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rm_-rf_windows 10-30-2012 02:20 AM

Thunderbird: The folder Inbox is full, and can't hold any more messages...
 
Okay, lots of info on the Net already regarding this message:

Quote:

The folder Inbox is full, and can't hold any more messages. To make room for more messages, delete any old or unwanted mail and compact the folder.
However, I do not want to delete any messages and do not want to waste time transferring messages to different folders.

Apparently it is due to a 4Gb file/folder size limit.

Is there any simple and/or "once and for all" solution to this problem?

Thanks in advance,

rm

sundialsvcs 10-30-2012 09:15 AM

Nope. Size-limits at the boundaries of a 32-bit integer are common: 2GB if the integer is "signed," 4GB if "unsigned." The size of the pointer, nevertheless, is 4 bytes. So, it's a hard limit.

If you seriously need to keep that amount of message traffic, you're going to have to move them somewhere else. A database file, perhaps in SQLite, might be a reasonable possibility; or, or more mailboxes.

rm_-rf_windows 11-03-2012 04:12 PM

Thank you for your response sundialsvcs.

You may be right, but I find it nevertheless difficult to believe that there is no alternative.

Oh well...

rm

wsmwk 11-15-2012 06:54 AM

> Apparently it is due to a 4Gb file/folder size limit.

This is not necessarily correct. There are several reasons you might be getting the warning message, including a bug.

You will want to update to version 17 when it becomes available, or get the beta 3 version now off of ppa.

> You may be right, but I find it nevertheless difficult to believe that there is no alternative.
It seems to me what you are suggesting is that there be an alternative so you can be lazy :)
I can relate to that, but if you want to be lazy you will ultimately have a crappy system.

https://support.mozillamessaging.com...hived-messages describes archiving which, after it is set up, is as simple as hitting an "a" key. And deleting message that have low probability of ever being viewed or used again is also not a bad policy - unless you need all messages for an audit trail.

---------- Post added 11-15-12 at 07:55 AM ----------

> Apparently it is due to a 4Gb file/folder size limit.

This is not necessarily correct. There are several reasons you might be getting the warning message, including a bug.

You will want to update to version 17 when it becomes available, or get the beta 3 version now off of ppa.

> You may be right, but I find it nevertheless difficult to believe that there is no alternative.
It seems to me what you are suggesting is that there be an alternative so you can be lazy :)
I can relate to that, but if you want to be lazy you will ultimately have a crappy system.

https://support.mozillamessaging.com...hived-messages describes archiving which, after it is set up, is as simple as hitting an "a" key. And deleting message that have low probability of ever being viewed or used again is also not a bad policy - unless you need all messages for an audit trail.

rm_-rf_windows 11-15-2012 01:12 PM

Thanks for your reply wsmwk.

No, it's not just a question of laziness. I'll explain...

I was thinking of creating folders for different years and placing emails from these folders in their respective folders... or dividing up my emails into two folders, a '2005-2009' and a '2010-present' folder.

I use searches often to search for emails, I even send myself documents and include key words in the body of the email so as to be able to find them quickly. If I divided everything up into two folders, I would then have to choose "all mail" and then run the search, which would also include other unwanted folders. Either that or run two searches, one for each folder. So that wouldn't be a great setup. I don't know much about "archiving", I'll look into it.

I want to conserve all of my messages.

I'll have a closer look at your post later and post back if I find a solution.

I thought of something though... I had another problem when I choose IMAP instead of POP3. I had originally unknowingly set up IMAP in Thunderbird, but I wanted to conserve all of my messages on my computer, even if they were deleted from the server. Unfortunately, IMAP mirrors the Gmail account. If you delete on the server, it deletes in Thunderbird. But, I had no 4Gb limit in Thunderbird. No problem. I didn't encounter this problem when I chose IMAP... Only after when I deleted the Thunderbird accounts and redid them so as to use POP3 did I encounter the 4GB limit problem or storage problem in any case.

Many thanks,

rm

wsmwk 11-15-2012 01:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rm_-rf_windows (Post 4830219)
Thanks for your reply wsmwk.

No, it's not just a question of laziness. I'll explain...

I was thinking of creating folders for different years and placing emails from these folders in their respective folders... or dividing up my emails into two folders, a '2005-2009' and a '2010-present' folder.

I use searches often to search for emails, I even send myself documents and include key words in the body of the email so as to be able to find them quickly. If I divided everything up into two folders, I would then have to choose "all mail" and then run the search, which would also include other unwanted folders. Either that or run two searches, one for each folder. So that wouldn't be a great setup. I don't know much about "archiving", I'll look into it.

I want to conserve all of my messages.

I'll have a closer look at your post later and post back if I find a solution.

TB archive will automatically create folders for year, or year+month depending on what you choose in options when you set it up.

I suggest that if you are heavy into keywords or power searching, that you want to be using global search. In which case, don't get into making some ad-hoc folder structure and using quick filter (or the TB2 style search), but instead let TB do all the work setting up folders and doing search.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rm_-rf_windows (Post 4830219)
I thought of something though... I had another problem when I choose IMAP instead of POP3. I had originally unknowingly set up IMAP in Thunderbird, but I wanted to conserve all of my messages on my computer, even if they were deleted from the server. Unfortunately, IMAP mirrors the Gmail account. If you delete on the server, it deletes in Thunderbird. But, I had no 4Gb limit in Thunderbird. No problem. I didn't encounter this problem when I chose IMAP... Only after when I deleted the Thunderbird accounts and redid them so as to use POP3 did I encounter the 4GB limit problem or storage problem in any case.

Many thanks,

rm

I don't follow - could you state your issue/question more concisely in one sentence please

rm_-rf_windows 11-15-2012 06:30 PM

Sorry, I'll try to be more concise.

I search emails directly on the server (Gmail site), not with TB.

Previously, I didn't have this problem. I was using TB and IMAP, which I didn't like. When I deleted the gmail account from TB and recreated it using POP3 I was then confronted with the present problem. I'm fairly certain that with the previous setup (IMAP) I had over 4GB in my inbox.

I use TB as a backup tool and also to be able to consult emails offline. Most of my email use is directly on the GMail server/site.

I've got TB version 16.0.2. I just upgraded using apt-get, the problem persists.

Once again, I'll post back after rereading your latest posts more carefully and/or if I find a solution.

Thx,

rm


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