Change name of mailbox folder
William B. Lurie
I'm trying to change the name of that folder to Inbox6789.
I dug deep in the profile and found the two file icons,
one with no extension and one with .msf extension, and renamed
them.
Then I restarted TB and the mailbox folder name has not been
changed. Rechecking, the file icon names *were* changed.
What am I doing wrong?
William B. Lurie
but I'd like to understand why my method doesn't work. I do
manipulate the data from system to system, and changing the
name manually gives me more flexibility.
Jay Garcia
--- Original Message ---
When TB is closed, change the name but also remove the .MSF file related
to the mailbox.
--
Jay Garcia - Netscape/Flock Champion
www.ufaq.org
Netscape - Flock - Firefox - Thunderbird - Seamonkey Support
Nir
Tb caches all folder related information in a file called 'panacea.dat'.
Delete it when Tb is closed. It will automatically be regenerated
depending on current state of profile folder on next start.
William B. Lurie
> On 14.11.2009 07:35, William B. Lurie wrote:
>
> --- Original Message ---
>
>> William B. Lurie wrote:
>>> Years ago I created a mailbox folder named Inbox678.
>>> I'm trying to change the name of that folder to Inbox6789.
>>> I dug deep in the profile and found the two file icons,
>>> one with no extension and one with .msf extension, and renamed
>>> them.
>>> Then I restarted TB and the mailbox folder name has not been
>>> changed. Rechecking, the file icon names *were* changed.
>>> What am I doing wrong?
>> I should add that I am aware of the "change folder name" option
>> but I'd like to understand why my method doesn't work. I do
>> manipulate the data from system to system, and changing the
>> name manually gives me more flexibility.
>
> When TB is closed, change the name but also remove the .MSF file related
> to the mailbox.
>
>
Let me ask a related question.
From my backup system, I copy the file 'inbox' which I renamed
'oldinbox', and pasted it in where 'inbox' and 'sent' are.
What do I have to do to make that old inbox appear in my list
of mailbox folders? I've opened and closed TB, and I've
rebooted the system, but 'oldinbox' doesn't appear (TB 2.0.0.23).
Jay Garcia
--- Original Message ---
Was TB actually fully closed, did you copy/paste the file oldinbox in
the same folder/directory in the correct account in your profile?
William B. Lurie
oldinbox, sent, etcetera, are all right there together.
G. R. Woodring
Two other possibilities:
(1) Do you have an extension (or third party program) that keeps Thunderbird
open and places an icon for it in the tray? Thunderbird must be completely
closed to pick up the new mailbox.
(2) Do you have more than one profile? You might be placing the file into an
old forgotten profile. Open "profiles.ini" under "C:\Documents and
Settings\[UserName]\Application Data\Thunderbird" (path my be different). If
more than one profile is listed, make sure the one where you put the file is the
one in use. If a profile's path is not listed in profiles.ini then Thunderbird
is not aware of that location.
--
G. R. Woodring
William B. Lurie
No icon in any tray.....but I do have a desktop icon for TB.
Could that be it? (I do have to have *some* way to open TB)>
And there is only one profile. And the file to be made into
a mailbox folder is right alongside the others that make folders,
as shown when I look via Windows Explorer.
And I'm pretty sure it always worked fine, up to now.......
Sounds like reloading TB is the next step.
G. R. Woodring
In Windows Explorer, how many folders appear in the "Mail" folder of your
profile, there should be "Local Folders" and pop.isp.com, pop.isp-1.com,
pop.isp-2.com for each account. If you have deleted an account from within
Thunderbird the folder will still be accessible through Windows Explorer. If
you have more folders than you have accounts in Thunderbird the extras will be
deleted accounts. Maybe you put the file into an inactive account.
> And I'm pretty sure it always worked fine, up to now.......
>
> Sounds like reloading TB is the next step.
>
If you mean un-installing/re-installing, that rarely fixes anything, as most
problems are created in the profile, but it shouldn't hurt.
>> (2) Do you have more than one profile? You might be placing the file
>> into an old forgotten profile. Open "profiles.ini" under
>> "C:\Documents and Settings\[UserName]\Application Data\Thunderbird"
>> (path my be different). If more than one profile is listed, make sure
>> the one where you put the file is the one in use. If a profile's path
>> is not listed in profiles.ini then Thunderbird is not aware of that
>> location.
>>
>>
--
G. R. Woodring
William B. Lurie
and thank you.
William B. Lurie
[Profile0]
Name=123
IsRelative=0
Path=W:\Profiles\9dlnlre6.default
Default=1
I see only one profile. It's name is strange, but I
have the feeling that it's a TB code choice.
