Introduction

TBC

Troubleshooting

Attachments do not open

Try re-initialising Thunderbird's configuration of how to open them by Preferences→Attachments then selecting the affected "Content type" expanding its Action drop down list and selecting "Delete Action".  Try to open the attachment again; this should prompt you to browse for the program Thunderbird will open it with.

Greyed out folders

Folders are shown in grey italics when they have the \NoSelect flag.  Normally this means they can contain subfolders, but not messages.  A good example is the "[Gmail]" folder on Gmail accounts.

List all folders

The folders' tree structure can be flattened via Advanced Account Settings and setting the IMAP Server Directory to null, then restarting Thunderbird.  TODO: was not able to find this setting in TB 17.0 ESR.

Logging

Sample script to be run in the desktop environment:

#!/bin/bash
export NSPR_LOG_MODULES=imap:5
export NSPR_LOG_FILE=/tmp/thunderbird.imap.$(date Y-%m-%d@%H:%M:%S).log
/usr/lib/thunderbird/thunderbird &

Missing folders

May not be subscribed.

Too many simultaneous connections

In case of trouble with "too many simultaneous connections" (common with bluelight@auroville.org.in), reduce the "Maximum number of server connections to cache" (TODO: presumably on all clients); the default value is 5.  Account settings > Server Settings > Advanced.

References

Thunderbird as a Gmail client: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Gmail