UID FETCH server error

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snailcoach
Posts: 35
Joined: May 19th, 2016, 1:16 pm

UID FETCH server error

Post by snailcoach »

Has anyone ever come across this error; how was it fixed, please?

It's a yahoo account. I have several accounts -yahoo, gmail and 1 other in Tbird. It is only one yahoo account that threw this error.
Thanks for any assist.

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tanstaafl
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Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by tanstaafl »

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Yahoo

It used to be only their POP accounts that periodically had temporary interoperability issues (that went away without you doing anything in a couple of days). That seems to have changed. I can't duplicate your problem. It might be due to the host that imap.yahoo.mail.com resolves to, based on where you are. I suggest you try imap.mail.att.net as the mail server. That worked around a different glitch a couple of months ago.
snailcoach
Posts: 35
Joined: May 19th, 2016, 1:16 pm

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by snailcoach »

tanstaafl wrote:http://kb.mozillazine.org/Yahoo

It used to be only their POP accounts that periodically had temporary interoperability issues (that went away without you doing anything in a couple of days). That seems to have changed. I can't duplicate your problem. It might be due to the host that imap.yahoo.mail.com resolves to, based on where you are. I suggest you try imap.mail.att.net as the mail server. That worked around a different glitch a couple of months ago.
Thanks.
Tried the att.net but got the same error message.
MarkBorrego
Posts: 5
Joined: September 27th, 2017, 9:02 am

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by MarkBorrego »

I have recently started getting this "[UNAVAILABLE] UID FETCH Server error while fetching messages" too with my Yahoo account. I access Yahoo by IMAP, I have the two-step verification setup and I'm using the Yahoo-generated app password. The error only occurs with the Bulk Mail folder. All other folders sync just fine. I have tried both the mail.yahoo.com and the mail.att.net servers with the same result. I have unsubscribed to the folder and re-subscribed to it and still get the error. There's currently only one email in Bulk Mail when I access Yahoo through my web browser so the problem isn't that the message limit has been exceeded. The problem only occurs in Thunderbird. I'm able to access the Bulk Mail folder using the Android mail app and the Windows 10 built-in mail app via IMAP. I have Thunderbird installed on 4 PCs (two Windows 10, one Windows 7 and one Linux) and the error occurs on all of them.

Mark
MarkBorrego
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Joined: September 27th, 2017, 9:02 am

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by MarkBorrego »

So today, without doing anything differently, the problem solved itself. That seems to say it was on Yahoo's end but it's still odd that while it was happening in Thunderbird it wasn't happening in other email clients.
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tanstaafl
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Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by tanstaafl »

Thunderbird sends a different, but legitimate, set of commands than many email clients. I had suggested in a bug report about problems with Outlook.com mail servers that they more closely mimic the commands that more popular email clients use to help prevent inter-operability errors (and avoid users blaming Thunderbird), with no success.
MarkBorrego
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Joined: September 27th, 2017, 9:02 am

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by MarkBorrego »

Thanks tanstaafl. I suspected that was probably the root of the problem - not necessarily Thunderbird's fault but still they could do things to help prevent it. It would make life easier for Thunderbird users if they followed more customary command protocols. Sadly the problem has returned today and again it's only happening in Thunderbird. Ultimately if it keeps happening I'll have to look for another email client.
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tanstaafl
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Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by tanstaafl »

Yahoo and Outlook are known to periodically cause problems. They're very popular, but not good email providers IMHO. Yahoo problems seem to be frequently Thunderbird specific while Outlook problems are more likely to effect many non-Microsoft email clients. Email clients on tablets/smart phones seem to be the least effected.

You might consider adding a Gmail IMAP account and configuring it (via webmail commands) to automatically, periodically fetch mail from the yahoo POP server and merge it into your Gmail inbox. If you add a "multiple identity" of the yahoo email address to the gmail account and register it with gmail webmail you can send and reply using the yahoo address from the gmail account without anybody knowing you are doing that unless they look at the raw message source.

The reason I suggest this is gmail fetching mail from yahoo for you seems to use a very compatible sequence of POP3 commands, and Thunderbird usually works very well with Gmail IMAP.

See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Replace_sever ... ne_account . It was written for a different goal, but explains how to do what I'm talking about. You could skip steps 5 - 7 and 12 while checking out if the solution works well for you.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Multiple_iden ... il_account explains what multiple identities are. "The Gmail SMTP server will ignore whatever From: address you supply unless you add it in the Gmail web page at Setting -> Accounts -> "Add another email address". "
MarkBorrego
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Joined: September 27th, 2017, 9:02 am

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by MarkBorrego »

Thanks for the helpful insights tanstaafl. I use my Yahoo account mainly as a junk email address when I have to give one to purchase or register for something but I don't really care to receive their emails, or I suspect they will put me on a spam list. I just look every now and then to be sure nothing I really want is going there. So since the idea is exactly to keep that mail apart from my main Gmail account, I probably will just contend with the problem rather than route Yahoo through Gmail. It's only a recent problem for me, starting about 2 weeks ago. For now I'll just hope it will go away again.

One interesting thing for others reading this who are experiencing this problem: This morning the error was occurring but after sending the "Empty Junk" command from Thunderbird the retrieve error stopped!

Anyway, the better understanding of what's going on is really appreciated tanstaafl!
msapiro
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Joined: December 30th, 2009, 5:22 pm

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by msapiro »

FWIW, I had the same issue. It affected Thunderbird 52.3.0 and probably also K9 Mail 5.208 on my Android phone, although K9 Mail never displayed an error, it had symptoms.

It started a few days ago. I deleted two messages from my Yahoo inbox in Thunderbird. I don't recall if I selected both and deleted or if I deleted them one at a time. I may have actually seen the first "[UNAVAILABLE] UID FETCH Server error while fetching messages" on the inbox just before I deleted the two messages or upon the deletion. I don't recall for sure, but that's when it started.

I then went to the trash and got the "[UNAVAILABLE] UID FETCH Server error while fetching messages" message there too, and I saw only one of the two deleted messages, and I emptied the trash.

From that point forward, I would get the error message upon any operation on the inbox or the trash, but not on any other folder. The trash was always empty, both in T'bird and K9 Mail. This is a very low traffic account, and no new mail has arrived, but both in T'bird and K9 Mail, the newest remaining message in the inbox (from Oct 1) would sometimes not appear until I tried fetching messages a second or third time.

Finally, I thought to go to the trash in Yahoo web mail. The other deleted message was there. I emptied the trash in Yahoo web mail, and I am no longer seeing errors or other symptoms in either T'bird or K9 Mail.

Update: I have seen this two more times. The scenario is the same in each. I receive one message in my Yahoo inbox. I go to the inbox in T'bird, open the message, read it and delete it. All this happens with no apparent error. I then open the trash folder in T'bird and I get the "[UNAVAILABLE] UID FETCH Server error while fetching messages" error alert and see no messages in the trash. This persists with trash, but there are no issues with inbox or other folders. I then open Yahoo web mail. I see the deleted message in the trash. I empty the trash in web mail and I no longer see errors in T'bird.
Mark Sapiro <mark@msapiro.net> The highway is for gamblers,
San Francisco Bay Area, California better use your sense - B. Dylan
bluespy
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Joined: April 10th, 2018, 4:25 pm

Re: UID FETCH server error

Post by bluespy »

I think what msapiro says has something in it.
After emptying the trash folder, it works normally again, untill there is something that 'might be' stuck in the trash.

Don't we have a bug tracker for this since I believe it is starting to get a bit specific
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