1681686 - Selecting a mail folder offers to delete it

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[[e-mail]]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:83.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/83.0

Steps to reproduce:

Start Thunderbird and select a mail folder

Actual results:

A dialogue appears asking me whether I wish to delete the folder, I say "No" and it appears again, I say "No" and it appears again. After three or four such refusals it stops asking me. If I click on a different folder I see the same thing. This behaviour is intermittent and has been happening through several TB78 subversions - currently 78.5.1

Expected results:

Folder opens to display contents - messages and/or subfolders.

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Hey kd, I cannot reproduce this on Win10, 78.5.1 (64-bit), and to be honest, I think it's quite impossible that this would be a bug in TB. That's weird!

Please answer all of the following questions, use reply button on top of comment to reply inline:

• How exactly do you select the folder?
• Are you quite sure it says "delete"? Maybe "compact" to free up space? Which UI language are you using?
• In TB: Help > Restart with addons disabled - problem still occurs?
• Can you attach a screenshot or screencast of problem to this bug?
• Pls verify if you have any software settings of changing mouse buttons etc. (but even that would not just end up deleting folders), maybe mouse gestures for deletion?
• Does this problem occur on different machines, or only one? Maybe technical problem with Delete button on keyboard? Does it sometimes randomly delete text in word processors or some such?
• Is your antivirus and firewall up to date and active?

Comment 2

[[e-mail]]

(In reply to Thomas D. (:thomas8) from comment #1)

Hey kd, I cannot reproduce this on Win10, 78.5.1 (64-bit), and to be honest, I think it's quite impossible that this would be a bug in TB. That's weird!

I am unable to reproduce the problem at will, however I have noted the issue on several occasions over the past few weeks.
This morning it happened after I had rebooted to apply a Windows update and I clicked into Thunderbird as my first action. This causes me to wonder whether it might be due to a service startup delay or some such.

Please answer all of the following questions, use reply button on top of comment to reply inline:

• How exactly do you select the folder?

Just selecting with the mouse in usual fashion

• Are you quite sure it says "delete"? Maybe "compact" to free up space? Which UI language are you using?

I am quite sure it offers to delete the folder. I am familiar with the Compact dialogue and this can also be intrusive, inconvenient and repetitive in the same fashion - though obviously not as potentially destructive.

• In TB: Help > Restart with addons disabled - problem still occurs?

I am unable to replicate at the moment, though I may try another reboot.

• Can you attach a screenshot or screencast of problem to this bug?

I will attempt same if I see it again.

• Pls verify if you have any software settings of changing mouse buttons etc. (but even that would not just end up deleting folders), maybe mouse gestures for deletion?

No changes made to the mouse settings that I am aware of.

• Does this problem occur on different machines, or only one? Maybe technical problem with Delete button on keyboard? Does it sometimes randomly delete text in word processors or some such?

I am unsure whether I have seen it on other machines. I have a notebook PC which I also use but I have Thunderbird installed on lots of client machines where I usually have a mail profile set up for me.

• Is your antivirus and firewall up to date and active?

Yes. I am a reseller for the Avast (formerly AVG) Business CloudCare suite and I have the current build and definitions installed on this machine.
Windows 10 Professional version 2004 OS Build 19041.685

Comment 3

[[e-mail]]

Attachment: Example of the uninvited dialogue asking whether I wish to delete the mail folder

I have been in and out of Thunderbird all day with no further incidents until a few minutes ago - when it suddenly began asking me again whether or not I wish to delete mail folders. There has been no change in my behaviour, usage or circumstance which I can define.

Comment 4

[[e-mail]]

• Can you attach a screenshot or screencast of problem to this bug?

I have been in and out of several accounts on Thunderbird since my earlier report and now, with no obvious change in my behaviour or circumstance or that of my workstation, the problem has reappeared. There are several folders which it is now offering to delete.

Screenshot now attached

For reference I am using the English (GB) Language Pack
Add-ons:
TBSync with Provider for CardDava nd CaLDAV
Edit Email Subject MX
EnForward
FileLink Supporter for Dropbox
Limit Non BCC Recipients
Lookout (Fix Version)
Provider for Google Calendar
TotalQuickFilter
All of these are up-to-date on their latest versions (Autoupdate = On)

Comment 5

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

• Are you using keyboard automation software like AutoHotkey?
• Maybe there's some global shortcut defined which involves DEL key or context menu, "D"?
• Have you tried using another keyboard for some days?
• Are you granting any remote access to the affected machine?

Comment 6

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

It would be great if you could keep running without addons on one machine for some days and check if you're getting the error there

Comment 7

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

John, would you deem it possible that any one of these addons under certain specific circumstances could cause a behaviour where (as reporter claims), just left-clicking on any folder in folder list would cause an uninvited prompt to delete that folder?

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #4)

• Can you attach a screenshot or screencast of problem to this bug?

I have been in and out of several accounts on Thunderbird since my earlier report and now, with no obvious change in my behaviour or circumstance or that of my workstation, the problem has reappeared. There are several folders which it is now offering to delete.

Screenshot now attached

For reference I am using the English (GB) Language Pack
Add-ons:
TBSync with Provider for CardDava nd CaLDAV
Edit Email Subject MX
EnForward
FileLink Supporter for Dropbox
Limit Non BCC Recipients
Lookout (Fix Version)
Provider for Google Calendar
TotalQuickFilter
All of these are up-to-date on their latest versions (Autoupdate = On)

Comment 8

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

(In reply to [e-mail] from comment #2)

Just selecting with the mouse in usual fashion

Sorry, but as this is an extremely surreal bug, I have to ask this:
What exactly is "selecting with the mouse in usual fashion" for you?
Which mouse button, how many clicks?

The only other random thought I have is that sometimes middle mouse button can delete things (e.g. recipient pills in our Write window). So if a single left-click would also touch the middle mouse button AND somehow that would get translated into a delete action...
I am puzzled.

Comment 9

[John Bieling (:TbSync)]

The prompt in the screenshot looks like the standard Thunderbird-Folder-Delete-Prompt, as if something triggered the "Del" key while the folder was selected.

I do not know the following add-on (is it listed on ATN?)

• TotalQuickFilter

I reviewed the other ones and I do not recall any of them deleting folders. I guess other users would have reported that issue, if any of them would actually do that. Nevertheless, running with disabled add-ons would help to make sure 100% that this issue is not caused by add-ons.

Is this issue limited to a single machine?

Comment 10

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] (away, back Aug 4)]

Maybe a mouse hardware failure? Can you try another mouse?

Comment 11

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

• There's nothing here which plausibly points to a bug in Thunderbird, and, as John pointed out, we'd have much more reports if that was the case. Which makes this report INVALID.
• Add-ons have also mostly been ruled out by John, and reporter can easily test that himself (which would be an addon bug, not a TB bug).
• So the most likely causes are somewhere else, hardware failure (mouse/keyboard), unexpected hardware/software settings (unintentional mouse gestures, keystroke macros, extra mouse button configured to delete and accidentally pressed, etc.).

kd (reporter), please do reply to our outstanding questions, especially this one:

(In reply to Magnus Melin [:mkmelin] from comment #10)

Maybe a mouse hardware failure? Can you try another mouse?

And also, to be on the safe side wrt DEL key failures (key stuck, sticky, short-circuit), per my comment 5, pls also try running with another keyboard. We'll be happy to hear from you if you manage to identitfy the cause.