Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

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geert1975
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Joined: July 12th, 2022, 6:16 am

Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

When I sort my mailbox on date, the oldest mails are from march 2015.
My online Yahoo mailbox has nevertheless mails until 2002.

The bizar thing is when I search for older mails, I can find some of them back, but not all of them.
Why are these older mails not showed in the overview?
And why are not all my mails from the server in my Thunderbird client?
I used the following synchronisation option: "Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age."
My Thunderbird version is 60.9.1, and I'm using Windows 10.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by DanRaisch »

The current Thunderbird version is 102.0.2. Is there a specific reason you are still using an obsolete version like 60.9.1?
Have you confirmed that "All" is selected under menu path "View->Messages"?
How are you performing the search process? What menu path to trigger the search?
geert1975
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Joined: July 12th, 2022, 6:16 am

Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Thx for your answer!
I upgraded meanwhile to version 91.11.0. (I think the last version you can upgrade from within the app)
After the update he started to download another 8000 mails, but I still have the same problem.
Concerning the search process: I just entered the name of a person (From) in the search bar on top op the screen.
It returns 11 mails from before 2015, which I don't see in the overview.

Under View Menu, I selected for View->Headers: "All" and for View->Threads "All".
View->Messages I don't see in my menu.

PS: I sort the mails by date ascending threaded
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DanRaisch
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by DanRaisch »

Close Thunderbird. Navigate to the profile folder ( http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird ) and locate and delete the file global-messages-db.sqlite. That's the index for the Global search and if the index is corrupt or "out of date" it would yield false search results.

Right click on the names of folders that most clearly missing newer messages and select "Properties" from the context menu then click on the "Repair folder" button to rebuild the index files for those folders. See if the problem persists.
geert1975
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Joined: July 12th, 2022, 6:16 am

Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Thx, but the problem still persists.
After clicking on the "repair folder" button, Thunderbird started to download 10427 mails (again).
Now my oldest mail is from october 2014, instead of march 2015.
Although I deleted the db.sqlite file, he showed the message "Downloading message x of 10.427 in Inbox" after clicking on the "Repair folder" button.
This is bizar because my Inbox at server side has +14.000 mails.
That is probably also the reason why I'm still missing mails in my Thunderbird client.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by tanstaafl »

It sounds like you are using a IMAP account since you mentioned "Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age." Is that correct?

I suggest for the moment you simplify things by disabling "keep messages in all folders for this account on the computer" in synchronization & storage, disabling global search/indexing, and focus on why you can't see all of the messages. You can re-enable the features afterwards and not lose any downloaded messages in the offline folders.

With a IMAP account when you are working in online mode you see the contents of the remote folders (what is on the server). When you are working in offline mode (file -> offline -> work offline) you see the contents of the offline folder, if it exists. i.e. you normally don't see any "downloaded" messages. Whenever you open a message in a remote folder it fetches the contents, regardless of how many times you've opened it (unless you open the same message two times in a row, in which it uses a in-memory cache of that message).

I suggest you use the quick filter bar to search the current folder and see if it is missing messages that are visible in webmail. Its possible you're running into some sort of View problem. Think about finding a few really old messages in webmail and moving them to a new empty folder, and then see if Thunderbird can see those messages in the new folder. That is a simpler scenario to try to troubleshoot what is going on than dealing with a very large inbox.

Global search is tricky as it can point to deleted messages because some of the content is still in the search index.

I'm moving this thread to thunderbird support as you're not discussing workarounds to a problem in a confirmed bug report, you're just asking for help.
geert1975
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Hello,

Thx for your answer but I don't understand it well. I'm indeed using IMAP.
Using both quick filter and global search results in the same: A lot of mails are not found. For a period of 13 years I can't find any mail in Thunderbird.
But I don't think the problem is related to a corrupt index or something related: My inbox has now exact 8.430 mails, where my webfolder has almost 15.000 mails.
Using the "Get all new messages" doesn't force to download these older mails.
This sounds like a bug, isn't it?
Can I force to download these older mails in any way?