Anything more I can do?
G. R. Woodring
Is "W:\Profiles\9dlnlre6.default\Mail\" the location where you placed the
"oldinbox" file.
--
G. R. Woodring
William B. Lurie
After \Mail there are \Local and \mail.myisp.net
and all of the files such as inbox, sent, drafts, etc. are all
visible by opening from \mail.myisp.net.
After \Local there are a few similar files, but that's
where messages sent from newsgroups like this one seem
to find their way.
G. R. Woodring
OK, It looks like the new folder should show up when you restart Thunderbird.
Lets look at another option. Under [Tools]>[Account Settings...], select
"Server Settings" for the account, on the right at the bottom you should see
"Local directory:". Does it show the same
"W:\Profiles\9dlnlre6.default\Mail\mail.myisp.net" as your profile location?
(You may need to click in the box and move the cursor past the end to scroll the
full text.) I would assume you would remember moving your mail location but I'm
running out of possibilities :-(
Creating a mail box by putting a file into the mail account folder has worked
for me with all versions from Minotaur through Thunderbird 3.0b.
--
G. R. Woodring
William B. Lurie
I don't see Server Settings in my screen.
I do see Outgoing Server SMTP with my mail.myisp.net (default) in the
space, and no option. Maybe my older TB 2.0.0.23 is different.
Tomorrow I will Restore an older system (last year) on my spare drive
and make a test to see what might be different.
And thanks for working withme.
Jay Garcia
--- Original Message ---
> Sounds like reloading TB is the next step.
Unintalling and re-installing only affects the program files, the
profile(s) are not affected.
Jay Garcia
--- Original Message ---
Try this ..
Wherever you have the file INBOX, add OLDINBOX in every place. Then open
TB and see if OLDINBOX is listed.
Christoph Schmees
just to make sure TB is really closed: Before any of your file operations
open task manager (ctrl-shift-ESC) and have a look whether or not the
process Thunderbird is alive. If it is you either have to wait until it has
finished cleaning up, or - if you didn't start it yourself - just kill it.
And then any file operations.
hth. Christoph
William B. Lurie
I think Jay's last advice is what I shall do. I made a simple
test as described below, whose result, I think, points solidly
in that direction.
On my clone system, I took a small mailbox file, copied and pasted
it elsewhere, went there and added a '9' to its name, and copied
and pasted it back alongside the original in the profile.
Then I opened TB, BOTH were there in the list. Repeating this on
my master system exactly, the added file did *not* appear in the
master list, and I went back to make sure it is in the profile.
William B. Lurie
A bit later, a bit sadder, and not much wiser, I report:
I went to Add/Remove programs and removed TB.
Then I reinstalled it from the TB...dot exe file.
And I checked that the added-9 file was still in
the profile......and it still does not show in the
list of folders when TB opens.
Is there any reason that I should not copy and paste the
whole profile from the close system to my master system?
William B. Lurie
but also I use Windows Explorer every time, to make sure that I file
which I have copied and pasted, really shows in the profile, and
therefore should be in the TB list of folders.
William B. Lurie
run out of suggestions. So when time permits, I'm going to try the
plan I outlined, namely, save the "bad" profile, and delete it
from the main system and paste in the profile from the system that
seems to work properly. If my Master system then works right, I
can copy back from the saved profile any mail that has come in since the
profile on my clone system was created.
If it doesn't work right on my Master system, I can't plan anything
further at this time.
William B. Lurie
I have a new wrinkle on this problem that perhaps someone can
shed some light on. (I haven't yet done what I threatened above).
One of the folders is named "newzeiss". When I use TB and read
the messages there are four messages. But when I use Start>Search
and ask it to find any file or folder with that name, it finds none.
And when I go into the profile and trickle down to the list of
everything under "mail.bellsouth.net", I find neither 'newzeiss'
nor 'newzeiss.sbd' nor 'newzeiss.msf' ........
Nir
> I have a new wrinkle on this problem that perhaps someone can
> shed some light on. (I haven't yet done what I threatened above).
>
> One of the folders is named "newzeiss". When I use TB and read
> the messages there are four messages. But when I use Start>Search
> and ask it to find any file or folder with that name, it finds none.
> And when I go into the profile and trickle down to the list of
> everything under "mail.bellsouth.net", I find neither 'newzeiss'
> nor 'newzeiss.sbd' nor 'newzeiss.msf' ........
(Pre-assuming the account that holds 'newzeiss' folder isn't part of
Global Inbox, that's you can find its folder tree separate from 'Local
Folders' account in folder pane)
Goto Tools > Account Settings > Select that account contains 'newzeiss'
> Server settings. Click on 'browse' button next to 'Local Directory'
field. It will open account folder in your file browser.
