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Why is Thunderbird deleting emails older than 1 month (I've triple-checked all settings)?

pioneer2007
pioneer2007
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I started using Thunderbird a few months ago. Since then, all email older than 30 days are being deleted from the server. They are still on my hard drive though. I have tried changing every setting I could find: 1) Under "Options->Accounts->Server Settings" I have it set to "Leave messages on server" and "Until I delete them" 2) Under "Disk Space" have selected "Don't delete any messages". I have the same setting for local and server 3) I have changed the "Retention Policy" on all my folders to "Don't delete any messages"

For the life of me I cannot figure out why they are still being deleted after 1 month. My server settings do not have anything that is supposed to delete them.

I started using Thunderbird a few months ago. Since then, all email older than 30 days are being deleted from the server. They are still on my hard drive though. I have tried changing every setting I could find: 1) Under "Options->Accounts->Server Settings" I have it set to "Leave messages on server" and "Until I delete them" 2) Under "Disk Space" have selected "Don't delete any messages". I have the same setting for local and server 3) I have changed the "Retention Policy" on all my folders to "Don't delete any messages" For the life of me I cannot figure out why they are still being deleted after 1 month. My server settings do not have anything that is supposed to delete them.

Chosen solution

OK well I found an extension that let me import my old emails to a folder. I think I am all set. My new account is set up as IMAP. I'll have to see if it deletes any old emails from now on.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (8)

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Have you considered that your mail provider may have a retention policy that sees mail deleted after a month?

pioneer2007
pioneer2007 Question owner
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They say that they don't.

Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

What mail provider?

Please add the Mail and News Accounts information from the "troubleshooting information" to your post

To find the Troubleshooting information:

  • Open Help (or click on three-line-icon and select Help)
  • Choose Troubleshooting Information
  • Use the button Copy to clipboard to select all. Do not check box "Include account names"!
  • Paste this in your post.
pioneer2007
pioneer2007 Question owner
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Here you go: 


 Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 45.5.1
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.5.1
   Profile Folder: Show Folder

             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20161130024037
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory

 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (pop3) secure37.webhostinghub.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , secure37.webhostinghub.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext

 Crash Reports

 Extensions
   Add-ons Manager Context Menu, 0.4.2.1-signed.1-signed, true, amcontextmenu@loucypher
   Send Later, 6.1, true, sendlater3@kamens.us
   Lightning, 4.7.7, false, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}
   McAfee Anti-Spam Thunderbird Extension, 2.0, false, msktbird@mcafee.com

 Important Modified Preferences

   Name: Value

     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     dom.apps.reset-permissions: true
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 45.5.1
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Consolas
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Calibri
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 14
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 17
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: 34b0cf79-426b-49c2-8bab-2a2090901aa
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1485225574
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
     plugin.importedState: true

 Graphics

     Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
     Vendor ID: 0x8086
     Device ID: 0x0412
     Adapter RAM: Unknown
     Adapter Drivers: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igd12umd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32 igd12umd32
     Driver Version: 20.19.15.4531
     Driver Date: 9-29-2016
     Direct2D Enabled: false
     DirectWrite Enabled: false (10.0.14393.351)
     ClearType Parameters: ClearType parameters not found
     WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.316930d51ea9)
     GPU Accelerated Windows: 0

     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: cairo

 JavaScript

 Incremental GC: 1

 Accessibility

   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0

 Library Versions

     Expected minimum version
     Version in use

     NSPR
     4.12
     4.12

     NSS
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC

     NSS Util
     3.21.3
     3.21.3

     NSS SSL
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC

     NSS S/MIME
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
Matt
Matt
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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what is your domain name?

Is sales a valid email address on that domain (If not please tell me one that is.

I see nothing even vaguely like what you have in your account settings here http://www.webhostinghub.com/help/learn/email/thunder-bird/how-to-set-up-your-email

pioneer2007
pioneer2007 Question owner
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OK so I removed that account from Thunderbird and set it up with a new one as an IMAP. Weirdly it keeps changing it back to a POP3 even if I select IMAP. The domain I am trying to set up is docelticjewelry.com and my email address is dan@docelticjewelry.com. It doesn't matter how I set it up, after I go through the process and look back at "server settings" it says that it is a POP3 server type. 


