SOLVED! - 'COPY FAILED' when sending email

[timpnefc]

Hi
In error, I deleted something in Wiztree which deleted all my emails in my outbox but it has obviously deleted something extra. Now I can't send emails, only receive them. Each time i send an email, it says COPY FAILED at the bottom and the email disappears into oblivion. I have uninstalled TB, deleted my email accounts but each time I reinstall it, same problem.
Please help! I love TB!
I have looked on the internet, and there is no help. Also, i am not tech savvy so don't understand TB, computer code so if anyone does know, can they talk me through it, step by step in simple English please?!

[DanRaisch]

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

Check your settings under Thunderbird menu path Tools->Account Settings->Copies & Folders to confirm what Thunderbird folder is selected as the target for storing Sent messages.

[timpnefc]

IMAP Mail Server
It says PLACE A COPY IN - SENT FOLDER ON ...(my email address)

[tanstaafl]

When you send a message from a IMAP account it calls the SMTP server to send the message using the SMTP protocol and independently uses the IMAP protocol to upload a copy of the message you just composed to your sent folder. You can successfully send a message while being unable to save a copy and vice versa. Don't assume that just because the copy failed that the message was not sent.

As a temporary workaround you could change the sent folder in your IMAP account to use a folder in "Local Folders" instead. It won't be shared with webmail or accessible from other PCs but at least you won't worry about whether you can send messages.

My main account (Fastmail IMAP) frequently had problems uploading a saved copy of a sent message even though I never had problems accessing the contents of the folders or copying/moving messages. They had a optional feature that you configured through webmail that told the smtp server to save a copy of the sent message when sent using a specific email address from a email client. That worked around the problem and I unchecked Thunderbird's setting to save a copy to avoid duplicates. See if your email provider has a similar option. Fastmail webmail used to have some gibberish about configuring a personality with the SMTP server to save a copy of the sent message that I had to figure out what it really meant. Nowadays they have more straightforward wording.

[timpnefc]

I tried sending an email to myself but it says copy failed. When I try and close said email down, it says in process of sending, wait or quit. Nothing happens even after an hour.
Uninstall doesn't solve it.
That's why I said i doubt anyone can fix it!

[tanstaafl]

You're running into a problem due to your email provider mail servers. Essentially a connection problem though its not clear why it only occurs in this one case.

I have 9 accounts (with different email providers) and a similar problem only occurred with one of them. It either timed out, never completed or failed. I was able to duplicate the problem with the same account using the "em client" email client so I knew it wasn't a Thunderbird bug.

I suggested two workarounds in my last post. The first one (using a sent folder in Local Folders) will work, but you might not like it. Not all email providers support the optional feature I used in the second workaround.

Who is your email provider?

[timpnefc]

I tried the Local Folder option but same problem.
I'm using hotmail.
I'm sure this is to do with the fact that I deleted some sort of program regarding my Outbox when I used Wiztree to delete all my Outbox emails. It said I had to many to recycle. Do you want to delete.....and I can't remember what it said but I think I deleted the whole Outbox.
But uninstalling doesn't work.
I can send emails using outlook, seamonkey, etc. It's a TB error.

[tanstaafl]

People have shot themselves in the foot using CCleaner on a Thunderbird profile. Sounds like you did the same thing using WizTree. I'm confused though as the Outbox folder is normally empty, there shouldn't be too much to recycle. Do you occasionally run file -> compact folders" or get a popup asking for permission to compact folders? When you delete a message the original copy is normally just marked for deletion and hidden from view, and not physically removed until you compact folders.

The Outbox folder in "Local Folders" is actually a "Unsent Messages." file whose name is displayed differently within Thunderbird. You could try creating a empty text file (use notepad) with that name in the Local Folders "local directory". The local directory (where the special account stores its files) is specified near the bottom of the accounts server settings, next to a Browse button.

Creating a new profile and migrating your address books and any downloaded mail to it would also solve the problem, but that's a lot more work.

Are you using a POP or IMAP account?

Is your only problem saving a copy of the sent message or are any of the other basic features broken? The reason I ask is typically the Outbox folder is only used by Send Later (which queues the message in the Outbox folder to be sent later on), it doesn't get used if you just press the Send button. I'm wondering if WizTree did additional damage beyond deleting the Outbox.

[timpnefc]

Yes i think you're right, using Wiztree did extra damage. I had many unsent emails in the outbox ready to send later but there were too many of them which filled my computer storage so i tried to delete them from my outbox in TB but TB kept saying error so i went to wiztree.And that's where it all went wrong.
Everything else works in TB except sending emails.
And i was regularly compacting folders

It's IMAP

I'll try the Notepad fix you suggest. Thank you again.

[timpnefc]

No, the Local Folder option doesn't work!
I said I doubted a fix to this! I would have thought uninstalling and reinstalling would work but no!

[mgagnonlv]

I find that error messages from mail servers are notoriously bad.
I am also aware that at one time, Hotmail or Live didn't allow you to send a message to yourself. I don't know if it still is the case right now, so you'll need to test with a friend or with a secondary email you have.

