Error saving message

[Al Fresco]

Greetings Tbirders,

This morning I started getting error messages when saving email drafts.
This happens with every email every time.

They eventually are saved and will send.

There is a screenshot here:
http://epicroadtrips.us/copy-error/

This is driving me nuts.
WV-Mike

[DanRaisch]

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.

[Al Fresco]

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.

POP.
I have been using Tbird for many years and this is the first time this problem has shown up.

Thanks,
WV-Mike

[DanRaisch]

OK, try this procedure. First, backup your Profile ( http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup )

Create a new sub-folder under Local Folders. Move all of the messages currently in your Sent folder to that new subfolder.

Confirm that you have made the recommended backup of your Profile.

Close Thunderbird and navigate to your Profile folder. Delete both the file Sent.msf and the file Sent with no extension.

Restart Thunderbird and you should find a new, empty Sent folder in place. Copy any messages you MUST have in your Sent folder from the sub-folder created above to the Sent. Compact the Sent folder after those messages are copied in.

[Al Fresco]

Ugh.
Not sure if I want to risk this or not.
I would hate to end up loosing all my Sent email.

I must think about this.
Thanks,
-Mike
=================

OK, try this procedure. First, backup your Profile ( http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup )

Create a new sub-folder under Local Folders. Move all of the messages currently in your Sent folder to that new subfolder.

Confirm that you have made the recommended backup of your Profile.

Close Thunderbird and navigate to your Profile folder. Delete both the file Sent.msf and the file Sent with no extension.

Restart Thunderbird and you should find a new, empty Sent folder in place. Copy any messages you MUST have in your Sent folder from the sub-folder created above to the Sent. Compact the Sent folder after those messages are copied in.

[DanRaisch]

A) If you perform the backup as per that link you would be able to recover all of your data if anything went wrong.

B) Sorry for that post, it didn't reflect what I intended but would still not have caused any data loss if followed exactly as posted.

C) What I meant to say was:

Try this procedure. First, backup your Profile ( http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup )

Create a new sub-folder under Local Folders. Move all of the messages currently in your Drafts folder to that new subfolder.

Confirm that you have made the recommended backup of your Profile.

Close Thunderbird and navigate to your Profile folder. Delete both the file Drafts.msf and the file Drafts with no extension.

Restart Thunderbird and you should find a new, empty Drafts folder in place. Copy any messages you MUST have in your Drafts folder from the sub-folder created above to the new Drafts folder. Compact the Drafts folder after those messages are copied in.

[Al Fresco]

I did what I should have done in the first place - a Windows System restore to 4 days prior when the problem started.

After the restore - problem gone.

What caused it? I have no clue.

Thanks for your time, effort and brain power on this.
WV-Mike

[DanRaisch]

You're welcome.

What the underlying cause was I can't say but the presenting problem would seem to have been a corrupted Drafts file. That can happen if message folders are not compacted regularly, if Thunderbird is closed while a message is being saved to the Drafts file, or if Thunderbird or Windows crashes while that file is in use.

[Al Fresco]

A compacting I will go!

[johnwaun]

I have exactly the same problem and have done what you suggested - deleting the drafts folder so that a new one is created. Unfortunately still getting the same error message coming up when saving draft emails. Have also tried a Windows System restore with no luck.

Is there anything else I can do? Thanks...

[DanRaisch]

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.

[johnwaun]

Mostly POP, but one email account is IMAP. Same problem with both.

[Al Fresco]

You're welcome.

What the underlying cause was I can't say but the presenting problem would seem to have been a corrupted Drafts file. That can happen if message folders are not compacted regularly, if Thunderbird is closed while a message is being saved to the Drafts file, or if Thunderbird or Windows crashes while that file is in use.

This has reared it's ugly head again.
It seems like it might be a problem with saving the drafts as a temporary file (nsmail.tmp) in the Temp folder of my Windows user profile.

I am still not sure if this a Win or Tbird problem but it has caused me lots of problems with blank or incompletely saved emails.
-mb

[Al Fresco]

You're welcome.

What the underlying cause was I can't say but the presenting problem would seem to have been a corrupted Drafts file. That can happen if message folders are not compacted regularly, if Thunderbird is closed while a message is being saved to the Drafts file, or if Thunderbird or Windows crashes while that file is in use.

This has reared it's ugly head again.
It seems like it might be a problem with saving the drafts as a temporary file (nsmail.tmp) in the Temp folder of my Windows user profile.

I am still not sure if this a Win or Tbird problem but it has caused me lots of problems with blank or incompletely saved emails.
-mb