PS: Although I'm using IMAP, it means that in online modus I just see a part of the remote folders on the servers.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by tanstaafl »

The issue is not downloading, its discovering the messages exist. I agree it sounds like a bug. But the problem is you need something reproducible for a developer to try to fix it. That is one reason why I suggested "Think about finding a few really old messages in webmail and moving them to a new empty folder, and then see if Thunderbird can see those messages in the new folder. That is a simpler scenario to try to troubleshoot what is going on than dealing with a very large inbox."

I'd also suggest signing up for a Gmail IMAP account (just for troubleshooting), copy that new folder to it, and see if the same problem occurs with the Gmail IMAP server. It helps to know if a problem is account or configuration specific.

Who is your email provider? Do you have any clue what type of IMAP server they're using?
geert1975
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

I made in my webmail a new map "Very old' and I put one of these mails in it. When I open Thunderbird, it shows immediately the map "Very Old".
When I open that folder, Thunderbird starts to download immediately that mail. So that seems to work fine.
I just don't know why he doesn't download all the other mails in my Inbox.
I'm using Yahoo Mail. My IMAP is configured according to the specifications you can find on internet:
https://www.lifewire.com/access-yahoo-with-imap-1174534
geert1975
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Extra remark, besides my previous post
Is their a possibility that Thunderbird has restrictions on number of mails per map.
When I go in Thunderbird to Inbox->Properties, I see on the tab General Information: Number of messages: 10.000.
Is that a restriction?
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tanstaafl
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by tanstaafl »

By map do you mean folder? If not what do you mean by map?

The number of messages in a folder is limited to 4 billion. The maximum size of a single message is currently limited to 4GB. Folder size is limited to the maximum file size (usually greater than 4GB unless you use something archaic like FAT32).
geert1975
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Joined: July 12th, 2022, 6:16 am

Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Yes, sorry I mean folder.
I made in my webmail a new folder "Very old' and I put one of these mails in it. When I open Thunderbird, it shows immediately the folder "Very Old".
When I open that folder, Thunderbird starts to download immediately that mail. So that seems to work fine.
I just don't know why he doesn't download all the other mails in my folder Inbox.
I'm using Yahoo Mail. My IMAP is configured according to the specifications you can find on internet:
https://www.lifewire.com/access-yahoo-with-imap-1174534

I'm using NTFS on a Windows 10.
If the limit is 4 billion, isn't it strange that I see when I go in Thunderbird to Inbox->Properties, on the tab General Information: Number of messages: 10.000?
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tanstaafl
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Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by tanstaafl »

Nope. Its just telling you how many messages there are in the folder, not how many could be there.

I copied several messages from 2014, 2007 and one from 2003 (oldest message I have) in my fastmail IMAP inbox to my yahoo IMAP inbox and they're visible. So if the problem isn't specific to your configuration it probably depends upon it having approx. 14K messages. I suspect if you moved the majority of the messages in your yahoo inbox to other folders the problem would go away.

If you want to file a bug report at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/home it would be a good idea to enable IMAP logging and open and then search the yahoo inbox while logging was enabled, and then attach that log file to the bug report (there is a widget in the bug report to let you attach files).

https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging

Create a batch file by copying the lines below and paste them into the notepad application, and save the file as "create_imap_log.bat". Variables MOZ_LOG and MOZ_LOG_file must not contain quotation marks.

set MOZ_LOG=IMAP:5,timestamp
set MOZ_LOG_FILE=%USERPROFILE%\Desktop\imap.log
"%ProgramFiles(x86)%\Mozilla Thunderbird\thunderbird.exe"
geert1975
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Joined: July 12th, 2022, 6:16 am

Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Dear,

I tried to post a bug on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org in the way described by you.
Unfortunately I arrive after posting on next white page: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/post_bug.cgi
Nothing happens.
Maybe it's because the log file is more than 20 MB?
geert1975
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Joined: July 12th, 2022, 6:16 am

Re: Thunderbird doesn't show my older mails (before 2015)

Post by geert1975 »

Mozilla has limit of 10 MB. Posted a bug with hyperlink. Bug 1780988
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