First, connect via the web interface and check that the SENT folder indeed populated. Likewise, you could send a message from Thunderbird and see whether a copy appears in the web version of the folder.

– Whether you see the message in the web platform but not in Thunderbird (Sent folder), or whether it doesn't even reach the web platform, your actions might differ.


If it reaches the web platform

Check that your SENT folder is actually synchronized. Right-click on your account (in the list) and select Parameters; then select Sync and Disk space, and make sure that "SENT folder" is actually selected.

Check in your account parameters that the outgoing server is indeed the appropriate one.

As a last ditch, you might have to erase the SMTP password so Thunderbird asks you for a new one.
– Go in the menu, then select Tools –> Preferences, then Privacy and Security, and click on Recorded Passwords.
– Search for "smtp". Amongst the lines available (maybe only one if you only have one email account), look for something like:
smtp://smtp-mail.outlook.com or smtp://hotmail.com (or something like that) and your_name@hotmail.com as user name.
– Delete that line.
– Quit Thunderbird and restart it.
– Then send a test email to someone else.

- Normally, Thunderbird would ask you for the password. If nothing happens, move the Thunderbird window (and other windows) around. Sometimes, the password prompt remains hidden behind all other windows and everything seems frozen. (If you take too long to reply, you might have to cancel and send another fake message).
When you enter the password, also click the "Remember the password".

Good luck!

[tanstaafl]

"I would have thought uninstalling and reinstalling would work but no!"

You damaged your profile. Uninstalling and re-installing doesn't effect that. The re-installed copy of Thunderbrid automatically finds and reuses the existing profile.

I second the idea to delete the hotmail smtp server password, exit and restart. If that doesn't fix the problem uncheck "place a copy in" the hotmail copies&folders settings, exit and restart and try again. That way you're more likely to get a useful error message when it fails.

[timpnefc]

I find that error messages from mail servers are notoriously bad.
I am also aware that at one time, Hotmail or Live didn't allow you to send a message to yourself. I don't know if it still is the case right now, so you'll need to test with a friend or with a secondary email you have. TRIED BUT THEY DIDN'T RECEIVE ANYTHING

First, connect via the web interface and check that the SENT folder indeed populated. Likewise, you could send a message from Thunderbird and see whether a copy appears in the web version of the folder. NOTHING IN SENT FOLDER AFTER TRYING TO SEND ONE

– Whether you see the message in the web platform but not in Thunderbird (Sent folder), or whether it doesn't even reach the web platform, your actions might differ.


If it reaches the web platform

Check that your SENT folder is actually synchronized. Right-click on your account (in the list) and select Parameters; then select Sync and Disk space, and make sure that "SENT folder" is actually selected. NOT SURE HOW TO FIND THIS

Check in your account parameters that the outgoing server is indeed the appropriate one.

As a last ditch, you might have to erase the SMTP password so Thunderbird asks you for a new one.
– Go in the menu, then select Tools –> Preferences, then Privacy and Security, and click on Recorded Passwords.
– Search for "smtp". Amongst the lines available (maybe only one if you only have one email account), look for something like:
smtp://smtp-mail.outlook.com or smtp://hotmail.com (or something like that) and your_name@hotmail.com as user name.
– Delete that line.
– Quit Thunderbird and restart it.
– Then send a test email to someone else. I DELETED SMTP BUT WHEN I RESTARTED TB, IT DIDN'T ASK FOR A PASSWORD SO I DELETED IMAP-MAIL AND IT THEN DID ASK FOR A PASSWORD. IT NOW ONLY HAS SAVED THE IMAP-MAIL ONE. SMTP IS NO LONGER SAVED BECAUSE IT DIDN'T ASK FOR A PASSWORD.

- Normally, Thunderbird would ask you for the password. If nothing happens, move the Thunderbird window (and other windows) around. Sometimes, the password prompt remains hidden behind all other windows and everything seems frozen. (If you take too long to reply, you might have to cancel and send another fake message). NOTHING
When you enter the password, also click the "Remember the password".

Good luck!

iI appreciate your help but nothing work. My TB is not interested in smtp it seems? I've answered under your points in the quote above.

[timpnefc]

"I would have thought uninstalling and reinstalling would work but no!"

You damaged your profile. Uninstalling and re-installing doesn't effect that. The re-installed copy of Thunderbrid automatically finds and reuses the existing profile.

I second the idea to delete the hotmail smtp server password, exit and restart. If that doesn't fix the problem uncheck "place a copy in" the hotmail copies&folders settings, exit and restart and try again. That way you're more likely to get a useful error message when it fails.

And tried that as well, nothing.

[tanstaafl]

What is the error message when you unsuccessfully try to send a message, and its not configured to save a copy?

Are you using a anti-virus scanner that knows about email (intercepts the connection to the mail server so that it can scan the email)? Mcafee etc. frequently cause problems and may have been recently automatically upgraded.