Now search for the file named '*newszeiss*.*' using your search tool.
If search doesn't return any result, copy a line from any of mails of
that folder and search for file *.* containing that string.
William B. Lurie
While saving profile as a backup, I ran into a new problem that has to
be fixed first. I'll post that and then get back to this problem. I
had to fall back on my backup system just to send this message.
Nir
> Clarify one procedure for me, please. Let's say that in my
> mailbox there is a folder named 'oldzeiss', and deep in the
> profile there are files named 'oldzeiss', along with one with .msf
> extension (I think). I take just the object 'oldzeiss', and
> I make a copy of it (elsewhere), rename the copy 'newzeiss',
> and copy and paste 'newzeiss' back right alongside 'oldzeiss'.
> right alongside 'oldzeiss'. It is my recollection that, in the
> past, closing and opening TB will cause both folders to appear
> in the mailbox. That isn't happening in either of my systems
> now.
(Replying to your post [1])
Generally it is suggested to close Tb before altering the content of
profile manually.
William, can you delete following files when Tb is closed and check if
missing folders appear in folder pane on next start?
Files are -
1) panacea.dat 2)XUL.mfl
Although name of the file in example doesn't contain any invalid
character but Tb has a technical limitation in showing folder with
invalid character in name[2]. So make it sure that this is not the
reason of your issue.
Also you can use ImportExportTool extension to import mbox files in Tb
folder structure from Tb interface[3].
[1]"http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.thunderbird/msg/cae83827d082885b"
[2]"http://kb.mozillazine.org/Folders_disappear_if_they_have_invalid_filename_characters"
William B. Lurie
absorb it all. But first a quick answer and a quick question:
No, I never use illegal characters in a mailbox folder name.
Upper and lower case alphanumeric only.
I searched for XUL.mfl and found 11 (!) instances of it,
but none in anywhere other than Local Settings, where I
have never been before. None in the string ending at where
my active mailboxes are. Shall I delete all eleven? Some
end in the two most recent profile IDs, and some end in
profile IDs that I do not recognize.
And I gather by implication that my scenario for building
an active mailbox folder is correct.
Nir
> I searched for XUL.mfl and found 11 (!) instances of it,
> but none in anywhere other than Local Settings, where I
> have never been before. None in the string ending at where
> my active mailboxes are. Shall I delete all eleven? Some
> end in the two most recent profile IDs, and some end in
> profile IDs that I do not recognize.
Delete that one which is in your active profile folder.
William B. Lurie
now the active profile, is from Compaq_Owner\Local Settings\App.
etcetera... I have never been in that chain before
I go Owner\>>App Data\TB....
Nir
Sorry, forgot that this file exists in profile folder if it's a custom
profile. Otherwise it will be user's local settings directory, just what
you found.
Btw, if you delete this file, Tb will create a fresh one on next start.
Better just move that/those files from the existing location to
somewhere else when Tb is closed. Then start Tb.
William B. Lurie
I should save the XUI file(s) that apply to the current profile
(i.e., the fzi5fpk7 newly created) in case I need them for something.
I should do that with TB closed.
And now, since a complete profile takes about 1.5GB, may I delete
the old troublesome profile 9dlnlre6.default from
Doc&Set\Compaq_Owner\App.Data\TB\profiles, where it now resides
along with fzi5fpk7.newname?
William B. Lurie
think I am getting to where it is operating properly.
In order to convince us, I will paste in a distinctive
message file, when TB is closed, and then when I open
TB, I'd like to see that new folder appear.
If it does, then all that remains is for me to get rid of
old 9dlnlres6 wherever I find it, but what's the procedure
for changing fzi5fpk7.newname to fzi5fpk7.default, wherever
I find it?
William B. Lurie
I have been making backups and experimenting and learning,
while awaiting further instructions. I think I have
learned something which applies to my mailbox folders
not opening. My "Inbox" file is 680 Megabytes. It refuses
to open even though the green progress bar appears, and
takes a minute to walk its way across, building up the
summary file.
I'm going to make a concerted effort to make it smaller and
keep it smaller. But are there specific limits set?
Ken Whiton
*-* In Article <7bmdnWzEfr3bv5HW...@mozilla.org>,
*-* William B. Lurie wrote
*-* About Re: Change name of mailbox folder
[ ... ]
> I have been making backups and experimenting and learning, while
> awaiting further instructions. I think I have learned something
> which applies to my mailbox folders not opening. My "Inbox" file is
> 680 Megabytes. It refuses to open even though the green progress bar
> appears, and takes a minute to walk its way across, building up the
> summary file.
