Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

StefanMartens · Post by **StefanMartens** » February 9th, 2016, 4:58 am

Encountered a very 'dangerous' problem in 38.5.1 and also earlier versions!!!

Currently I use Thunderbird Portable 38.5.1 with a number of different mail accounts
OS is Windows 7 Ultimate

Unwanted attachments are sent with mails named Part 1.2.2.
It happened several times now in Thunderbird 38.5.1 portable. Thunderbird attaches a pdf file from a previous mail I sent and renames it to Part 1.2.2. And in Sent Folder Thunderbird displays the size as "size unkknown".
I send BCC copies to me and they also show this attachment.
And I can find the unwanted attachment also with the BCC copy in my Inbox when I use the web interface of my mail account.

It always seems to be the latest pdf attachment I sent in a previous mail.
Any ideals how to "fix" this?
I already performed a completely new Thunderbird installation. The problem is still there.

Regards,

Stefan

Post by **DanRaisch** » February 9th, 2016, 5:30 am

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.

Do you regularly compact the message folders? Compacting is something that needs to be done regularly in any email program, particularly with POP type accounts. We recommend weekly, but many of us do it daily. When done often enough, it can be an extremely fast process. Not doing so can lead to problems like those you are experiencing. See this about how to and why it's so important: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

If you haven't been doing that before, first back up your Thunderbird Profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup then compact all folders.

StefanMartens · Post by **StefanMartens** » February 9th, 2016, 6:26 am

DanRaisch wrote:How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.

Different accounts are affected, all are POP.

And I just performed a fresh new clean installation, then imported my mbox files from my 'old' Thunderbird using ImportExportTools 3.2.4.1.
The problem is still there with my brandnew installation. All folders have been compacted and I have been using a very low threshold for automatic compacting also in the past, anyway.

I also encountered the following problem quite often already months ago:
When sending mails with embedded images the images were replaced with other images from another mail in my draft folder of that particular account.
As this happened quite often, I made sure to delete all drafts before sending a new mail.

Question: Can I configure Thunderbird in a way that it always attaches a wanted attachment, e.g. a very small pdf? Maybe this will block the unwanted attachment. As per today only mails that had no 'wanted' attachment were affected.

One more hint: When I try to forward such a mail with an unwanted attachment, this unwanted attachment is not being shown in the attachment window in the upper right corner and also not at the bottom.

Do you have any ideas regarding a 'work around' when there is no fix?

Thanks and best regards,

Stefan

Post by **DanRaisch** » February 9th, 2016, 6:42 am

I don't believe that adding an intentional attachment will resolve this issue but if you wish to try that see this article -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Signatures_%28Thunderbird%29

StefanMartens · Post by **StefanMartens** » February 9th, 2016, 10:43 am

DanRaisch wrote:I don't believe that adding an intentional attachment will resolve this issue but if you wish to try that see this article -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Signatures_%28Thunderbird%29

Already added a small png file, but this is no 'real' attachment, only an image displayed inline. What I would like to do is automatically add e.g. a pdf file to each mail, but I wouldn't know how!?

I just hope that when there is a real attachment, then the unwanted one would not be added. And I never experienced an unwanted attachment when there already was an intentional attachment.

I wonder what would happen with mails having a 'real' attachment as the unwanted attachment is not being attached in the usual way as you can see from my screenshot. Furthermore, when I scroll through the mails in my Sent Folder, first, there is no paper clip to indicate the attachment. When I click on the mail with the unwanted attachment, then - after a short pause - the paper clip appears and from then on stays there permanently.

Regards,

Stefan

Post by **DanRaisch** » February 9th, 2016, 12:07 pm

That link I posted includes information on adding an image to a signature. You can use that same information to automatically include an image in each outgoing message.

StefanMartens · Post by **StefanMartens** » February 10th, 2016, 1:10 am

DanRaisch wrote:That link I posted includes information on adding an image to a signature. You can use that same information to automatically include an image in each outgoing message.

First of all, thanks for your patience and answering all my questions

After searching my old mails from last year, I found many more mails with unwanted attachments called Part 1.2.2 or Part 1.2. All are pdf files.

I tried to analyze the source of the mail with the original (intentional) pdf attachment and the source of the mail with the dame, but unwanted attachment:

It is peculiar:

In the source of the mail with the original pdf attachment it reads (jpeg instead of pdf):
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
but the source for the attachment looks peculiar
The source contains many instances of
AAAAAAA
or
////////////////////////////
or
ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAg
...
Again the original mail source looks funny, while the source of the unwanted attachment looks random (as it should?)

In the source of the mail with the unwanted attachment it reads correctly pdf
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
the source for the attachment looks random

In my previous answer I already wrote that I added an image:
"Already added a small png file, but this is no 'real' attachment, only an image displayed inline. What I would like to do is automatically add e.g. a pdf file to each mail, but I wouldn't know how!?"
Again, in my understanding this is not the same as attaching a file as a 'real' attachment. This image is embedded not attached. Or am I wrong here?

Regarding the unwanted attachment: At the moment it looks to me as if it were always taken form the latest email with an attachment that I sent. And this attachment was previously sent from the same account

I also found out that over the past years, now and then somebody came up and posted the same problem somewhere on the net.

