Sending & Receiving Emails
Ever since I have installed the last two updates, Thunderbird has caused numerous errors. Mostly, outgoing emails have not been sent, with a message: "Sending of the message failed. An error occurred while sending mail: Outgoing server (SMTP) error. The server responded: * OK IMAP4 server (InterMail vM.9.01.00.037.1 201-2473-137-122-172) ready Fri, 29 Sep 2023 23:21:33 +0000 (UTC)."
I have deleted 4 email accounts, leaving my messages intact, and re-added them to Thunderbird using IMAP and the ports suggested by both Tbird and Spectrum (mail.twc.com). Nothing works to ensure both sending and receiving emails. Errors occur in all email accounts, both sending and receiving.
Further, when I add the accounts to Tbird, instead of emails being sent to the Inbox of "Local Folders," each account appears separately above the Local Folders heading. It was never like that before.
Here is the email path that has worked well in years past: 1. Download all emails from the Spectrum server into MailWasher, deleting (removing from the server before it even gets near my computer) anything that shows to be spam, dangerous or unwanted 2. Send approved emails to Thunderbird where they either are sorted according to my filters or appear in the Local Folders inbox 3. When the email goes into Tbird, it is removed from the Spectrum server so it doesn't keep appearing in MailWasher
I want Tbird to act as it has in the past: Emails go into the accounts in headings that are shown under Local Folders, not as separate accounts above Local Folders. When emails are downloaded into Tbird, I want them taken off the Spectrum server so that I don't have to compare emails in the MailWasher list to those that look the same in Tbird and go back to MailWasher to delete those emails from the Spectrum server, manually, one email at a time. I know IMAP protocol leaves the emails on the server, but does Tbird have a feature that will take emails downloaded into Tbird off the server? A box to check? A choice somewhere to make?
Tech Specs: Windows 11 Latest version of Thunderbird (since uninstalled) MailWasher Pro Ver 7.12.173 Spectrum email, migrated from Time Warner Cable years ago IMAP accounts using mail.twc.com and ports tried: 993, 587, 465
If you think I should start over, using the new Account Setup Hub, I will do that but will that address my above requirements?
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide and thanks to the volunteers who keep Thunderbird working and improving.
Joel
All Replies (7)
I suggest you try changing the outgoing server to be an SMTP one. Send in the incoming IMAP one is clearly not working. Either the server names or the ports you have configured for at least some of your outgoing server (SMTP) entries are not correct.
An error occurred while sending mail: Outgoing server (SMTP) error. The server responded: * OK IMAP4 server
Matt, I see you have been working on this problem for at least 1.5 years over various Spectrum providers. It is a messy situation and you and various other experts have offered many suggestions, which we appreciate. Here is what Spectrum (TimeWarnerCom) designates as servers:
TWC.com and any domain ending in .rr.com not covered above Incoming Email Server: mail.twc.com Outgoing Email Server: mail.twc.com
For my @austin.rr.com account, can anyone suggest some other specific SMTP server for outgoing emails so that I can try Matt's suggestion? Do you think the Brighthouse or Charter servers would work with my account? Has anyone had success using another company's server? I might note that until recently, my emails were going out and coming in using the mail.twc.com server for both. For those who might be following this thread, Spectrum also specifies:
To get started, make sure you have:
Username: Your full Spectrum-provided email address Password: Your Spectrum-provided email password SSL: On Protocol: IMAP Port: 993 Port: 587 Requires Authentication: Yes, or checked
Once I re-install Thunderbird, I will install my 4 email accounts and even try the suggested Security STARTTLS setting if things don't work as well as trying different ports. Again, thanks for all the current and past help with this subject.
Joel
befiore you go making wholesale changes, how about going through some disagnistic processes to determine exactly what the issue is. Fixing what exists is a more relaible process than hoping recreating will fix something.
Could you please do the following?
- Open the menu
> Help > Troubleshooting Information, then click Copy text to Clipboard.
- Go to https://pastebin.mozilla.org/, paste the clipboard by right clicking in the large text area, select paste from the menu, change the retention period to expire in 28 days, use the Paste Snippet button to create a page containing your info, then copy the resulting URL (address) of the page created.
- Open a reply to this post, and paste the URL to your troubleshooting information you just copied.
- Please also provide results for the following test on your system
- Does Thunderbird work as expected in Thunderbird troubleshooting mode?
- Does Thunderbird work as expected with your OS started in safe mode with Networking. Instructions for each operating system: Windows 10/11, Windows 8, Windows 7, OSX
Thanks, Matt. I think you assume I still have the Thunderbird program installed on my PC computer. I do not at this time. I'll have to re-install it and then add my email accounts, one at a time. Guess this is what you would call wholesale changes, but I can't follow your suggestions if Tbird is not installed.
Any response to the Spectrum directions to use mail.twc.com for both incoming and outgoing emails?
Here is the URL from as far as I could go in your instructions: https://pastebin.mozilla.org/M859qa7s
Joel
Installed the latest Thunderbird ver 115.3.2 (64-bit) then followed Matt's suggestion of starting Windows 11 and Thunderbird in Safe Mode and Troubleshoot Mode respectively. Then I tried to add one of my email accounts that has worked with Tbird for years. It found a configuration that used the Charter servers but returned an error message that the account could not be found at Charter when I tried to actually add the account to Tbird. I went to manual config and left everything the same except changed the servers to mail.twc.com since 1) that is what Spectrum dictates and 2) no one has suggested any other specific server setting.
Upon re-test, got a message: "Thunderbird failed to find the settings for your email account." This is strange since the same settings have worked for a long time in Tbird. Also, these settings get my emails on the Spectrum email program and MailWasher has no trouble finding and showing all of the emails. I really can't go back to Spectrum and complain since Thunderbird is the only current program that is giving me trouble. Are there any other things that I can try? I will attempt to add one of the email accounts to another email program and see what happens.
Are there any other Spectrum email customers (especially those using mail.twc.com servers) who have had this problem? I've come up with a work-around and am (almost) back to where I want to be using Thunderbird. If anyone else is interested, I'll post what I did. Joel