>
> I'm going to make a concerted effort to make it smaller and keep it
> smaller. But are there specific limits set?
My Inbox is almost three times the size of yours (1,855 MB, using
TB 1.5 on Windows ME) and it opens with no problems, so I don't think
your problem is size-related. Mine also doesn't have to rebuild the
summary (.msf) file each time it opens, so you might try to find out
why yours does. One possibility is that your .msf file might be set
to read-only. In Windows Explorer, in your profile, in the Mail
folder, locate the Inbox.msf file, right-click on it, and check the
Properties. If the Read-only attribute is set, click to unset it.
As for file size limits, I believe those are a function of your
operating system and the type of file system on the hard drive, but
they're not a function of Tbird.
Ken Whiton
--
FIDO: 1:132/152
InterNet: kenw...@surfglobal.net.INVAL (remove the obvious to reply)
William B. Lurie
more about how TB does things and where it saves things.
Most recent development is that I indeed have an 'Inbox' file, and
it takes a while to generate the .msl file from it..........but it
does not open as an Inbox folder. Instead, what opens as in Inbox
folder is a short list of recent incoming messages. I wish I could
find out where that set is coming from. What I'm about to do is move
all of the no-extension files from the profile to a separate file,
and see what happens. Does this new wrinkle suggest anything to
anybody? It confirms perhaps that size is not the problem.....
William B. Lurie
you said. Running my clone system, the 650MB Inbox file opens okay.
And I'd like to void my last post where I wondered where the few
Inbox folder was coming from.....I forgot that I still have the old
profile on that system. I think all I have to do is wait for some
sure safe way to get rid of that old profile on my Master system.
Greywolf
[...]
> Most recent development is that I indeed have an 'Inbox' file, and
> it takes a while to generate the .msl file from it..........but it
> does not open as an Inbox folder. Instead, what opens as in Inbox
> folder is a short list of recent incoming messages. I wish I could
> find out where that set is coming from. What I'm about to do is move
> all of the no-extension files from the profile to a separate file,
> and see what happens. Does this new wrinkle suggest anything to
> anybody? It confirms perhaps that size is not the problem.....
That Inbox file shows up as your Inbox "folder" in your account. Do NOT
move it. The *.msf file is the index, it is updated every time you start
TB. See below how this works, and why you should Compact your folders
regularly.
The *.msf file keeps track of which messages you've read. To see all
messages, including Read ones, set the View to All (click on the
toolbar, then Customize, then follow the instructions.)
The Inbox, etc, files, are text files. You can open them in any text
editor or word processor, but binaries (eg images) will show up as text
blocks, and HTML mails will will displayed with all their tags showing.
Inbox, etc, will grow without limit unless you Compact them. This can
cause problems, the least of which is a long start up time for Tbird,
the worst of which you don't want to know. You _must_ Compact "folders"
to avoid (better delay) problems.
This method of storing files in "folders" is the "mbox" method. Most
e-mail clients use it (including Outlook.) It's a holdover from the days
when disk space was expensive, and appending short messages to an
existing file cost lees wasted space than saving it separately. It would
be relatively simple to write the code for saving messages individually,
using the Subject line to generate the file names, and numbering
messages in a thread consecutively. Why this hasn't been done is a great
mystery.
HTH
wolf k.
...............................................................................................
Why Compacting folders is necessary in Thunderbird.
A simple explanation, I hope ;-), based on experience and snooping
around in the Thunderbird Profiles folder.
Thunderbird does not in fact remove messages that are Deleted or Moved
from their folders. Thus, the folders increase in size until some limit
(set by the system) is reached. Then you have problems, such as not
being able to Delete, Move, or Copy messages, not seeing headers of
recent messages, etc.
The Reason for this:
a) The "folders" shown within each account are not in fact folders, but
files. Each "folder" consists of two files, eg, Inbox and Inbox.msf.
b) When you download a message, it is added to the Inbox file.
c) When you Delete a message from the Inbox "folder", a copy is added to
the Trash file, and Inbox.msf and Trash.msf are updated. The message
within Inbox is not deleted.
d) When you Move a file, a copy is placed in the target "folder", and
the *.msf files are updated. The original message is not deleted.
e) When you Empty the Trash, the copies of the messages in it are
deleted, and Trash.msf is updated. The copies in the original "folder"
remain there.
To remove messages, you must Compact the folders.
"Compact folder" removes copies of Deleted and Moved messages from the
original files, and updates the *.msf files. It appears to do this one
message at a time, so if you have never Compacted folders, the process
can take a _very_ long time. Minutes, in fact.
