426144 - I can't delete folders

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 379101

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Elliott G]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.8.1.13) Gecko/20080311 Firefox/2.0.0.13
Build Identifier: 2.0.0.12

Months ago I created a folder called "!! Dana" (no quotation marks on actual folder name).  At some point the contents of the folder disappeared and Thunderbird gave the folder a new name, something like "!! Dana feidiekd" (i.e., same name as original but with gibberish added to end of name).  I've tried to delete the folder and/or rename it but all that's happened is that Thunderbird has created ANOTHER folder with the very same gibberish-appended name.  I.e., I've now got TWO such folders, with nothing in them, that I can't delete.  I want to get rid of them but can't.  Please help!  Thanks.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. They're just there, all the time.
2.
3.
Actual Results:  
When I try to delete or rename I get a message that says there is already a folder with that name, etc...

Comment 1

[Karsten Düsterloh]

Where did you create the folder: in Local Folders, under a POP3 account, under an IMAP account, etc.?

Comment 2

[Elliott G]

I added this as a subfolder of the main account name, "[e-mail]," which for whatever it's worth, is a POP account.  Did I answer the question?  Did it help?  :)

Comment 3

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Mac OS X, Build Identifier: 2.0.0.12
> POP account
> "!! Dana"
> "!! Dana feidiekd" (i.e., same name as original but with gibberish added to end of name).

Folder name was "!! Dana "(with trailing space) instead of "!! Dana", wasn't it?

> Months ago I created a folder called "!! Dana"

With which version of Tb? Tb 1.5.x? Or older Tb 2.0.0.x such as Tb 2.0.0.1?

> At some point the contents of the folder disappeared and Thunderbird gave the folder a new name

When is the "some point"? After upgrade to Tb 2.0.0.12?

Phenomenon you explained is similar to Bug 379101. 
If "!! Dana ", and if created by older Tb, and problem after upgrade of Tb, "trailing space" version of Bug 379101 can occur.
Check mail folder file name(no extension & .msf) and directory/subdirectory name(.sbd) under Tb's mail directory.

Comment 4

[Elliott G]

A thorough, new comment follows my replies here:
(In reply to comment #3)
> (In reply to comment #0)
> > Mac OS X, Build Identifier: 2.0.0.12
> > POP account
> > "!! Dana"
> > "!! Dana feidiekd" (i.e., same name as original but with gibberish added to end of name).
> 
> Folder name was "!! Dana "(with trailing space) instead of "!! Dana", wasn't
> it?
NO trailing space, I don't think.
> 
> > Months ago I created a folder called "!! Dana"
> 
> With which version of Tb? Tb 1.5.x? Or older Tb 2.0.0.x such as Tb 2.0.0.1?

I don't know.
> 
> > At some point the contents of the folder disappeared and Thunderbird gave the folder a new name
> 
> When is the "some point"? After upgrade to Tb 2.0.0.12?

Again, I'm not sure.
> 
> Phenomenon you explained is similar to Bug 379101. 
Not that similar, but I did read about that and tried to rename without spaces or punctuation.  (See below.)

> If "!! Dana ", and if created by older Tb, and problem after upgrade of Tb,
> "trailing space" version of Bug 379101 can occur.
> Check mail folder file name(no extension & .msf) and directory/subdirectory
> name(.sbd) under Tb's mail directory.
> 
After reading bug report above:
I've tried to rename the folders and managed to delete ONE of the two new duplicate gibberish-name folders.  However, even after I have but ONE folder, and then RENAME it without any possible-offending characters, after I quit the program and then re-open it, the ORIGINAL bad folder returns, now with its ORIGINAL name: "!!Dana etc."  Note that the name I gave it starts with two exclamation points, has a space between the words, and ends with a period.  But, again, after I rename that folder to something without spaces or odd punctuation marks, it comes back after I reopen the program.

HELLLLLP!!!

Comment 5

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

Calm down, please.
When mail folder name has special characters, mail_folder_file_name NE mail_folder_name, and mail_folder_name is kept in ".msf" file.
This "mail_folder_name in .msf" can interfere recovery operation by file rename.
If several files of "!!Dana etc.", "!!Dana etc"+gibberish_1, "!!Dana etc"+gibberish_2, ... are seen, delete coresponding ".msf" files, and rename files of no file extension to alphabet_only_name. If corresponding directory with ".sbd" exist, rename them too. After restart of Tb, you can distinguish them by mail folder name, because mail_folder_file_name EQ mail_folder_name when alphabet_only_name.

Comment 6

[Elliott G]

(please forgive my enthusiasm, but...)

YES!!!!!!  Basically I had to find all the .msf files, as well as the !!Dana files in same folder with no extension, and then delete all of them, but then, yes, all gone, glorious!

Much thanks!!!!!!!!
El

Comment 7

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

> ORIGINAL name: "!!Dana etc."
Same as original problem of Bug 379101. Closing as DUP.