Wednesday 1st December 2004
Checking IMAP Sub-Folders with Thunderbird
Another of those “I couldn’t find the answer on Google so I’ll write it here” postings.
By default, Thunderbird only checks your Inbox for new messages (which stems from a POP3 legacy). If you have server-side rules (or use a web interface to do your rules), then you’ll want Thunderbird to check subfolders as well. This can be done by right-clicking the folder in question, selecting properties, and ticking the appropriate box. There’s no(t yet an) option to do this globally.
Applies to Thunderbird 0.9.
Update: April 2008
Years later, even with Thunderbird 2.0, this is still a problem. But there’s now a global option, thankfully. Although it’s completely hidden, it saves a lot of time if you’ve got lots of subfolders.
Open up the preferences dialog (either Tools -> Preferences or Edit -> Preferences), and click Advanced -> General -> Config Editor. In the filter box start typing ‘mail.check’ and then double click on mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new. It should then change the value to true (and it’ll appear in bold since you’ve changed it) and all should hopefully be hunky-dory.
Thank you, i was looking for this..
Have a nice day…
Comment by Martin Jensen — 23/10/2006 @ 11:54 pm
Same as the fellow above, thanks.
Comment by Nathan Friedly — 24/8/2007 @ 7:50 pm
Any idea why none of the above mentioned works with Thunderbird 2.0.0.9 running under Linux (SuSE 10.3)? It’s working under XP …
In Linux it shows me the public subfolders but not the ones I created under “Inbox”. We’re using MS Exchange Server.
Thanks!
Comment by Hmm ... — 7/4/2008 @ 9:12 pm
Amendment to the post above … I get all mail just dumped into “Inbox” instead of have it structured in subfolders.
Comment by Hmm ... — 7/4/2008 @ 9:24 pm
Not working for me with IMAP, version 2.0.0.14 on WinXP SP2 and MS Exchange Server 2000. These are the steps I took in finding the problem:
Turned on “mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new”, closed, reopened and nothing changed. I tried creating a folder under the directory the same name as a folder that already exists and nothing happened. I tried creating a folder outside the inbox directory and drag it in; I got an error message that said a folder already exists with that name. Then in Thunderbird I created a new folder under my inbox with a unique name. The folder appeared over on the outlook side. I put an email in the new outlook folder and it appeared in Thunderbird.
It appears that Thunderbird just can’t make visible the folders under it’s own inbox that are on the server side other than the inbox itself. This appears to be a bug.
Comment by Brandon M. — 28/5/2008 @ 6:38 pm
And…This is fixed by Subscribing. Right click on any folder in that Account and hit subscribe. Then Check any folder you would like to keep updated. It does not automatically check subfolders.
Comment by Brandon M. — 28/5/2008 @ 6:44 pm
On a per folder basis in 2.0.0.9 you can right click the folder, choose properties, and check “Check this folder for new messages”.
Comment by Simon Taylor — 3/6/2008 @ 12:03 pm
Thanks so much for this info. Been looking for an answer for a least a year..
Comment by Pelle — 9/7/2008 @ 10:09 pm
Thanks man. This bug has been annoying me for months!
Comment by siikah — 30/10/2008 @ 2:01 am