It's best to set Thunderbird to Compact folders automatically:
Tools > Options > General > Network & Disk Space > Compact Folders >
Check "Compact folders when it will save over", and enter a number in
the box. (I think 300 is good.) Close the pane.
Note that many other e-mail programs use the same general method of
storing messages, and may cause similar problems.
IMO it is best to create a folder tree external to Thunderbird, and Save
As messages there. Most messages aren't worth archiving, so this chore
is not as tedious as it sounds.
................................................................................................................
William B. Lurie
some suspenders-and-a-belt reason for saying you are deleting a
message when all you're doing is changing a pointer........
But I do do the "Compact Folders" manually now and then. And
I've gone to where you indicated and checked it.
I think I'll be happy when the hotshot tells me the steps for
getting rid of my old profile, because it seems to be working
properly now.
Greywolf
[...]
> getting rid of my old profile, because it seems to be working
> properly now.
Just delete it. You may want to archive the Inbox, etc first, as they
contain messages sent to/by you when using the earlier profile. You can
rename them )(eg Inbox-old, Inbox-old.msf) and copy them into your
current profile. Next time you start Tbird, they should show up. NB that
if you do this, the target folder is inside \Mail, its name will be
derived from the mail server your ISP is using (eg, pop3.someISP.com)
I'm assuming you're using Windows. Shut down Tbird, then navigate to
\YourUsername\...\Application Data\Thunderbird\Profiles. \Application
Data is a hidden folder, you'll have to set Folder actions to show
hidden files and folders. How you get there varies with different
versions of Windows.
You'll find two or more folders labelled something.default. One of these
is your current profile, so open them all one by one, and look at the
dates of panacea.dat. If it's today's date, that folder it's in is the
current profile. The others can be deleted.
HTH
wolf k.
William B. Lurie
what I've been doing. Especially Compacting, which reduced my
active Inbox from 650MB to 80 MB. Now it doesn't take an
extra minute to load msf. And now I know where everything is.
Like, I learned that I can switch from one profile to another
simply by changing profiles.ini, without going to another
system and drive, with all that wasted boot-up time.
Ken Whiton
*-* In Article <n-ednd5sSOnLGZDW...@mozilla.org>,
*-* Greywolf wrote
*-* About Re: Change name of mailbox folder
[ ... ]
> To remove messages, you must Compact the folders.
>
> "Compact folder" removes copies of Deleted and Moved messages from
> the original files, and updates the *.msf files.
It also removes attachments that have been deleted or detached
from messages that are being retained.
> It appears to do
> this one message at a time, so if you have never Compacted folders,
> the process can take a _very_ long time. Minutes, in fact.
I believe it makes one pass through the file, (re)writing it to
disk while removing the deleted/moved/detached items as it comes to
them. The size of the file, the CPU speeed, the amount of RAM, etc.,
are all factors in the amount of time the process takes.
Ken Whiton
*-* In Article <L8Kdne30nNVmF5DW...@mozilla.org>,
*-* William B. Lurie wrote
*-* About Re: Change name of mailbox folder
[ ... ]
> Thanks for the advice and interesting info. I suppose there's some
> suspenders-and-a-belt reason for saying you are deleting a message
> when all you're doing is changing a pointer........
I think it's primarily for efficiency. The process for removing
one message as it's deleted/moved is the same as for compacting. In
either case it involves reading and (re)writing the entire underlying
file, less the item(s) being removed. Think about how long compacting
takes. Would you want TB doing that every time you delete or move a
message? I wouldn't.
Ron Hunter
Because of the way an Mbox file is set up, this kind of action is
usually done 'byte by byte' rather than in 'blocks'. Much slower
method, but I think doing it that way is probably safer than assuming
that the .msf file is accurate, which would be essential to a block
approach. Still, it seems to take a lot longer than it should on a fast
machine. With a few thousand messages, compaction is something that
should be started, and allowed to complete in the background while the
user amuses him/herself with a nice game of Solitaire. Grin.
I haven't cleaned my inbox for a while. Maybe I will see how long it
takes on this shiny new dual core machine....
William B. Lurie
> Greywolf wrote:
>> William B. Lurie wrote:
>> [...]
almost but not entirely out of the woods. BTW, compacting saved me
a lot of space and time. (Thanks, Wolf).
I lost a few days of messages, so I'm still a bit confused about
a few things, and this message may seem out of context.
Like panacea.dat....... does TB create it while it's
running, and delete it when it is closed?
And when I have two profiles, both capable of running happily,
what is the approved method of starting TB to run one or the
other, selectively?
--