Can't delete messages - new information

Discussion of bugs in Mozilla Thunderbird
fred339
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Can't delete messages - new information

Post by fred339 »

Windows XP SP3
Thunderbird 8.0

Behavior:

Boot the computer.
Start Thunderbird.
Delete messages just fine and other program operations seem normal.
....... but then.....
Messages won't delete.
(and, it seems that sometimes jumping from one message to another becomes very sluggish indeed. Like it won't switch with a mouse click at all but maybe eventually).

Fix:

At least close and restart Thunderbird.
Sometimes have to reboot.

Anyway, this behavior seems to only occur (this is a strong impression but no proof) when Quicken and/or Quickbooks has been started up.
Because it takes some time to happen, it's hard to run test cases.
Nonetheless, I figured this might lend some insight into the problem.

This problem carried forward from the earlier version of Thunderbird too! I was hoping an install of 8.0 would fix it.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by DanRaisch »

Do you regularly compact the message folders? Compacting is something that needs to be done regularly in any email program. We recommend weekly, but many of us do it daily. When done often enough, it can be an extremely fast process. Not doing so can lead to problems like those you are experiencing. See this about how to and why it's so important: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders

If you haven't been doing that before, first back up your Thunderbird Profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup then compact all folders. If 'compacting' them (and leaving a long enough time for the process to complete) doesn't fully resolve the problem then do the following on each account:

Close Thunderbird. Find and delete all of the files with the .msf file extension in your profile folder/Mail http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Folder#Thunderbird including your Local Folders, especially if you are using the global inbox. You must have "View hidden files and folders" on http://spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=272 and you need to set "hide extensions for known file types" off (just below View Hidden) if you are using Windows. These are your mail summary files and do not hold any messages themselves. They will be rebuilt the next time you open each folder in Thunderbird. Compact all your folders when you have completed this.

To avoid this happening again, see the tips in these articles:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_worki ... derbird%29
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Performance_%28Thunderbird%29
Elonka
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by Elonka »

I am having a similar problem. Using Windows XP, and Thunderbird 8.0.

When I first open Thunderbird, I am able to delete messages from my inbox normally. Then suddenly, the delete key will only mark a message as read, but will not delete it. I have been getting around this by dragging messages I want to delete to a local "Trash later" folder (which I then delete from later), which works 99% of the time. But then sometimes I can't even drag a message to the folder. But if I reboot Thunderbird, things work again for a short time.

I have tried compacting folders, but it hasn't made any difference.

I have tried deleting all .msf files. That hasn't made any difference either.

Any other suggestions of things to try?
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DanRaisch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by DanRaisch »

Does the same thing occur if you launch the application in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode
wsmwk
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by wsmwk »

fred??

DanRaisch wrote:Does the same thing occur if you launch the application in Mozilla Safe Mode? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_mode

Also, what do you see in error console immediately after delete attempt?
johnmsch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by johnmsch »

Ran into this same issue today, for the first time in all the years I've been using Thunderbird (9.0.1 on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit). I was reviewing emails, and suddenly, I couldn't delete any. Of course, I came right to this board looking for an answer.

Tried restarting in safe mode, still could not delete any messages.

Rebooted, started Tbird, still no go.

Restarted in safe mode, still no go.

Shut down Tbird. Brought up Windows Explorer, navigated to my profile mail folder and deleted all the msf's there and in all subfolders. Started Tbird, clicked on the last folder I tried to delete from, waited about a second for it to rebuild the msf, now the delete works again.

I regularly compact my folders, just about every day. Once a week, I do the manual process to navigate to each folder to let it rebuild, although as stated in this http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1956593 thread, it actually doesn't rebuild doing that.

This comes back around to what I'd referenced in that thread. It would be really awesome if there were a menu option, or even better, a command line switch to start Thunderbird and force a rebuild of all msf's.

As they say in poker, "I'm All In!" when it comes to Thunderbird, and can't imagine, after all these years, going to any other email client. Its just these ongoing issues with the msf files that drive me nuts!
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DanRaisch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by DanRaisch »

First backup your profile -- http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup
Close Thunderbird and navigate to your Profile Folder ( http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_Folder ). Find the files with the extension msf, such as Inbox.msf. Note that there will be sets of two files with the name but only one of these will have the MSF extension. Delete the files with the MSF extension. Restart Thunderbird, compact all folders, and see if things are back to normal. Note that the MSF files do NOT contain your messages. They are a type of index file and will be recreated by Thunderbird as required.
fred339
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by fred339 »

I have rather become convinced now that this *does* happen only when Quickbooks and maybe Quicken are opened on the computer (I most often have them both open at the same time). It seems to not happen until at least one of them is opened. Then it can almost be assured that it will happens.
greywizard
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by greywizard »

I've been having this issue for a couple of months now, in version 3.15, as well. Today I thought I'd upgrade to v.10.0.2 in hope it will get rid of the issue, but to no avail.
I'm pretty much always able to delete messages when TB starts (or is restarted) but then after a while something happens that makes it impossible to delete anything.

When this happens it is also impossible for the program to save a copy of any message that I send, in the Sent folder; it just keeps hanging forever in the dialog with the "copying message to Sent folder".
Another symptom is that I can't even move messages from a folder to another.
The Junk filter doesn't work anymore as well; it just marks the messages as Junk but doesn't manage to move them anymore into the Junk folder as it does under normal circumstances.

For some reason, the other message filters appear to still be working so far.

The question which puzzles me is: "If this happens due to some folder/file corruption shouldn't this behavior be present from the very instant you start TB? How come it appears only after a while (1-5 minutes, or so)?"
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DanRaisch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by DanRaisch »

greywizard wrote:The question which puzzles me is: "If this happens due to some folder/file corruption shouldn't this behavior be present from the very instant you start TB? How come it appears only after a while (1-5 minutes, or so)?"


Can't answer that question but I have a question for you. Did you try the procedure of deleting the .msf files as I suggested in my previous reply?
greywizard
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by greywizard »

Yes, I tried it. It seemed to fix things for just a couple of hours then it went back to doing its thing.
But it may have been just the fact that whatever triggers this behavior just didn't happen during that small interval, so I have no idea if that really helped or the two things are completely unrelated.
At present time, as soon as I start TB and it finishes checking all the accounts, most of the time already I can't delete any message anymore.

Is there an option to export all the emails from TB? I would like to export all of them in any possible format then do a completely clean reinstall of TB.
Maybe that would cure this weird behavior. I just can't find any option to export the mails, if there is one.
wsmwk
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by wsmwk »

greywizard wrote:Is there an option to export all the emails from TB? I would like to export all of them in any possible format then do a completely clean reinstall of TB.
Maybe that would cure this weird behavior. I just can't find any option to export the mails, if there is one.

I don't see this direction offering you relief. but you importexporttools will offload messages for you.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by DanRaisch »

Here's a link to the extension that wsm referred to -- https://nic-nac-project.org/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html
greywizard
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by greywizard »

Well, I was assuming that since I've been happily using TB for a good couple of years and this behavior isn't more than 3-4 months old, perhaps a clean reinstall would get rid of whatever isn't working.
Thanks for the link guys. I'll report back whenever I get around to doing this.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Can't delete messages - new information

Post by DanRaisch »

Uninstalling and reinstalling the application has absolutely no impact on your Profile, which is where saved data such as account settings, message files, etc is stored and where most problems originate.

Are you working with a POP or IMAP type account?
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