Emails moved to folder "return" to Inbox

[kate278]

Appreciate this is a very old post, but I have this problem all of a sudden after using Thunderbird for over a year with very few problems.

I have set up my account to prompt me to compact my folders, so I do this on a daily basis. I also deleted the .msf files from my App Data\Mail folders/subfolders, compacted again, and I still have this problem.

I like to keep my emails organised and file my emails on a weekly basis every Friday afternoon. Last time, the emails appeared in the folders/deleted items, but reappeared in my main inbox after a few seconds.

It's worth noting I have also tried opening Thunderbird in safe mode (I have a few add ons installed) and the problem persisted.

As someone who needs a clean inbox to focus, it's so frustrating

Please help! 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.

[kate278]

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.

Thanks for your response. It's IMAP.

[DanRaisch]

I also deleted the .msf files from my App Data\Mail folders/subfolders, compacted again, and I still have this problem.

Well, it could be just a typo or error in what is posted here but if you are working with IMAP accounts the files you need to work with wold be found under AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxxxx.default\ImapMail\imap-mail.outlook.com (for example) rather than App Data\Mail.
Perhaps try deleting the .msf files again but make sure that you delete the ones in the ImapMail\accountname sub-directory, where "accountname" is some value identifying the email provider.

[tanstaafl]

How many messages are in the inbox?

You might experiment with setting "when I delete a message" in the server settings to "just mark it deleted", rather than "move to trash". That will just draw a line through deleted messages in the folder pane (which will still be readable, until you compact the folder). You might discover you have more deleted messages than expected and/or get a better idea of why deleted messages are being resurrected.

Its a good idea to enable "clean up expunge inbox on exit" in the server settings as the setting to automatically compact a folder when X MB of space is wasted assumes you have very large messages. The risk of corruption doesn't seem to depend upon message size, it seems to depend upon how many deleted messages you have and how many messages there are in the folder. When you delete a message it typically copies it to trash and then marks the original as deleted, which hides it from view. Its not physically removed until you compact or expunge the folder. When a folder gets corrupted some of the deleted messages can get resurrected.

[kate278]

Well, it could be just a typo or error in what is posted here but if you are working with IMAP accounts the files you need to work with wold be found under AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\xxxxxxxxxx.default\ImapMail\imap-mail.outlook.com (for example) rather than App Data\Mail.
Perhaps try deleting the .msf files again but make sure that you delete the ones in the ImapMail\accountname sub-directory, where "accountname" is some value identifying the email provider.

You were correct in thinking I had deleted the .msf files from the wrong place, but now I have deleted them from the correct location, compacted again, and I am still getting the problem.

I think it may be something to do with the server settings - I am going to try the things suggested in the new post below.

[kate278]

How many messages are in the inbox?

You might experiment with setting "when I delete a message" in the server settings to "just mark it deleted", rather than "move to trash". That will just draw a line through deleted messages in the folder pane (which will still be readable, until you compact the folder). You might discover you have more deleted messages than expected and/or get a better idea of why deleted messages are being resurrected.

Its a good idea to enable "clean up expunge inbox on exit" in the server settings as the setting to automatically compact a folder when X MB of space is wasted assumes you have very large messages. The risk of corruption doesn't seem to depend upon message size, it seems to depend upon how many deleted messages you have and how many messages there are in the folder. When you delete a message it typically copies it to trash and then marks the original as deleted, which hides it from view. Its not physically removed until you compact or expunge the folder. When a folder gets corrupted some of the deleted messages can get resurrected.

There are 92 messages in the inbox, and my folders include around 200 more emails in total. I prefer to keep my emails and store them in archives or local folders, as I refer back to emails up to a year old quite often. However, I've never really got the hang of the best way to do this. Is there an alternative to expunging on exit, such as moving messages to local folders (or somewhere else that doesn't hinder my Thunderbird inbox) on exit?

[DanRaisch]

You can use message filters to move newly received messages to local folders automatically, or manually trigger message filters periodically to move previously received messages. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Filters_%28Thunderbird%29

[tanstaafl]

It doesn't sound like you have too many messages in your inbox.

[kate278]

It doesn't sound like you have too many messages in your inbox.

I didn't think so. I still have this problem - all deleted and filtered emails reappear as unread items in my main inbox.

[tanstaafl]

Who is your email provider?
Do you see the same symptoms in webmail (browser based)?