Thunderbird doesn't Download Messages from GMail IMAP

[ChrisGreaves]

Thunderbird has been working well since (MARCH 2023) I installed on this laptop HP15, and for years before that. Since late yesterday Thunderbird refuses to download GMail from my main account (CPRGreaves).

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I am using Thunderbird 102.11.2 (64bit) 102.12.0 is available

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My Online Gmail account reports 707 messages; I leave them on the server as well as d/l to my laptop. 707 messages doesn’t seem like a lot to me after wading through other users INBoxes over the years.

In Firefox I sign out of CPRGreaves account and sign back in as (the same) CPRGreaves. GetMessages returns the same “No messages Found.

Still in CPRGreaves I send an email to CGBankScotia@GMail.com (“Message Sent”)

In Thunderbird I try to obtain emails for CGBankScotia@GMail.com and the Test0933 appears in the Thunderbird InBox for CGBankScotia@GMail.com.

So it seems that Thunderbird is working, but not on my main account CPRGreaves.

From Thunderbird, the CGBankScotia account, I Compose a message to CPRGreaves and then use Getmessages in Thunderbird and the two messages show up! But other emails from the past 24 hours still do NOT show up.

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The attached document (next post) contains a summary of some of the posts from other forums, headed by my Google Search String.

Thanks for any suggestions, especially from someone who has experienced this in the past. Several of the external posts report variations of "It suddenly started working again!"
Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

The attached document (next post) contains a summary of some of the posts from other forums, headed by my Google Search String.

[ChrisGreaves]

Thunderbird has been working well since (MARCH 2023) I installed on this laptop HP15, and for years before that. Since late yesterday Thunderbird refuses to download GMail from my main account (CPRGreaves).

I hate computers!
Just one hour later I check my Thunderbird InBox and there is a new email.
It is as if complaining about Thunderbird has shamed it into functioning again.
Meanwhile I am thinking of pasting the outstanding couple of dozen emails from Firefox/GMail pages into an MSWord document as an interim safeguard.
Cheers, Chris

[HansV]

You should complain more often...

[ChrisGreaves]

You should complain more often...

Oh I will, Hans; I will!
1. I have carefully pasted emails from FireFox/GMail pages into MSWord documents and added hyperlinks where applicable. So valuable emails are saved.
2. I have deleted all 900+ emails from my GMail Inbox.
3. I am now debating going back to a System Restore Point in case my system is buggy.
4. I am now debating whether to go back to my latest system backup (April 2023? I am guilty ...)
5. I am now debating uninstalling Thunderbird and installing a slightly older version
6. I am now debating upgrading Thunderbird from 102.11.2 to 102.12.0

Because this problem has recurred annually since 2016, I can't see much point in complaining posting to the Thunderbird Forums.

My guess is that it is a MSWindows glitch, because I can't see GMail having a problem that persists for seven years. The more so since other online sites are logged out e.g. Online Banking etc. That is, this seems to be a general problem with my system, rather than a problem related specifically related to Thunderbird.

(Later) Upgraded to 102.12.0 but the newer version still does not retrieve emails from GMail
Created a Restore Point
Uninstalled Thunderbird 102.12.0; Installed 68.9.0 from 06-04-20
The newer version still does not retrieve emails from GMail (Yes, there are a few new emails sitting there, waiting to be downloaded)
(Thinking) Maybe I have accidentally set some switch within my GMail account?

(Later still) OK. System Restore from May 24th it is.
(Later still III) System Restore. Thunderbird "Couldn't load XPCOM".

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Sigh.
Followed instructions in Mozilla Support, and FWIW found Installation copies in both "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird\" and "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Thunderbird\". Deleted both.
This installation (102.12.0) has solved the XPCOM error, but still doesn't download new emails from 35 minutes ago (visible on the GMail page via FireFox). The last quiver in my arrow is to fall back to an April? backup image of the C: drive.
Oh Yes: Also try another 3rd-party email client. Outlook?
(Later IV) Still trying to narrow down the likely cause I read 7 Best Free Email Clients and decided to try out MailBird. MailBird installed quickly, found my settings, and downloaded new mail from GMail. (Of course I deleted my GMail Inbox yesterday ...). So after this ten-minute trial I have reason to think that Thunderbird is somehow messed up (by me) or playing up (but itself).
(Later V) MailBird had an annoying option to upgrade to a Free Trial of their Business Level version. After six popups i got tired and clicked on Agree. Then I got annoying popups that said my Free Trial would end in 3,2,1 days, and that made me fear that a scam/switch was in play, that after three days my use of MailBird would expire.

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Monday morning there are no pop-ups and I am receiving email from my Google account.
Later VI And so the long day wore on ... Mailbird granted me a four-day extension, and then this morning said that was enough:-

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... and so now to see what the basic/personal version is really like. I don't like this "hard-sell to the Business" trial appealing at all. I reasoned up front that probably all I wanted was the basic/personal model, so this has been a wasted week, in a sense. Only now am I able to see what the truly "Free" model is like.

Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Thunderbird has been working well since (MARCH 2023) I installed on this laptop HP15, and for years before that. Since late yesterday Thunderbird refuses to download GMail from my main account (CPRGreaves).

Late yesterday, as part of another project, I had reason to sit at the old DELL laptop running Win7. There I saw 303 new messages in Thunderbird, as up to date as 3pm.
So Thunderbird and Gmail are working together in my house (of course they are working together on all of your systems!) and that suggests that the problem is possibly related to my Win11/Thunderbird configuration on my new (March 2003) HP15 laptop.
I am now considering (sigh!) a fresh install, factory reset on this new machine.
Cheers, Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

I am now considering (sigh!) a fresh install, factory reset on this new machine.

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This morning, even stranger.
Here I am back on my regular machine, the HP15 and Thunderbird has woken up; at least that's what it seems to be.
My Thunderbird Inbox on the HP15 is populated with new messages that arrived over the past 24 hours.

It is as if running the copy of Thunderbird on the old DELL/Win7 machine yesterday had dislodged a bit of grit in the communication between GMail. That old DELL has 300+ unread messages (which I have been processing with "Mailbird") and this new HP15/Win11 appears to be ready to rock'n'roll once again.

So I am playing wait-and-see.
Cheers, Chris