1897412 - "Empty Trash on Exit" on a POP3 account expands the account in the folder tree

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Folder and Message Lists, defect)

Description

[David]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:126.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/126.0

Steps to reproduce:

I logged my issue on the Thunderbird support forum in December 2023 as this only appeared after I updated to SuperNova.

Wayne Mery replied to the support question and said:

'If you see this with 115.11.0, filing a bug report would be fine. In your report please provide the URL to this support question.'

I am currently on 115.11.0 (64-bit), and the issues still exist.

The URL for the support details is:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1433988?utm_campaign=questions-reply&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email#answer-1653279

Actual results:

See the Support question detailed previously for full details and screenshots, as per Wayne Mery.

Expected results:

See the Support question detailed previously for full details and screenshots, as per Wayne Mery.

Comment 1

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Maybe the file persisting the expanded state of all the folders has been corrupted for some reason. Please try removing folderTree.json from your profile directory and report back.

Comment 2

[David]

I removed folderTree.json from the profile directory as you requested but when I opened Thunderbird, the issue is still there.

Comment 3

[David]

Can you give me an update on this issue and when it will be fixed.

Thanks.

Comment 4

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

(In reply to David from comment #3)

Can you give me an update on this issue and when it will be fixed.

It's quite difficult to fix an issue the developers cannot reproduce.

Did you already try Troubleshooting Mode? Maybe some add-on is involved in expanding the folders.

Comment 5

[David]

Ah, I see.

I tried Troubleshoot mode with all add-ons disabled but it still had the issue.
The add-ons I installed previously are 2 themes, audi_r8 and Pink Floyd theme and a dictionary English (Australian) Dictionary.

There is the Bitdefender Toolbar extension which is always enabled and I always disable it as I cannot remove it, and it appeared in Troubleshoot mode.

Comment 6

[David]

With Thunderbird closed and Bitdefender active, I deleted the Bitdefender extension XPI file from the profile extensions folder and then opened Thunderbird and the extension was there and Enabled so there is something adding this extension when Thunderbird opens, even though Bitdefender has the Anti-spam option disabled!

Comment 7

[David]

I have also uninstalled Bitdefender and re-installed it and the issue with the folders in Thunderbird still exists.
It must have been something that got corrupted when I upgraded from the old 32-bit Thunderbird to the current 64-bit Supernova as it worked okay before the upgrade.

Comment 8

[David]

I have been doing more testing to try and help discover the cause of this issue.

I uninstalled Bitdefender completely to rule out any issue with the Bitdefender Anti-spam add-on and the issue still remained so I have done further testing as follows:

I opened Thunderbird and tried various scenarios of expanding account folders and collapsing them, creating new emails, saving as drafts, moving emails, sending emails and deleting emails and I believe I can easily replicate the issue when an email is deleted.

Even if there are no new emails, when I open Thunderbird, expand an accounts folders and delete an email then collapse that accounts folders, close Thunderbird then re-open it, the folder that I deleted the email from is opened expanded.

For example, I expanded account AussieBB(E), deleted an email, collapsed the folders and exited Thunderbird. I then sent an email to account AussieBB(D) and when Thunderbird was opened, the folders for account AussieBB(D) were collapsed, as they should be but the folders for account AussieBB(E) were expanded, when they should have been collapsed like all the other accounts!

This shows that when Thunderbird is exited, something is saving the layout for all accounts that emails were deleted as expanded when they should be saved as collapsed.

I hope this helps and you can identify what is causing this and provide me with a solution. Thanks.

Comment 9

[David]

I tried the same test on another laptop that has Thunderbird on it, which was installed and not updated from the 32-bit version as mine was.

The results were exactly the same, if you delete an email, collapse the folders and exit Thunderbird, when you open Thunderbird again, the folders will open in expanded layout.

I believe that this shows that there is a bug in Thunderbird when this scenario happens.

Thanks.

Comment 10

[David]

Have the developers been able to reproduce this issue based on my previous information?

Comment 11

[Ramona Gavrilescu]

Hello,
I have tried to reproduce this issue using Win 10 and macOS 14 but was unable to reproduce it using 115.13.0(20240702193403), 115.12.0(20240614163201) and 115.11.0(20240508141159).

I have tried the exact scenario described on comment 8 but TB behaves as expected, if the folders are collapsed and you exit TB via file->exit or CTRL+Shift+Q when TB is opened again the folders are collapsed.

I have tried the STR also using 128.1.0esr(20240730200333) and did not managed to reproduce it.

Comment 12

[David]

If you can't fix this issue then can you tell me how to save all my messages, accounts etc and do a clean install of the latest Thunderbird and then load in all my messages, accounts etc.

Comment 13

[David]

I followed instructions on the Thunderbird Support site to install it on a different machine using the files saved from my existing profile so that I would not lose any settings/mail/accounts etc.

I installed the lastest version 128.1.0esr and then followed the instructions to put the files from my saved profile into the profile folder of the new profile created and then checked for the issue I have reported and it still exists as I have detailed before.

As you cannot re-create this error, then there must be an issue with one of the files in my profile that I had saved and updated on the new profile which is causing this issue so can you give me an idea of where this file would be and what the name would be and what is creating this issue in the file.

Thanks.

Comment 14

[David]

After further testing I have now found what is definitely causing this issue so here are the details.

In Thunderbird, Tools / Account Settings, in Server Settings / Message Storage, if you set on the Empty Deleted folder on Exit option and you have any deleted emails in your Deleted folder, when you exit Thunderbird with ALL folders collapsed, then re-open Thunderbird, the email accounts which had deleted records and had their Empty Deleted folder on Exit option set on will appear as expanded, even though they were collapsed when you exited Thunderbird.

