Bulk "Repair Folder"

Discussion of features in Mozilla Thunderbird
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toolong
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Joined: December 24th, 2011, 10:29 am

Bulk "Repair Folder"

Post by toolong »

In Thunderbird It is possible to compact a single folder. It is also possible to compact 'all folders'. It is possible to compact folders when they grow too large. As everyone knows this 'compacting' really removes 'deleted' messages.

It is also possible to "Repair Folders" for a single folder. It is also possible to "Repair Folders", all folders or selected folders, by deleting some, or all, of the <folder_name.msf files for the various "Mail Folders". Which can be a pain in the neck.

Who do I ask, how do I ask, what do I ask to request that this feature be added to a future Thunderbird so that a mouse-click menu option to "Repair All Folders" be added?

If it is possible of course.
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DanRaisch
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Re: Bulk "Repair Folder"

Post by DanRaisch »

Moving to Thunderbird Features.
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tanstaafl
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Re: Bulk "Repair Folder"

Post by tanstaafl »

You could file a bug report at https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ requesting that feature, and set the priority to "feature request". However, there are thousands of existing feature requests, new features are now added just once a year (last one was version 38.0.1 on June 11, 2015), and the developers are scrambling to keep up with bug fixes.
toolong
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Joined: December 24th, 2011, 10:29 am

Re: Bulk "Repair Folder"

Post by toolong »

and the developers are scrambling to keep up with bug fixes.



Thanks for the information.

I completely understand the lack of devs (manpower) and the lack of resources (money) relative to Thunderbird. And I can also believe that 'they' are doing the best that 'they' can with what 'they' have to work with here.

What i was really hoping for was that someone here would think 'man what a useful idea!!' :-) and come up with a 'little' script to do this. Or perhaps some person might just like the idea and write an extension. :-)

Both of which are well above my pay grade BTW.

Thanks again
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tanstaafl
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Re: Bulk "Repair Folder"

Post by tanstaafl »

You could write a one line batch file that did something like del /S /Q *.msf and then create a shortcut that ran that batch file, with the working directory (the Start in field) in its properties set to the profile's location. That command deletes all *.msf files in all of the subdirectories (/S) without asking for confirmation (/Q).

Or add two lines before it that set the drive and then the profile location (use the CD command) if you don't want to configure the starting location using the shortcut. The dir command supports the same syntax as del so you might initially experiment with using dir, and run the batch file from a console window (run cmd from the "search programs and file" field displayed when you press the Windows start button) as you test it.

Help -> troubleshooting information -> show folder (in Thunderbird) will open windows explorer at your profile directory, if you don't know where that is. Deleting the *.msf file is not as good as "repair folder" as you will lose some status information such as a replied or forwarded icon next to a message in the folder listing, but the replacement folder listing is still usable.

See http://www.computerhope.com/delhlp.htm and http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/b/batchfil.htm
toolong
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Joined: December 24th, 2011, 10:29 am

Re: Bulk "Repair Folder"

Post by toolong »

That command deletes all *.msf files in all of the subdirectories (/S) without asking for confirmation (/Q).



Thanks for the suggestion but... :-) I am aware that deleting any / all of the .msf files causes Thunderbird to recreate them in the 'new' state. However that also deletes all of the 'custom' message column settings for the various message panes.

I was hoping for a 'Repair (all) Folders' feature, similar to the "Compact (all) Folders" menu item.
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