This Thunderbird problem started happening today. When I single click an
old email in my 'Sent' folder the email gets deleted. No warning about
it. Either way it shouldn't happen. Does anyone here know how to fix this?
TIA. Bill S.

bilsch01 wrote:
> This Thunderbird problem started happening today. When I single click an
> old email in my 'Sent' folder the email gets deleted. No warning about
> it. Either way it shouldn't happen. Does anyone here know how to fix this?
> TIA.   Bill S.

Are you clicking on the 'Junk' column of the that email's row?

--
Take care,

Jonathan
-------------------
LITTLE WORKS STUDIO
http://www.LittleWorksStudio.com

bilsch01 wrote:
> This Thunderbird problem started happening today. When I single click an
> old email in my 'Sent' folder the email gets deleted. No warning about
> it. Either way it shouldn't happen. Does anyone here know how to fix this?
> TIA. Bill S.

Just some general information, which, because the
program gets modified, may change from time to time.
I like Jonathans idea, as the source of your misery.

Editing these files is not for the squeamish. Backups
are essential during learning experiences (back up the
two Profile folders).

Newsgroup folders consist of:

alt.os.linux.ubuntu.msf <=== a large file, in MORK format
alt.os.linux.ubuntu.mdat <=== a small text file, stores filters for killfiling people

When the MORK is corrupted in that case, the file
tends to be thrown away and generation of the file
starts from scratch.

Keeping backup copies of the .msf file, is then
necessary to toss a working copy into the news server
folder in question, and "revive" group storage (return
the header pattern that used to show, not one fetched
from scratch).

The .mdat file hardly ever needs work, compared to the
..msf which is a "highly unreliable" file format. Once it
hits about 100MB, it tips over in a light breeze.

*******

The Sent folder on the other hand, is a "mail" item

Sent <=== a text file, with some status lines at the top

From - Wed Nov 26 06:13:35 2008
X-Mozilla-Status: 0015
X-Mozilla-Status2: 00800000
X-Mozilla-Keys:

0000 Unread
0001 Read (perhaps a good value)
0008 \___ Could be deleted values
0009 /
0015 Not sure

To start with, the changes made to your messages, the ones
you clicked, those should be checked for 0008 or 0009 sort
of thing. Skim through the file and see how many are
"X-Mozilla-Status: 0008" for example.

Sent.msf <=== MORK file format. In this case, a "derived index" of sorts.
After you've edited SENT with a text editor, you could
look for the Index Rebuild or the Repair button. This might
regenerate Sent.msf. If this screws things up, restore
Sent and Sent.msf from your profile folder backups.

The interface will be similar to this.

https://www.lifewire.com/thmb/N6Er8GzNV_n6RJ2cMUYxg2222s8=/1366x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29:max_bytes%28150000%29:strip_icc%28%29/002_repair-folders-thunderbird-1173102-e17db3f583c241bcb05d9fb5613377db.jpg

The folder properties of "Sent" also include options
for auto-deletion. Click Sent and do Properties, and the
Retention Policy can lead to grief. The Retention Policy
should be to keep everything, not randomly delete stuff.

Items are not really "deleted" until a "Compact" run happens.
Thunderbird is always in a rush in the modern versions,
to "Compact" the hell out of things. Any messages lost
to deletion could be permanently removed after a
"Compact", in which case repair with a text editor
isn't possible. You need to

Exit Thunderbird first. Don't edit Sent while it is running.

Edit Sent, change the status of the X-Mozilla-Status flags on affected messages

Start Thunderbird.
Rebuild Index using the saved/corrected copy of Sent
Do this before Sent is Compacted.

The .msf MORK file keeps track of items to be deleted, by placing
a "-" sign next to the items needing to be removed. The Compact
runs through the file, sees the "-" items and then removes
them. Because it's a database, there are things associated with
one another in there, and some of those get tidied by a single
minus sign somewhere else, too. Editing the .msf by hand is
possible (I wrote a program to mess about for example), but
there is a lot to .msf and in fact my program is far from
technically correct. Regenerating the .msf in this case,
after the mailbox file is corrected and the delete flags 0008
or 0009 are removed, should in principle give a MORK file
with not quite so many minuses in it.

Summary: You can fix it, maybe. If you can find sufficient
collaborative tech info. Don't Compact SENT until
this is fixed!

