How can I prevent "Drafts" from multiplying one e-mail in progress many times?
Thunderbird works very well nearly all the time as an e-mail client. I largely enjoy using it. But there is one really irritating problem---at least it is a problem to me. Probably if I understood the structure and function underlying this business, I could avoid and/or solve it and no longer be bothered.
For apparently no reason, an e-mail in progress will show up in "Drafts" multiple times, in unpredictable numbers, once as many as 300+ entries. When this happens, I have to go through and delete all of them, a page-full at a time. (1) Why does this happen, (2) what is the underlying logic that leads to it, and (3) what can I do to ensure that (a) each e-mail-in-progress occupies "Drafts" only once, (b) each e-mail disappears from "Drafts" when it is sent, and (c) each e-mail remains unmultiplied in "Drafts" when it is saved for however long it takes until it is time to send it, whether a minute later of a month later?
Thanks for the help.
All Replies (3)
Is this an IMAP account, and if so, do you have drafts stored in an IMAP folder or in a Drafts folder under Local Folders? Check Tools/Account Settings/accountname/Copies & Folders. For IMAP accounts, Local Folders is preferable.
Thanks. Excuse my lack of total facility here, but I did find what you said to find. "Account settings," however, is under "Options" and not "Tools" in that three-horizontal-lines menu icon, which took me a bit to figure out.
I really don't know whether what I have is "IMAP" or "POP" (I had to look up IMAP to refresh my memory of what it means). I abandoned web-access of my e-mail a couple of years ago because of the frustrations it presented, principally in the ridiculous limitation on the number of recipients that could be used at once---maybe 30, although they never really said explicitly---and if that was exceeded, I would be locked out of sending e-mails for 24 hours.
This was absurd, given my need, for professional and institutional purposes, to send regular e-mails to many recipients. So, I looked for a "POP-server" e-mail client, because I had used one before and had been satisfied. Thunderbird was highly touted to me by a friend whom I respect in such things, and so I began using it, not really knowing what its nature was except that it worked much like the old POP e-mail client I had used before.
I wish I knew more about these things, but I don't. (1) How do I find out if this is IMAP or POP? (2) How does one set up local folders under "Copies & Folders"? Would that not have to be done by establishing a folder or some folders with the proper name(s) and nomenclature? (3) Would it be wise to use local folders for "Sent," "Archives," and "Templates" and not just "Drafts"? (4) How can "Inbox" be established in a local folder as well? It is not listed under "Files & Folders." Frankly, unless there is something really compelling against it, I would rather have everything local so that they are preserved and can be backed up along with everything else during an image backup of the hard drive.
I much appreciate your help, and I'm sorry about all the questions, but the absence of a coherent user guide as opposed to a welter of questions and answers makes it sometimes difficult to find out how to do something, especially if a person doesn't understand exactly how to ask the question in the first place.
Under Account Settings/accountname/Server Settings, Server Type is shown at the top.
The type of account, POP or IMAP, and the choice of email client, has no impact on the number of recipients per message or the rate of sending mail: those are set by the service provider. It may be worth examining mailing lists if you wish to use TB for that purpose.
A subfolder of Local Folders can be created by right-clicking the Local Folders icon in the TB main window (folder pane), then New Folder... If it's an IMAP account, you would probably store Sent, Templates and Archives on the IMAP server, but store Drafts under Local Folders. For POP accounts, those folders, plus Inbox, are, by definition, stored on the local computer.
For IMAP, storing Drafts locally might avoid synchronization issues that possibly cause multiple draft messages. Besides, in most cases it's not necessary to have a draft message accessible from multiple computers.
IMAP is preferred over POP if the accounts are accessed from multiple devices; the backup procedure is described here. Backing up POP accounts is simply a matter of backing up the profile folder.