Duplicate accounts

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Joan A
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Joined: October 1st, 2017, 1:54 pm
Location: NC

Duplicate accounts

Post by Joan A »

When sending e-mails, I frequently got the following error response: An error occurred sending mail: The mail server sent an incorrect greeting: 4.3.4 allocated resources exceeded.
I googled it and found it was probably due to the wrong port being used, so following the instructions from Centurylink (http://internethelp.centurylink.com/int ... ird-1.html) I changed the port to 587.

I now have duplicate accounts with the same e-mail address, and my incoming mail goes to the inbox of both accounts. When I delete a message in the first one, it deletes it in the second and vice versa. I cannot delete the second account. In TB when I go to Tools, Account Settings it shows two accounts with the same name. Trying to click on one or the other I get: An account with this name already exists. Please enter a different account name.

Would appreciate any help.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by tanstaafl »

Thunderbird expects each account to be a unique combination of account type (POP or IMAP), username, and mail server. While it sometimes doesn't detect a attempt to create a duplicate account changing the port shouldn't effect that. Perhaps the duplicate already existed and it didn't matter until you got it to work.

1. Backup your prefs.js file (from your profile). It has all of your settings. If you don't know where your profile is, help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder will open windows explorer at the profile.

2. Get the account ids by looking at the mail/news section of help -> troubleshooting information. Then use the config editor at tools -> options -> advanced -> general to edit the mail.accountmanager.accounts setting. Delete the account id (and its comma) of the account that you want to get rid of. Exit the config editor, restart Thunderbird, and verify that its no longer listed in tools -> account settings or in the folder pane.

mail.accountmanager.accounts is set to account1,account5,account25,account7,account4,account6,account8,account9,account2,account13,account27 on my system. I have 10 real accounts plus "Local Folders". The gap in the account id's is due to deleting and adding accounts.

An alternative approach would be to export your accounts folders using the ImportExportTools add-on, create a new profile using the profile manager, and then import the exported folders using that add-on, and copy the address books (*.mab) to the new profile.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_folders (same add-on is used to import and export folders)
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Moving_addres ... n_profiles
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Manager (how to create/delete/rename profiles)
Joan A
Posts: 5
Joined: October 1st, 2017, 1:54 pm
Location: NC

Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by Joan A »

Thanks for the quick response. I can do step 2, but don't know how to backup my prefs.js file.

What's weird about the profile for Mail is account 1 shows (imap) mail.centurylink.net:143 with a connection security for incoming server of STARTTLS; and account 3 shows (pop3) pop.centurylink.net:995 with connection security of SSL/TLS. Account 2 shows (none) Local Folders. Can I safely assume the first one is the oldest (which is the one I want to keep)? What difference is there between IMAP and POP3?
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tanstaafl
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Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by tanstaafl »

"but don't know how to backup my prefs.js file. "

help -> troubleshooting information -> open folder will open windows explorer at the profile. prefs.js should be in that directory. Copy and paste it to some safe location using windows explorer. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Show_hidden_files_and_folders if the profile looks empty. If you want to backup the entire profile see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Third_party_p ... d_services , or just copy and paste that directory using windows explorer per http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backu ... he_profile

"Can I safely assume the first one is the oldest (which is the one I want to keep)? "

Yes. Account 1 should be the oldest. The Local Folders account (account id 2) is created as a side effect of adding your first account.

"What difference is there between IMAP and POP3?"

Many. IMAP accounts let you use all of the folders on the mail server as if they were local folders on your PC. They are the direction the industry has been moving ever since Gmail offered free IMAP accounts in 2007. POP accounts are download-centric. They only know about the inbox on the mail server, and read messages by downloading them to a local copy of the inbox. Once you've used a IMAP account for a while (unless you hated it because its too different) you can't imagine going back to a POP account. See http://kb.mozillazine.org/IMAP .
Joan A
Posts: 5
Joined: October 1st, 2017, 1:54 pm
Location: NC

Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by Joan A »

Turns out I have two of them - prefs.js updated today and prefs-1.js updated two years ago. I assume I should back up the first and delete the 2nd?
Had a very long flight yesterday and jet lag is hitting me. I'll get back to you tomorrow.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by tanstaafl »

It will only use prefs.js.
Joan A
Posts: 5
Joined: October 1st, 2017, 1:54 pm
Location: NC

Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by Joan A »

Bravo!! Did all of the above and the duplicate account is now gone. Do I need to do anything with the backup of my prefs.js file?
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tanstaafl
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Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by tanstaafl »

Nope. You can delete the backup.
Joan A
Posts: 5
Joined: October 1st, 2017, 1:54 pm
Location: NC

Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by Joan A »

Thanks ever so much for your help and patience, appreciate it.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Duplicate accounts

Post by tanstaafl »

You're welcome.
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