1773798 - Thunderbird appears to ignore IMAP unsubscribe errors. But in reality *yahoo* reports the folder is subscribed.

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[Eric Moore]

I'm using Thunderbird 91.10.0 and 102.0b4 under Windows 11Pro. "Show only subscribed folders" is checked in the Yahoo IMAP (imap.mail.yahoo.com) accounts advanced server settings.

If you unsubscribe a folder in the Yahoo IMAP account it does not disappear. The unsubscribed folder is automatically restored to the list of subscribed folders.

• Right click on Yahoo in the folder pane, and select subscribe.
• Uncheck the Trash Folder and press OK.
• Look at the folder pane. The trash folder is still there.
• Right click on Yahoo in the folder pane, and select subscribe.
• Notice that the Trash folder is checked.
• Press refresh and notice Trash is still checked

Clear the error console and try to unsubscribe the folder again. No errors are reported in either the activity manager or the error console.

It shouldn't matter but "when I delete a message" is set to "just mark it as deleted". and the trash folder has a normal mail folder icon (not a trash can).

I expected the unsubscribed folder to disappear from view, and be dropped from the list of subscribed folders. If it could not be unsubscribed for some reason I expected some sort of error to be reported.

Comment 1

[Marcus Yoo]

I'm also seeing this (un)subscribe issue.

I'm on macOS Monterey v 12.5.1, TB 102.2.0 (64-bit).
I have multiple IMAP accounts setup.
All other accounts behave in expected way except for yahoo account.
I'm using only Inbox, Sent, Bulk (Spam), and Trash folders.
The account setting does not refer to Draft and Archive folders - I've configured to use local folders for them.
I am unable to unsubscribe to those two folders, nor can I delete them.

As a side complaint...
TB shows the "Bulk" folder, while mail.yahoo.com is using "Spam" as the junk folder - they are one in the same, but showing different folder name.
I don't know who is making that folder name translation, but it is very annoying.
And on my iPhone mail app, that same folder shows up as "Junk". Ughhh...

Comment 2

[avi bortnick]

Also cannot unsubscribe from my AOL IMAP folders. macOS Monterey v 12.5.1, TB 105.0b2

Comment 3

[duc]

I have almost identical problems as Marcus Yoo. I have two different yahoo accounts set up. I'd like to unsubscribe from the Archive and Drafts folder. Tried many different ways, but they return checked and subscribed.

While possibly a different bug, but it is indeed problematic that Spam is not mapped to Bulk, or Junk, or whatever. Consistency here would be ideal, and multiple folders within a single account is annoying.

Comment 4

[duc]

Attachment: TB102 - Archive Bulk Junk Folders stuck in Trash.png

Comment 5

[Adalbert Chamisso]

Note bug 1813346 for added confusion.

Comment 6

[gene smith]

I just checked yahoo's response to imap command "unsubscribe folderX" and it responds with OK, i.e., no problem. TB then immediately requests the subscribed state for all folders and yahoo says folderX is still subscribed. So TB goes with what yahoo server says and shows the folder as subscribed so TB still shows the folder.
So it's a bug (or feature?) of yahoo (and other providers that use yahoo servers; AOL, Verizon and maybe others).

(In reply to Adalbert Chamisso from comment #5)

Note bug 1813346 for added confusion.

I haven't tested the patch but I don't think this actually fixes it since yahoo is keeping the mailbox subscribed no matter what TB asks.

I also doubt if you can work around this by deleting the folder unless it's a user created folder. It might not be possible to delete a "special" folder like "Bulk" or "Archives".

It has been argued that tb should just "hide" the folder when unsubscribed regardless of what the server reports but tb has never worked like that and it somewhat goes against the imap protocol.

Comment 7

[Marcus Yoo]

Maybe TB should have subscribe-unsubscribe plus a hide-unhide button.
Keeps in line with imap protocol while also allowing local preferences, somewhat similar to how you can mark folders as favorite folders.
Also, if it is TB that is doing folder name translation, it should stop doing that, or give users options to say "show true folder name" or something like that. If it is yahoo server doing it (giving out different folder name for imap clients), then could TB do a name translation and let user choose to "display original server name" or something like that? Or does yahoo change their setting too often to make that feasible?

Comment 8

[Mandy]

Thunderbird 115.2.0 running on Linux also affected.

Subscribe dialog doesn't function on Yahoo! Mail account: all folders subscribed and impossible to unsubscribe. No such issue on GMail accounts.

Found this: poster reports same problem in Microsoft Outlook and concludes "it looks like there is no way to unsubscribe with Yahoo".

So it does look like it may be an issue with Yahoo! Mail and not with Thunderbird...

Comment 9

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Thanks for posting additional information.

Let's declare this not Thunderbird's problem.