New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

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wardw
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Joined: September 18th, 2012, 10:29 am

New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by wardw »

About a week ago (Oct.9/2019), new messages stopped appearing in my Thunderbird Inbox, either automatically or via Get Messages. I checked my Centurylink server, and all new messages were there. I sent myself a message and tried Get Messages, and the status bar said 1 new message was received, but it didn't appear in my Inbox.

I tried using Safe Mode, but the problem remained. I also uninstalled and reinstalled Thunderbird, but that didn't fix it. My account settings are correct. I later noticed that a new subfolder (at least, I believe it was new), had been created in my own "People" folder and named after me (say, Fred Jones), and all my new messages were in there, starting from Oct.9/2019. Interestingly, the Fred Jones folder (or account?) is now listed in the File > Get New Messages For list, along with the normal xxxxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net.

From then on, all my new messages, both automatically and manually, now appear in the Fred Jones subfolder. My normal Inbox still has no new messages.

Is there a way to have my Inbox receive messages from the server the way it should?

I'm using Windows 10 with Thunderbird version 68.1.2 (32-bit).
Last edited by DanRaisch on October 16th, 2019, 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Email address obscured per forum rules. http://forums.mozillazine.org/faq.php?mode=rules#f4r4
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DanRaisch
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Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by DanRaisch »

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.
Do you have any filters running in that account? http://kb.mozillazine.org/Filters_%28Thunderbird%29
wardw
Posts: 11
Joined: September 18th, 2012, 10:29 am

Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by wardw »

Hi Dan,
Thanks for your reply. In Account Settings, the list of accounts has xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net in boldface at the top. To the left of that account name is an envelope icon. Under it is Server Settings (it's a POP mail server), Copies & Folders, Composition & Addressing, etc. Under that is another boldface "account" named after me. To the left of that account name is a computer monitor icon. Under it are only Junk Settings and Disc Space. At the bottom is a boldface Outgoing Server (SMTP), with an arrow icon.

Clicking the xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net account shows all the expected info, as does the Server Settings link. Clicking the account named after me shows an Account Settings dialog with "The following is a special account. There are no identities associated with it." Account Name is my name. Then there's a Message Storage option to empty the Deleted folder on exit. The Local Directory box shows C:\Users\wardw\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\bxglb73x.default\Mail\Local Folders. That's all in that dialog.

As to filters, the xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net account has 66 enabled filters, which of course don't work because no new mail is delivered to its inbox. The "account" named after me has 33 filters, but they don't work on the new mail that appears in its inbox.
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DanRaisch
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Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by DanRaisch »

Well, two comments:

1) A POP type account can only access the server inbox folder and can only download messages to the Thunderbird Inbox folder. It's only AFTER they are received to the Inbox folder of the POP account that Thunderbird can move/copy messages to another folder.

2) It would be hard to determine whether messages arrived to the Thunderbird Inbox folder for the CenturyLink account if even one of those filters is set up to move the messages on receipt AND was mis-configured to "Match all messages". Every new arrival would be moved out of the inbox upon receipt, giving the appearance that those messages are not being received into the inbox.

I suggest that you close Thunderbird and then rename the file msgFilterRules.dat (found in the directory of the CenturyLink account) to msgFilterRulesdat.old. Start Thunderbird and see if new messages show up in the Inbox folder. If they do, it will confirm that one or more of the filters is causing the problem you reported.
wardw
Posts: 11
Joined: September 18th, 2012, 10:29 am

Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by wardw »

Hi DanRaisch,

I checked all the filters for both the xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net account and the MyName "account", and none of the filters is mis-configured to "Match all messages".

I also closed Thunderbird and renamed the msgFilterRules.dat files (there were two: one at C:\Users\wardw\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\bxglb73x.default\Mail\pop.centurylink.net\msgFilterRules.dat and one at C:\Users\wardw\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\bxglb73x.default\Mail\Local Folders\msgFilterRules.dat) to msgFilterRulesdat.old, and then restarted Thunderbird.

New mail still appears in the MyName folder and doesn't appear in the Inbox. However, when I sent *myself* a test message it did appear in the Inbox.

I thought I'd try just redirecting all mail from the MyName folder to the Inbox, but that wouldn't work because none of the rules I've made for the MyName folder work; they're just ignored.
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DanRaisch
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Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by DanRaisch »

They would be ignored unless run manually. Were you doing that?
wardw
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Joined: September 18th, 2012, 10:29 am

Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by wardw »

Hi Dan,

I've built a kluge that seems as if it might work. To the filter rules for the xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net Inbox, I added a filter that matches all messages. The action is to Move Message To Inbox on xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net. It's set to apply when Manually Run and Getting New Mail. A few minutes later, a new message arrived in the xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net Inbox. I'll have to wait for other new messages to see whether it continues to work, and whether filter rules apply to them. I clicked Run Now to see whether all existing messages in MyName would be moved, but nothing happened. I can always drag them to Inbox manually, though.

I'll keep you posted on the kluge.
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tanstaafl
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Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by tanstaafl »

"As to filters, the xxxxxxxxx@centurylink.net account has 66 enabled filters,"

Are you using most of your message filters to move new mail to a folder named after the sender?

I suggest you enable the message filter log in the message filter window, restart and see what the log says happened after you get new mail. It wouldn't hurt to empty your trash and compact your folders (file -> compact folders) since sometimes messages get bumped from the inbox to another folder if there is a problem with the inbox being too full, corrupted etc.
wardw
Posts: 11
Joined: September 18th, 2012, 10:29 am

Re: New messages appear in subfolder, not in Inbox

Post by wardw »

Hi tanstaafl,

I think I may have fixed the filter problem. In the xxxxxxx@centurylink.net Inbox, I disabled the "move all messages to..." filter. Now, all messages still appear in the Inbox, but the filters are being applied as they should.

Don't ask me why this works; that's way above my pay grade. :)
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