Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

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reft
Posts: 130
Joined: March 11th, 2003, 1:07 pm

Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by reft »

I'm running Thunderbird 60.9.0 (32 bit) on Windows 10 fully updated to 1903. [Edit] I just upgraded to TB 68.1.0 64 bit. Unsure why the system had not automatically done this previously (or at least to the 32 bit equivalent). It updates pretty often and regularly, but it seems way behind what is actually available for some reason.

Thunderbird has suddenly stopped downloading messages from Gmail using POP. The program logs in to my Gmail account, I see a message saying something like "Downloading 1 of 67 messages", and then almost immediately another message saying "No messages to download". No messages are downloaded. Is there an explanation for this, and is anyone else experiencing a similar thing and can anyone suggest what may be going wrong?

I have the same issue with the updated version. Occasionally, I also get a message suggesting that the connection to Gmail has been reset.

Many thanks.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by DanRaisch »

Close Thunderbird Log onto Gmail through a browser. Review and delete the oldest message on the server not yet downloaded to your Thunderbird POP account for that Gmail address. Launch Thunderbird and see if the issue still exists.

Sometimes a message with a bad header will block Thunderbird from downloading it and any messages in the server that come after that bad one.
reft
Posts: 130
Joined: March 11th, 2003, 1:07 pm

Re: Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by reft »

Thanks. I tried that, but the issue persists and the messages remain the same (with ever increasing numbers of e-mails to download). I have access via Thunderbird set up on another computer (which accesses via IMAP, rather than POP3). That seems to be able to download the messages using the IMAP protocol, but doesn't really work for the way I 'permanently' keep my e-mails like I do with POP3.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by DanRaisch »

POP works with Gmail. I have a Gmail account on this machine that is working without issues using the POP protocol. Double check in the settings on the Gmail web page that that account is still set as accessible for POP downloading.
reft
Posts: 130
Joined: March 11th, 2003, 1:07 pm

Re: Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by reft »

POP was showing as *enabled* from within the Gmail settings. I tried selecting "Enable POP for all mail (even mail that's already been downloaded)" and TB is now downloading everything on my Gmail account - I'll just have to delete all the duplicates. My hope is that this will also download the ones that had previously not been downloaded and will have unblocked whatever was preventing the system working correctly.
reft
Posts: 130
Joined: March 11th, 2003, 1:07 pm

Re: Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by reft »

Gmail allowed TB to download about half the e-mails I have still on it - it seemd to do this in batches of between 230 and 450 e-mails at a time. But now it is behaving weirdly again. It downloads the historical e-mails one or two every ten minutes or so. I think Gmail may be throttling the number of e-mails allowed to download. It's really frustrating. I've left it for about 15 hours and it is still doing the 1 or 2 every ten minutes trick.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Thunderbird not downloading messages from Gmail POP

Post by tanstaafl »

I've been occasionally using a older profile with version 60.9 and its been getting a lot of connection reset error messages for Gmail POP. I rarely get any new mail for that accounts so its tough to tell how much impact that has. I don't have the same problem with my Gmail IMAP account.

Gmail imposes a undocumented daily bandwidth limit for email. They've been doing this from the beginning. It effects every email client, not just Thunderbird/SeaMonkey. They do document it for G Suite (commercial version of Gmail) at https://support.google.com/a/answer/1071518?hl=en
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