I'm an administrator. But I'm considering maybe reinstalling Thunderbird again, selecting "Run as Administrator" when I do. Can't hurt, may help...