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How can I get Thunderbird to sync all my IMAP subfolders?

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by nab

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Hi,

I'm using Thunderbird on my desktop and on my laptop, on the same IMAP account. On the desktop, it loads all my subfolders correctly and correctly syncs and displays all the new mails (mails are directly put into specific subfolders on the server through sieve scripts).

On the laptop, some subsubsub-folders are not sync'd correctly on startup. Usually, the parent folder exists in the tree vieew, but the subfolder (the leaf in the directory tree) doesn't exist. When I double click on the parent folder, the leaf subfolders appear, and when I click on the subfolder name, it then sync's the content of the folder (which can be several thousands of mails and take some time...). Once I did that, the new mails are detected in those folders.

It seems like it loads the tree dynamically on the laptop and needs a nudge to start loading everything, whereas on the desktop, it looks like those folders are already cached on startup and Thunderbird knows about it.

I'm not sure what the difference is between my setups and how to debug this. Any clue is welcome,

Thanks,

nab

Hi, I'm using Thunderbird on my desktop and on my laptop, on the same IMAP account. On the desktop, it loads all my subfolders correctly and correctly syncs and displays all the new mails (mails are directly put into specific subfolders on the server through sieve scripts). On the laptop, some subsubsub-folders are not sync'd correctly on startup. Usually, the parent folder exists in the tree vieew, but the subfolder (the leaf in the directory tree) doesn't exist. When I double click on the parent folder, the leaf subfolders appear, and when I click on the subfolder name, it then sync's the content of the folder (which can be several thousands of mails and take some time...). Once I did that, the new mails are detected in those folders. It seems like it loads the tree dynamically on the laptop and needs a nudge to start loading everything, whereas on the desktop, it looks like those folders are already cached on startup and Thunderbird knows about it. I'm not sure what the difference is between my setups and how to debug this. Any clue is welcome, Thanks, nab

All Replies (6)

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This being on linux Debian Unstable, Thunderbird version 68.2.2

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Right-click the folder, Properties, and see if the box 'When getting new messages...' is checked on the desktop but not on the laptop.

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Thanks for the answer. I'll have to check on the desktop tonight, but on the laptop, it's not checked. But it's not checked for any folder on the laptop, and other folders update fine.

And I don't think it's checked on the desktop, I think it's uncheked by default, and I for sure didn't go and check this for the 50 folders I have.

What's related I think is that some subfolders don't appear in the tree view. (And there is no carret before the folder, it's not that the subfolders are minimised, I think they are not loaded).

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How many levels deep are your folders?

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third level deep seem to be the ones that are not syncing.

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sfhowes said

Right-click the folder, Properties, and see if the box 'When getting new messages...' is checked on the desktop but not on the laptop.

I compared, both have the same settings, 'When getting noew messages...' is not checked...