Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

created new accounts but sub-folders different, missing

  • 28 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

more options

created new accounts but sub-folders different, missing, new, & new icons(?)

For many years I have had 2 Accounts in Tbird. They are POP. I just created two new accounts, and am confused by some differences in appearance. These are IMAP. Do IMAP accounts populate the sub-folders based on a structure present in the IMAP provider?

1) there is a new sub folder "All Mail"

2) No Junk folder. There is a Spam folder. Did some idiot change the name in an update to Tbird, just to fark with long time users? If so they did a poor job, since the Account Settings still has a tab for "JUNK Settings" and the toggle asks where to move the JUNK. Creating synonyms is bad practice, because nobody knows if they are in fact synonyms. One would presume they are not.

3) In the index listing of accounts, each account has an icon to its left -- concentric circles with a padlock. And I have not noticed that icon before, I'm wondering if my old accounts suddenly have a different icon (which strangely matches the new accounts' icons). The sub-folders all have unique icons for each type (Inbox, Sent, etc)

In choosing where to place sent mail, there are two toggle choices to Place A Copy In: 1) "Sent" folder on { [circle&lock icon] ACCOUNT_NAME 2) "Other { [SentFolderIcon] Sent on ACCOUNT_NAME I don't grasp the difference. Would 1) keep the messages on the remote IMAP system? I notice that my old POP accounts are using option 1) & mail is kept locally.

3) The new accounts have "greyed out" italicized subfolders "Folders" and "Labels." Are these associated with being IMAP, or did some Tbird update add them? What are they for?

created new accounts but sub-folders different, missing, new, & new icons(?) *** For many years I have had 2 Accounts in Tbird. They are POP. I just created two new accounts, and am confused by some differences in appearance. These are IMAP. Do IMAP accounts populate the sub-folders based on a structure present in the IMAP provider? 1) there is a new sub folder "All Mail" 2) No Junk folder. There is a Spam folder. Did some idiot change the name in an update to Tbird, just to fark with long time users? If so they did a poor job, since the Account Settings still has a tab for "JUNK Settings" and the toggle asks where to move the JUNK. Creating synonyms is bad practice, because nobody knows if they are in fact synonyms. One would presume they are not. 3) In the index listing of accounts, each account has an icon to its left -- concentric circles with a padlock. And I have not noticed that icon before, I'm wondering if my old accounts suddenly have a different icon (which strangely matches the new accounts' icons). The sub-folders all have unique icons for each type (Inbox, Sent, etc) In choosing where to place sent mail, there are two toggle choices to Place A Copy In: 1) "Sent" folder on { [circle&lock icon] ACCOUNT_NAME 2) "Other { [SentFolderIcon] Sent on ACCOUNT_NAME I don't grasp the difference. Would 1) keep the messages on the remote IMAP system? I notice that my old POP accounts are using option 1) & mail is kept locally. 3) The new accounts have "greyed out" italicized subfolders "Folders" and "Labels." Are these associated with being IMAP, or did some Tbird update add them? What are they for?

All Replies (8)

more options

I seem to have local copies in the IMAP folder, since Synchronization is turned on.

I can move to Local Folders using the Right Click dropdown, so why not automatically via a Filter? TB's functionality is failing here.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1127439 > Be prepared this being a bit of a tedious procedure.

Basically you mark all messages to be copied. Then right-click a highlighted message - Copy To - choose destination account and folder. You may need to manually create a folder structure underneath 'Local Folders' prior to copying.

Because you do have a large number of messages, don't copy all messages at once. Start with a single message. Then try smaller batches. Mail servers are not made for mass transactions >

The last sentence is n/a since I would be transferring a local copy in the first place.

more options

Do all IMAP servers need to use a "bridge" app to TB, or is that kind of unique to ProtonMail?

Trying to make it stop loading emails in the background. Seems to be not respecting the TB Settings. Their Bridge has no controls wrt when to download.

more options

VerizonSucks said

The last sentence is n/a since I would be transferring a local copy in the first place.

Not correct. Every mail you move requires a round trip to the server to advise it it is being moved/copies/deleted. Some mail server do not support move, so copy and delete occurs in the background.

