Hi peeps,

me and thunderbird have never really got on that well, but i've come to be reasonably happy with it other than the exception that I just can not make it automatically download all new emails in all folders until i enter that folder. offline content and all that is enabled but whilst is checks all folders over the imap connection, telling me how many new ones, and getting headers, it just refuses to actuvely download them at the same time.

Anyone got any pointers?

Cheers

Edit / Account Settings

Select the Server Settings for the e-mail account in question, then check the box that says "Check for new messages every X minutes"

oh i have, it checks, and tells me what the email is called, but it doesn't download the content ready for when i click it.

I'm not sure what you mean by "not automatically download all new emails in all folders until i enter that folder", maybe because I only have one account and one inbox where new mail is placed.
But looking at about:config via Edit/preferences/advanced/config_editor in Thunderbird, there does seem to be some relevant entries like:

mail.server.default.leave_on_server
mail.server.default.max_articles
mail.server.default.max_size
mail.leave_on_server
mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new

That may be incorrectly set, you more than likely skimmed over this. Just figured I should mention these in-case you did not. Changing values can be done by right clicking a line and select "toggle" to go from true to false or the other way around, or "Modify" to change numbered values.

BTW: I find kmail a little boring, Evolution won't send out mail in my FC6. I kind of prefer thunderbird or iceweasel at this point.

Check under "Account Settings" for the accounts that are not being received automatically that there is a check mark in the "Server Settings" for the box "Automatically download new messages". It shows up for POP servers anyway, not sure about IMAP and it does not show for Unix Movemail.

Well i use IMAP, and that's all set fine already. i've got anythign else i could see, like "make this folder available for offline viewing" and it still doesn't downlaod the messaegs, despite correctly telling me there is mail to read.

Expanding on what Junior Hacker said, preferences/advanced/config_editor ( about:config ) I see an entry for
offline.download.download_messages user set integer 0

Just a thought but, maybe changing that to

I noticed Thunderbird was not automatically downloading in my Mandriva, I had to physically hit "Get mail". So I took 8 desktop snapshots of the about:config mail sections and compared them to Thunderbird in Fedora & Iceweasel in Etch. To get Mandriva to auto download I had to toggle "mail.check_new_mail" to true. But this could be the same as stpierrc's suggestion which is done from GUI menu. I guess if all fails, one could accept the fact it's a IMAP limitation, but one should not give up so quickly also. This could also be some kind of security setting outside of Thunderbird. Like SELinux or firewall.

I use Mozilla Thunderbird and it automatically downloads mail from either POP3 and IMAP. It is a user limitation. If the user can not find the option in account settings, that is their problem. They should have fresh eyes look at it or wait a few weeks and then conquer the problem. I have been doing it for several years with out any problems.

i just love being called an idiot. great. does this include imap sub folders?

Ahh!
Sub folders, that's the part I was wondering about in my first reply.

I wouldn't view it as being called an idiot, I would see it as "Constructive criticism".

ok, so there are options such as mail.download_offline and mail.imap.local_copies which do what i want, but they are not on Linux builds.... or rather, they aren't on linux builds of Netscape Communicator, but obviosuly it's a very similar back end...

Why did not you say so that you want emails for offline use?

Mozilla Thunderbird does have this for IMAP servers. The Following steps should get you to the option to download emails for offline use.

1) On the menu bar, click Edit and the click Account Settings...
2) On the left, locate the entry for your IMAP email account(s).
3) Click Offline and Disk Usage.
4) On the right, find the Offline frame and click on Select folders for offline use...
5) In "Items for Offline Use" window, put a check mark on the desire folders for downloading.

I do not know if you know this about IMAP. IMAP is handled differently than POP3. In order to access your emails on a IMAP server, you have to access it. The emails are not downloaded and stored in the email client. They are temporarily shown during the connection.

BTW, I give Linux experts a harder time than novice users.

yep, done all that, still only downloads the headers. i'm really thinking this is by design / a limitation. there is an about:config option called mail.imap.new_mail_download_headers or something which does download the headers as i said above when true. when false, all it leaves thunderbird doing is giving a new mail icon on each folder, without the headers. so somethign is certainly paying attention to that correctly, which makes me think that it's deliberate there's not an option called mail.imap.new_mail_download_body or something...

I too had the same issue of mails not getting downloaded to the folders in my thunderbird Inbox. Your solution worked instantly.
Thanks much,
Anitha