Just a guess,
Paul

On 7/10/21 3:16 PM, Paul wrote:
> bilsch01 wrote:
>> This Thunderbird problem started happening today. When I single click
>> an old email in my 'Sent' folder the email gets deleted. No warning
>> about it. Either way it shouldn't happen. Does anyone here know how to
>> fix this?
>> TIA.   Bill S.
>
> Just some general information, which, because the
> program gets modified, may change from time to time.
> I like Jonathans idea, as the source of your misery.
>
> Editing these files is not for the squeamish. Backups
> are essential during learning experiences (back up the
> two Profile folders).
>
> Newsgroup folders consist of:
>
>    alt.os.linux.ubuntu.msf   <=== a large file, in MORK format
>    alt.os.linux.ubuntu.mdat  <=== a small text file, stores filters for
> killfiling people
>
> When the MORK is corrupted in that case, the file
> tends to be thrown away and generation of the file
> starts from scratch.
>
> Keeping backup copies of the .msf file, is then
> necessary to toss a working copy into the news server
> folder in question, and "revive" group storage (return
> the header pattern that used to show, not one fetched
> from scratch).
>
> The .mdat file hardly ever needs work, compared to the
> .msf which is a "highly unreliable" file format. Once it
> hits about 100MB, it tips over in a light breeze.
>
> *******
>
> The Sent folder on the other hand, is a "mail" item
>
>    Sent   <=== a text file, with some status lines at the top
>
>                From - Wed Nov 26 06:13:35 2008
>                X-Mozilla-Status: 0015
>                X-Mozilla-Status2: 00800000
>                X-Mozilla-Keys:
>
>                0000 Unread
>                0001 Read (perhaps a good value)
>                0008 \___ Could be deleted values
>                0009 /
>                0015 Not sure
>
>                To start with, the changes made to your messages, the ones
>                you clicked, those should be checked for 0008 or 0009 sort
>                of thing. Skim through the file and see how many are
>                "X-Mozilla-Status: 0008" for example.
>
>    Sent.msf <=== MORK file format. In this case, a "derived index" of
> sorts.
>                  After you've edited SENT with a text editor, you could
>                  look for the Index Rebuild or the Repair button. This
> might
>                  regenerate Sent.msf. If this screws things up, restore
>                  Sent and Sent.msf from your profile folder backups.
>
> The interface will be similar to this.
>
> https://www.lifewire.com/thmb/N6Er8GzNV_n6RJ2cMUYxg2222s8=/1366x0/filters:no_upscale%28%29:max_bytes%28150000%29:strip_icc%28%29/002_repair-folders-thunderbird-1173102-e17db3f583c241bcb05d9fb5613377db.jpg
>
>
> The folder properties of "Sent" also include options
> for auto-deletion. Click Sent and do Properties, and the
> Retention Policy can lead to grief. The Retention Policy
> should be to keep everything, not randomly delete stuff.
>
> Items are not really "deleted" until a "Compact" run happens.
> Thunderbird is always in a rush in the modern versions,
> to "Compact" the hell out of things. Any messages lost
> to deletion could be permanently removed after a
> "Compact", in which case repair with a text editor
> isn't possible. You need to
>
>    Exit Thunderbird first. Don't edit Sent while it is running.
>
>    Edit Sent, change the status of the X-Mozilla-Status flags on
> affected messages
>
>    Start Thunderbird.
>    Rebuild Index using the saved/corrected copy of Sent
>    Do this before Sent is Compacted.
>
> The .msf MORK file keeps track of items to be deleted, by placing
> a "-" sign next to the items needing to be removed. The Compact
> runs through the file, sees the "-" items and then removes
> them. Because it's a database, there are things associated with
> one another in there, and some of those get tidied by a single
> minus sign somewhere else, too. Editing the .msf by hand is
> possible (I wrote a program to mess about for example), but
> there is a lot to .msf and in fact my program is far from
> technically correct. Regenerating the .msf in this case,
> after the mailbox file is corrected and the delete flags 0008
> or 0009 are removed, should in principle give a MORK file
> with not quite so many minuses in it.
>
> Summary: You can fix it, maybe. If you can find sufficient
>          collaborative tech info. Don't Compact SENT until
>          this is fixed!
>
> Just a guess,
>    Paul

On my system with this problem I would remove Thunderbird
and re-install it.

bliss- - “Nearly any fool can use a Linux computer. Many do.” After all
here I am...

--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com

On 10.07.2021 at 15:46, Bobbie Sellers scribbled:

> On my system with this problem I would remove Thunderbird
> and re-install it.

Which is the Microsoft Windows way of trying to fix things, but it
doesn't work like that in GNU/Linux.

The reason why it works in Windows is the Windows Registry. Windows is
a consumerist platform primarily focused on using proprietary and thus
copyrighted software, and therefore, the removal of an application also
requires removing all related files in the system because of potential
copyright violations. Windows also doesn't have any package manager of
its own and relies on each application's individual installation
procedure for (re-)initializing an application's configuration.

Corruption in your local mail archive is always going to be situated in
your $HOME. In a UNIX system, uninstalling and reinstalling the
application isn't going to touch anything inside a user's $HOME,
because this would imply that all users' data would be jeopardized by
the whims of whoever has root/admin access on the system.

Besides, it would require an additional algorithm for indexing every
user account on the system and looping through each and every home
directory in order to remove the user-owned application-specific files.
An operating system specifically designed for promoting software freedom
isn't going to go there. ;)

--
With respect,
= Aragorn =

On 7/10/21 11:37 AM, bilsch01 wrote:
> This Thunderbird problem started happening today. When I single click an
> old email in my 'Sent' folder the email gets deleted. No warning about
> it. Either way it shouldn't happen. Does anyone here know how to fix this?
> TIA.   Bill S.
I read everyone's post and looked at some of the things mentioned. I
discovered I must have been clicking in the 'junk' column as suggested
by Jonathan. Thanks for the guidance.

Bill S.