Emails keep reappearing after being deleted - not deleted from server
Ever since the last Windows 10 update (1903 64-bit) and Thunderbird update (60.7.1 32-bit), I have been getting multiple duplicate emails. When I delete them, they are transferred to the Trash folder, but as soon as the Get Messages button is clicked, or the Inbox is refreshed automatically, they reappear in my Inbox. This happens on all my email accounts.
The problem seems to be that they are not being deleted from the mail server (pop3.virginmedia.com), despite the server settings tickbox being set to "Leave messages on server for at most 14 days or until I delete them". I have tried unticking the "Leave messages on server" box, but that makes no difference. I also installed a "Remove duplicate messages" add-on, but again that seems to have had only limited effect.
Any ideas?
Chosen solution
IMAP accounts get access to see all server folders including the 'Trash'. If you want to use IMAP, you would need to create a new existing mail account and set up as IMAP. All emails put into the imap subscribed 'Trash' folder should delete emails off the server when it is emptied as this is how gmail works.
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Deleted emails reappearing sounds like you might have some corruption going on with Inbox.
Move all wanted emails out of Inbox and put them in a suitably named folder for storage. Delete anything you do not want. When Inbox is empty: Right click on Inbox and select 'Compact'
Empty and then compact the 'Junk' folder. Compact the 'Drafts' folder.
Toad-Hall said
Deleted emails reappearing sounds like you might have some corruption going on with Inbox. Move all wanted emails out of Inbox and put them in a suitably named folder for storage. Delete anything you do not want. When Inbox is empty: Right click on Inbox and select 'Compact' Empty and then compact the 'Junk' folder. Compact the 'Drafts' folder.
Have tried that, but still they keep coming! Messages read and then deleted from my Inbox are obviously not being marked as read on the mail server, nor are they being deleted from there when they are deleted in Thunderbird. Hence why they keep reappearing every time the Inbox is refreshed.
If you emptied Inbox as advised and then compacted it, then it would have been a new completely empty file.
So the fact that you have now got emails reappearing, sounds like they got downloaded again.
It is possible the 'popstate.dat' file has gone awol and keeps downloading everything.
Assuming Account Settings > server settings is set to "Leave messages on server for at most 14 days or until I delete them".
In thunderbird
- Help > Troubleshooting Information
- click on 'Open Folder' button
a new window opens showing contents of profile name folder.
- Exit Thunderbird now.
- click on 'Mail' folder
- click on pop mail account - pop3.virginmedia.com folder
- locate and delete this file: popstate.dat
- Start thunderbird.
The downside: All emails on server will get downloaded because the 'popstate'.dat' file is new and empty. So it will download whatever is on the the server.
Now try deleting several emails and then compacting the Inbox.
Have done all that, but still no joy.
I sent a test message via Thunderbird from one of my email accounts to another whilst logged into the recipient account on the Virginmedia server. The email duly showed up immediately. I then deleted the email from my recipient account's Thunderbird Inbox, and emptied the Trash Box, but despite refreshing the Virginmedia web-page the email still remained - ie it had not been deleted from the mail server account.
Modified by hotmog
re : I then deleted the email from my recipient account's Thunderbird Inbox, and emptied the Trash Box, but despite refreshing the Virginmedia web-page the email still remained
Did you compact the Inbox to remove the email ?
I deleted the emails, then compacted the Inbox.
Oh dear, it all seems to have gone ominously quiet...
Here's what I've done so far: I updated Thunderbird with the latest Beta version (68.0b1). I've deleted all emails from every account Inbox, then emptied the Trash boxes, then compacted each Inbox and Trash box, and finally deleted the popstate.dat files in each of the account folders in the Profile Mail folder.
But It's like trying to cut the head off the Hydra - no sooner have I done all this than another set of duplicate emails reappears. One account's Inbox had amassed almost 1500 emails over the course of a couple of days!
The crux of the problem is that when emails are deleted from the local Inboxes, they are not being deleted from the mail server's Inbox.
It's getting beyond a joke, now.
Any suggestions welcomed.
re:I updated Thunderbird with the latest Beta version (68.0b1). The latest release of Thunderbird is 60.7.2
Just to let you know the latest release is version 60.7.2 if you want to use it. https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/thunderbird/all/
re: deleted the popstate.dat files.....another set of duplicate emails reappears.
This would have removed the pop accounts log of what had been previously downloaded.
So upon restarting Thunderbird, anything in the server Inbox would have been downloaded.
This explains what you see as downloaded into Thunderbird.
Important Please Read: However, I've been doing some research into the issue you are experiencing and I've found an answer. Please read the info at this link: https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Email/POP3-Behaviour/td-p/2994032
Chosen Solution
IMAP accounts get access to see all server folders including the 'Trash'. If you want to use IMAP, you would need to create a new existing mail account and set up as IMAP. All emails put into the imap subscribed 'Trash' folder should delete emails off the server when it is emptied as this is how gmail works.
Many thanks, Toad-Hall.
Changing all my accounts to IMAP has done the trick!
Unfortunately the add-on I had previously that allowed me to manually sort the account folders isn't compatible with the beta version. Hopefully it will be with the next general release.