 Application Basics

   Name: Thunderbird
   Version: 45.5.1
   User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; rv:45.0) Gecko/20100101 Thunderbird/45.5.1
   Profile Folder: Show Folder

             (Local drive)
   Application Build ID: 20161130024037
   Enabled Plugins: about:plugins
   Build Configuration: about:buildconfig
   Memory Use: about:memory

 Mail and News Accounts
   account1:
     INCOMING: account1, , (pop3) secure37.webhostinghub.com:995, SSL, passwordCleartext
     OUTGOING: , secure37.webhostinghub.com:465, SSL, passwordCleartext, true

   account2:
     INCOMING: account2, , (none) Local Folders, plain, passwordCleartext

 Crash Reports

 Extensions
   Add-ons Manager Context Menu, 0.4.2.1-signed.1-signed, true, amcontextmenu@loucypher
   Send Later, 6.1, true, sendlater3@kamens.us
   Lightning, 4.7.7, false, {e2fda1a4-762b-4020-b5ad-a41df1933103}
   McAfee Anti-Spam Thunderbird Extension, 2.0, false, msktbird@mcafee.com

 Important Modified Preferences

   Name: Value

     browser.cache.disk.capacity: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.filesystem_reported: 1
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size_cached_value: 358400
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.first_run: false
     browser.cache.disk.smart_size.use_old_max: false
     dom.apps.reset-permissions: true
     extensions.lastAppVersion: 45.5.1
     font.name.monospace.el: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-cyrillic: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-unicode: Consolas
     font.name.monospace.x-western: Consolas
     font.name.sans-serif.el: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-cyrillic: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-unicode: Calibri
     font.name.sans-serif.x-western: Calibri
     font.name.serif.el: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-cyrillic: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-unicode: Cambria
     font.name.serif.x-western: Cambria
     font.size.fixed.el: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-cyrillic: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-unicode: 14
     font.size.fixed.x-western: 14
     font.size.variable.el: 17
     font.size.variable.x-cyrillic: 17
     font.size.variable.x-unicode: 17
     font.size.variable.x-western: 17
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.appVersion: 45.5.1
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.deviceID: 0x0412
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.driverVersion: 20.19.15.4531
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.direct3d11-angle: true
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle: true
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-d3d11: false
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-force-warp: false
     gfx.crash-guard.glcontext.gfx.driver-init.webgl-angle-try-d3d11: true
     gfx.crash-guard.status.glcontext: 2
     mail.openMessageBehavior.version: 1
     mail.winsearch.firstRunDone: true
     mailnews.database.global.datastore.id: 34b0cf79-426b-49c2-8bab-2a2090901aa
     network.cookie.prefsMigrated: true
     network.predictor.cleaned-up: true
     places.database.lastMaintenance: 1485225574
     places.history.expiration.transient_current_max_pages: 104858
     plugin.importedState: true

 Graphics

     Adapter Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600
     Vendor ID: 0x8086
     Device ID: 0x0412
     Adapter RAM: Unknown
     Adapter Drivers: igdumdim64 igd10iumd64 igd10iumd64 igd12umd64 igdumdim32 igd10iumd32 igd10iumd32 igd12umd32
     Driver Version: 20.19.15.4531
     Driver Date: 9-29-2016
     Direct2D Enabled: false
     DirectWrite Enabled: false (10.0.14393.351)
     ClearType Parameters: ClearType parameters not found
     WebGL Renderer: Google Inc. -- ANGLE (Intel(R) HD Graphics 4600 Direct3D11 vs_5_0 ps_5_0) -- OpenGL ES 2.0 (ANGLE 2.1.0.316930d51ea9)
     GPU Accelerated Windows: 0

     AzureCanvasBackend: skia
     AzureSkiaAccelerated: 0
     AzureFallbackCanvasBackend: cairo
     AzureContentBackend: cairo

 JavaScript

 Incremental GC: 1

 Accessibility

   Activated: 0
   Prevent Accessibility: 0

 Library Versions

     Expected minimum version
     Version in use

     NSPR
     4.12
     4.12

     NSS
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC

     NSS Util
     3.21.3
     3.21.3

     NSS SSL
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC

     NSS S/MIME
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
     3.21.3 Basic ECC
pioneer2007
pioneer2007 Question owner
more options

It looks like I have it set up as an IMAP account now. The thing is, where are all my old emails on my hard drive? Is there a way I can either get them back on the server, or if not, at least be able to view them if I want? My old POP account in Thunderbird at least had all the emails saved to my hard drive.

pioneer2007
pioneer2007 Question owner
more options

Chosen Solution

OK well I found an extension that let me import my old emails to a folder. I think I am all set. My new account is set up as IMAP. I'll have to see if it deletes any old emails from now on.