As of this bridge thing. It is unique to proton mail. How it works, what it does and does not do are all unique to proton mail. That is why I suggested you need to talk to them.

The only other "similar" software I am aware of is davmail which simulates a local mail server to access Microsoft proprietary mail protocols on Exchange server. I am assuming that Proton mail also have propriety protocols (here I use the term loosely as protocols not defined in the IMAP/POP RFC's)

However using intermediate software is very much not the norm Why did you not just use GMX. I am sure I suggest it to you in one of your many support threads.

I can move to Local Folders using the Right Click dropdown, so why not automatically via a Filter? TB's functionality is failing here.

Moving messages by filter requires a number of things to be working correctly. 1. The message has to already be downloaded from the mail sever. This is not always the case unless the filter is executed after classification

2. Files involved in the destination must not be locked. Anti virus scanning the file post move can take 10 minutes. So if you try again within that period it may cause contention issues.

3. Moving lots of mail with a filter is no more successful than manually trying to do it.

As I said before, use POP if you want copies in your local folder instead of trying to make an inappropriate protocol bend to your will.

more options

Yea this IMAC sucks worse & worse. What's GMX? I have not found a secure service I can pay to provide POP downloads of mail sent to them.

Maybe if I run the filter AFTER junk scanning?

I don't use any virus scan software on incoming email. Are you referring to the TB spam filtering?

more options

IMAP. My brain keeps saying Emacs. I want to go back to vi. Or maybe PINE. Eudora was perfect.

more options

TB should have a setting that allows me to transfer email in a Synchronized IMAP folder "as is" without checking for changes on the server.

Its either on the server exactly as it is on TB, or its been deleted. The conservative, failsafe default should be to transfer the existing file as it exists on TB. NO need to contact the server at all.

This evnetually might cause the IMAP server to re-send the email, but who cares? I got my copy safely in Local, and can delete the duplicate.

1) TB takes IMAC server "offline" 2) TB copies to Local 3) TB puts IMAC server "online"

more options

VerizonSucks said

TB should have a setting that allows me to transfer email in a Synchronized IMAP folder "as is" without checking for changes on the server.

I suggest you learn how IMAP works before asking for application software to implement features that the standard does not really support. Did you miss the synchronized part of the conversation. A copy probably will have no overhead. A move certainly will.

Its either on the server exactly as it is on TB, or its been deleted. The conservative, failsafe default should be to transfer the existing file as it exists on TB. NO need to contact the server at all.

Is this going somewhere. I try and stick with how things work, not how I would like them to work. It simplifies the whole learning process.

This evnetually might cause the IMAP server to re-send the email, but who cares?

Probably everyone but you. Seriously.

I got my copy safely in Local, and can delete the duplicate.

Interesting theory. How are you going to knowi f it is a duplicate? Those 25,000 email that just downloaded again will be in your folders, [placed there by your filter. Sounds like a total mess to me.

1) TB takes IMAC server "offline" 2) TB copies to Local 3) TB puts IMAC server "online"

Have you tried it? If it does not work, and it is not really supposed to, then we are not talking about how things work. If you have enhancement requests to make you are welcome to file an enhancement bug in Bugzilla. There is absolutely no point discussing them here. This is not a development ideas forum.

VerizonSucks said

IMAP. My brain keeps saying Emacs. I want to go back to vi. Or maybe PINE. Eudora was perfect.

Eudora was not perfect. I was so unimpressed with it I removed it before my 100mb hard disk was full while still using Windows 3.

more options

re :Do IMAP accounts populate the sub-folders based on a structure present in the IMAP provider Imap accounts show a virtual copy of what is on server. All imap mail account folders and emails will be on the server and you subscribe to see them. You can create new folders, but they still need to be subscribed. Right click on imap mail account name in Folder Pane and select 'Subscribe' to see list. Although you can synchronise folders for offline use and choose to download full copies of emails rather than only headers, all imap folders should be regarded as a sort of temporary cache which can be modified during synchronisation to reflect what is on server. Synchronisation between folder and server is something that is continuous occuring everytime you move, copy, delete etc.

POP folders do not synchronise with server. Helpful info: https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/pop-vs-imap/ https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/imap-synchronization

  1. 1
  2. 2