Where does Tbird "Saved PWs" get server data & user names

[phkhgh]

At least in Tb 68 & earlier. I know it depends on reentering PWs (if not already saved).
Where does it get URLs: imap://imap.gmx.com (imap://imap.gmx.com), or the User Names? From data entered in Tb acct settings, or from prefs.js?

Reason I ask, very suddenly, a couple of accts didn't work. IMAP & POP.
Looked in Saved PWs & a couple of URLs were "corrupted." One user name was "b" - one lower case letter. I never entered that & nothing in acct settings showed a misformed server name or path, nor a one letter address.

But copying prefs.js into an editor w/ good search, I found the entry for name "b" and partially complete server string (like, //.gmx.com). But in Tb acct settings GUI, the user name (email addr) & server string were correct. It apparently wasn't using later, correct data - from Tb GUI or from prefs.js.

I deleted the entries from Saved PWs several times, then sent / fetched mail so it needed the PW entered again. I checked "save in PW manager." It kept using older, bad URLs & user names, though there were later, correct prefs.js entries for the problem accts.

Finally edited prefs.js, to del every line specific to the problem accts. Haven't yet rebuilt the accts in Tb, but I'm sure it'll work.
Question / comment about remove account options: "Remove acct information" & "Remove acct data." Under more info, It doesn't say anything about removing associated prefs for an acct being removed, when messed up prefs.js settings are one of most common problems.

Does "Remove acct data" clean up prefs.js entries for accts being removed? Doing it manually like I was forced to is a pain. Starting w/ a clean prefs.js would be bigger pain.

I DIDN'T check "remove data" bcs didn't want to delete mail files - though did back them up. Selecting only "Remove acct information" didn't remove anything in prefs.js, though there were obvious errors (including a username = "b").

[tanstaafl]

The data entered in the account settings is stored in prefs.js, and is also accessible via the config editor. The password wizard stores encrypted passwords in logins.json. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_fol ... hunderbird

If you want to start fresh either delete the account (which will delete the appropriate entries for you in prefs.js) and create a new one for that email address or create a new profile (overkill).

I believe the checkbox to delete account data when deleting an account is really asking do you also want to to delete the files in that accounts local directory (downloaded mail & message filters). Its quite common to delete an account (if its to hard to fix whatever is wrong with its settings), add it again, and then edit the local directory setting in its server settings to use the old location so that it reuses the old mail folders & message filters.

[phkhgh]

Thanks. But about the question, where does the Saved Passwords page / file get its info. I'm thinking (mostly) from prefs.js, not from Tb's acct settings.
Either you are mistaken about just deleting an acct from Settings > Acct Actions - "Remove acct", will also remove prefs.js entries tied to that acct, or else it failed to do its job when I removed accts.
So far, I don't see an automated way to clean specific mail accts' info in prefs.js.

Cause I deleted 2 accts like that (didn't check 2nd option, "remove message data"). It didn't appear to delete any of the 2 accts' prefs.js entries (incorrect or otherwise).
Prefs.js is the only place I found the strange corrupted server URLs & user names that showed in Saved PWs. There were very specific prefs.js errors before & after acct removing the 2 accts & after restarting.

That's why I said I was forced to manually search prefs.js for the accts' email addresses, highlight all entries (showing the problem accts' names) that had the same ID # or same server# and manually del them.

That's what "more info" says about the "remove data" option - actually deletes emails, folders & filters. Which is odd to me, it didn't also clean prefs.js entries. But then lots of addons & plugins leave data in prefs.js after uninstalling them.

[tanstaafl]

Did you exit Thunderbird before looking in prefs.js (or adding the account again)? Its easy to overlook the difference between whats in memory and whats permanently stored on disk, and when a change takes effect. That's why when you delete a password its important to exit and restart Thunderbird since the supposedly deleted password is still in use, in memory, until you do that.

I've had no reason to delete an account with version 68 but I've deleted accounts in prior versions numerous times and they fully disappeared except for the password manager. There is also the question of whether or not Thunderbird pays attention to the deleted account. Use the config editor and search for the deleted accounts email address, and then find the associated server# for the POP/IMAP account. The account# is the same id. Then look in mail.accountmanager.accounts . It lists the ids of all of the accounts that Thunderbird uses. I've seen a few threads where an account is orphaned . If I remember right the problem was the opposite of yours, they wanted Thunderbird to use that account and it was fixed by adding the account id to mail.accountmanager.accounts .

[phkhgh]

Very interesting.

Did you exit Thunderbird before looking in prefs.js

Yep (to best of my memory). If you edit it while Tb is open, edits won't be saved after closing Tb.

I wasn't talking about "removed accounts" not removing their data / entries from "Saved Passwords." I don't think I said that removing entries from Saved Passwords was an issue.

I was saying that using Acct Actions > "remove account" didn't appear to delete the acct's prefs.js entries. But I've seen for decades that removing / uninstalling plugins, addons often didn't remove lots of their prefs.js entries. I believe I saw the same issue when removing email accts in the past. But it's been yrs since I had to del a Tb acct.

Are you saying when you removed a Tb acct (in the v60+ versions), it removed every prefs.js entry tied to the removed acct? I don't remember it ever working that way, but it's been yrs since I removed an acct.

As for recreating a removed acct in v68 (after manually deleting all prefs.js entries for the acct - especially if the removed acct had (visibly) corrupt prefs.js entries.
It went perfectly. However, I can see how some incorrect prefs.js entries could easily get created during the acct setup.

I always go to the "manual setup" (or what ever they call it) instead of letting Tb's acct wizard set it up. I've rarely seen the wizard set up an acct 100% correctly. Sometimes, (apparently) depending on which data in acct settings are entered incorrectly, it holds on to some incorrect values in prefs.js like a dog with a bone. Sometimes it didn't matter how many times you corrected it in acct settings GUI - it kept using the wrong data. Other times, it worked fine after correcting values in settings.

Yesterday when I recreated a removed acct & went to manual setup as soon as that option appeared, seems "the wizard" had already entered some incomplete data that a lot of users wouldn't catch if not careful. Like filling in the server name but leaving off POP or IMAP. It also entered wrong port numbers for providers, many times.

[tanstaafl]

The new account wizard is pretty buggy when it doesn't find any corresponding data for the email provider in the Mozilla ISP database. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/doc ... figuration

My impression is most add-ons don't delete their settings or any files they created in the profile when uninstalled. But that is a different mechanism than Thunderbird deleting an account.