Is there some way to find out what happens by analyzing the source of analyzing the mbox file using a hex editor? If yes, I could do this!

Thanks and best regards,

Stefan

Post by **DanRaisch** » February 10th, 2016, 5:10 am

You don't need a hex editor to analyze an mbox file because they are basically text files with structured header information included. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox

StefanMartens · Post by **StefanMartens** » February 10th, 2016, 5:35 am

DanRaisch wrote:You don't need a hex editor to analyze an mbox file because they are basically text files with structured header information included. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox

OK, but what should I look for?

BTW, in the meantime I installed the add-on 'Expression Search / GMailUI 0.9.1-let-fixed '. It works perfectly, also when searching for names or fractions of names of attachments. But it does not find those unwanted attachments. I can only find them manually and I found a few more... from the past months.

Since 'Expression Search' does not find them, they must have been attached in another way.

Regards,

Stefan

yclee · Post by **yclee** » March 20th, 2016, 9:00 pm

StefanMartens wrote:
DanRaisch wrote:You don't need a hex editor to analyze an mbox file because they are basically text files with structured header information included. <a class="postlink" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mbox">htt ... ki/Mbox</a>
OK, but what should I look for?

BTW, in the meantime I installed the add-on 'Expression Search / GMailUI 0.9.1-let-fixed '. It works perfectly, also when searching for names or fractions of names of attachments. But it does not find those unwanted attachments. I can only find them manually and I found a few more... from the past months.

Since 'Expression Search' does not find them, they must have been attached in another way.

Regards,

Stefan

hi

This problem exist is NOT NEW and I have already reported it LONG LONG AGO
No one actually bothers to check it out.

Few of our mails sent with ATTACHMENT NOT INTENDED FOR RECEIVER
Few of it are critical attachment like prices and etc.

The last instance is attachment from an attachment of SENT FOLDER
The first few instances are attachment grabs from the folders randomly

Hence now, my thunderbird will no longer SENT (smtp not config).
I rely on Evolution to sent and with IMAP, thunderbird will download all emails sent and I will manually move the SENT email to other local folders. Still looking forward for other email clients until thunderbird has really solve such issues.

yclee · Post by **yclee** » March 20th, 2016, 9:07 pm

DanRaisch wrote:How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.

Do you regularly compact the message folders? Compacting is something that needs to be done regularly in any email program, particularly with POP type accounts. We recommend weekly, but many of us do it daily. When done often enough, it can be an extremely fast process. Not doing so can lead to problems like those you are experiencing. See this about how to and why it's so important: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

If you haven't been doing that before, first back up your Thunderbird Profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup then compact all folders.

Hi

Compacting does not resolve the unwanted attachment issues
But it can resolve the "corrupted" msf issue.
One instance that we have this unwanted attachment.
I did deleting the msf and let TB to create new one, then do a compact manually
Very interesting part is that the receiver email which has the attachment was removed in the process of compacting and creating new index file. But unfortunately, the receiver has already received the unwanted not intended attachment. Luckily, its not a critical attachment.

yclee · Post by **yclee** » March 20th, 2016, 9:10 pm

StefanMartens wrote:
DanRaisch wrote:That link I posted includes information on adding an image to a signature. You can use that same information to automatically include an image in each outgoing message.
First of all, thanks for your patience and answering all my questions

After searching my old mails from last year, I found many more mails with unwanted attachments called Part 1.2.2 or Part 1.2. All are pdf files.

I tried to analyze the source of the mail with the original (intentional) pdf attachment and the source of the mail with the dame, but unwanted attachment:

It is peculiar:

In the source of the mail with the original pdf attachment it reads (jpeg instead of pdf):
Content-Type: image/jpeg
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
but the source for the attachment looks peculiar
The source contains many instances of
AAAAAAA
or
////////////////////////////
or
ICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAg
...
Again the original mail source looks funny, while the source of the unwanted attachment looks random (as it should?)

In the source of the mail with the unwanted attachment it reads correctly pdf
Content-Type: application/pdf
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
the source for the attachment looks random

In my previous answer I already wrote that I added an image:
"Already added a small png file, but this is no 'real' attachment, only an image displayed inline. What I would like to do is automatically add e.g. a pdf file to each mail, but I wouldn't know how!?"
Again, in my understanding this is not the same as attaching a file as a 'real' attachment. This image is embedded not attached. Or am I wrong here?

Regarding the unwanted attachment: At the moment it looks to me as if it were always taken form the latest email with an attachment that I sent. And this attachment was previously sent from the same account

I also found out that over the past years, now and then somebody came up and posted the same problem somewhere on the net.

Is there some way to find out what happens by analyzing the source of analyzing the mbox file using a hex editor? If yes, I could do this!

Thanks and best regards,

Stefan

hi

i had this problem long ago, reported but no solution nor replies
The attachment can be from any where of the folders and even from ANY EMAILS ATTACHMENT in the thunderbirds.

Unfortunately we are not able to reproduce this unwanted attachment "bug"

Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2

Re: Unwanted Attachments sent, named Part 1.2.2