I have tested numerous variations of this scenario of deleted emails and the Empty setting being on or off etc and if the Empty setting is on and emails are in the deleted folder of an account, when Thunderbird re-opens, these accounts will be shown in expanded form.

The Empty setting being on is overriding the collapsed/expanded status which is saved when you exit Thunderbird.

As the Empty setting is the most efficient and useful way to clean out deleted emails, then this issue needs to be fixed as manually deleting emails in the Deleted folder for numerous accounts is tedious and wastes time, when there is perfectly good functionality to do that efficiently for users.

I am now running Version 128.1.0 esr 64-bit so I expect you will be able to recreate this and confirm that this issue does exist and give me an idea of when a fix will be implemented.

Thanks.

Comment 15

[Ramona Gavrilescu]

Hello David,

Thank you for the informations ,it was indeed helpful.

I have managed to reproduce this issue using 128.1.0esr(20240730200333), 115.13.0(20240702193403) on Win 10.

If Empty Trash on exit is checked and there are mails in the Trash Folder, if you collapse All Folders prior to exit, when TB is opened again the folders aren’t collapse.

I reproduced this issue only using POP account, I have tried with IMAP accounts but did not succeed.

I have tried to find a regression range and went as far as 2020-03-14 76.0a1( 20200314123706) and the issue is reproducible using the same exact steps provided in comment 14.

Comment 16

[David]

That is good that you have been able to reproduce the issue which means that a fix can be carried out for the fault.

Can you give me an estimate of when you think this will be fixed?

Thanks.

Comment 17

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Unlike IMAP accounts, emptying the trash folder in POP3 is done by deleting the folder and creating a new one. Whenever a folder is created, its parent folder is expanded.

The following patch seems to solve the problem, but I am not sure if this is the right way to fix it, or if there are any side effects.

Comment 18

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Attachment: Bug 1897412 - Don't change collapsed state of POP3 account when emptying trash on exit. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

Comment 19

[David]

(In reply to Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw] from comment #17)

Unlike IMAP accounts, emptying the trash folder in POP3 is done by deleting the folder and creating a new one. Whenever a folder is created, its parent folder is expanded.

The following patch seems to solve the problem, but I am not sure if this is the right way to fix it, or if there are any side effects.

I don't understand your reply...you mention "The following patch seems to solve the problem..." but where is the patch and how is it applied, I am confused !!!

Comment 20

[David]

(In reply to David from comment #19)

(In reply to Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw] from comment #17)

Unlike IMAP accounts, emptying the trash folder in POP3 is done by deleting the folder and creating a new one. Whenever a folder is created, its parent folder is expanded.

The following patch seems to solve the problem, but I am not sure if this is the right way to fix it, or if there are any side effects.

I don't understand your reply...you mention "The following patch seems to solve the problem..." but where is the patch and how is it applied, I am confused !!!

I have always used POP3 accounts and always had the Empty Deleted folder on Exit option seton since I first used Thunderbird many many years ago and I never had this issue until one of the upgrades which has created this issue so that surely shows that something has changed and there is an issue with the current Thunderbird that need to be fixed for user of POP3 accounts!!!

Comment 21

[David]

(In reply to David from comment #20)

(In reply to David from comment #19)

(In reply to Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw] from comment #17)

Unlike IMAP accounts, emptying the trash folder in POP3 is done by deleting the folder and creating a new one. Whenever a folder is created, its parent folder is expanded.

The following patch seems to solve the problem, but I am not sure if this is the right way to fix it, or if there are any side effects.

I don't understand your reply...you mention "The following patch seems to solve the problem..." but where is the patch and how is it applied, I am confused !!!

I have always used POP3 accounts and always had the Empty Deleted folder on Exit option seton since I first used Thunderbird many many years ago and I never had this issue until one of the upgrades which has created this issue so that surely shows that something has changed and there is an issue with the current Thunderbird that need to be fixed for user of POP3 accounts!!!

There is another entry in this bug, Comment 18, so can you tell me what this is...has this bug been allocated to someone so that it can be fixed?

Comment 22

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Please refer to Bugzilla Etiquette, especially the "No obligation" part.

Comment 23

[David]

This is the first time I have logged an issue on Bugzilla as normally they are resolved in the support forum and I was not aware of the Bugzilla Etiquette, so thank you for highlighting this to me.

I was simply trying to clarify if there was a temporary fix for my issue or if this had been referred to the developers for a fix to be made available in the next update release of Thunderbird or if a fix would be considered in a future update release.

I appreciate how busy the Mozilla team are with continually updating products like Firefox and Thunderbird without having the resources of your competition like Microsoft and Google and all the work you do is greatly appreciated by me and I'm sure, many others around the world.

Thank you for taking the time in all your previous communications which clearly helped identify the issue I have.

Many thanks.

Comment 24

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/6d8834a66055
Don't change collapsed state of POP3 account when emptying trash on exit. r=mkmelin

Comment 25

[Hartmut Welpmann [:welpy-cw]]

Comment on attachment 9420112 [details]
Bug 1897412 - Don't change collapsed state of POP3 account when emptying trash on exit. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

[Approval Request Comment]
Regression caused by (bug #): introduced with ESR 115
User impact if declined: collapsed folders may unexpectedly be expanded again after restart
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.): c-c and beta
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): very low

Comment 26

[Corey Bryant]

Comment on attachment 9420112 [details]
Bug 1897412 - Don't change collapsed state of POP3 account when emptying trash on exit. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

[Triage Comment]
Approved for esr128