Gmail saving copies of draft e-mails but not in the draft box!

[LizzieW]

Thank you, I'm still not feeling 100% so won't be on the laptop today, apart from just checking e-mails and seeing a response to my query.

My husband who has Virgin as his ISP also has gmail, although he rarely uses that e-mail address.  However, we tested it to see if he had the same problem as me, but he didn't.  The difference is he uses Microsoft Outlook and I use Mozilla Thunderbird.  So could it be a Thunderbird problem?  I'll check out Virgin next week.

Many thanks for your help.

Lizzie

ps.  What is weird is that I received an e-mail regarding neighbourhood watch to my virgin email address which I then forwarded to the neighbourhood watch people in my area.  To do this and send blind copies to the others I have to forward the e-mail to me and then bcc the members.  So I forwarded the e-mail to my gmail address and bcc as usual.  Yes, I received the e-mail in my gmail, but oddly it also went into Sent in gmail in bold as unopened.  It did go to my inbox in gmail and, as expected, was in the sent box in Virgin.  So now it looks as though I sent the e-mail from gmail as well as virgin, which of course I didn't.

[Alexander.]

I don't think it has anything to do with your ISP, it is a Gmail and Thunderbird issue.

I think the problem is the "All Mail" folder in Thunderbird. This is not your inbox, it is (as the title suggests), all your emails - sent, drafts, inbox, etc.

I found the All Mail folder to be no use, so I disabled it, which prevented notifications showing up for partially completed drafts and sent items. To disable it, open and log in to gmail in your browser. Click the little cog at the far right top, and select Settings. Click on the "Labels" tab. There is then a list of folders, and at the right is a checkbox for each that says "Show in IMAP". For the folders that you don't want to show up in Thunderbird (such as the All Mail folder), uncheck the "Show in IMAP" box. I also clicked "hide" rather than "show". Then restart Thunderbird.

I think this will solve your confusion about getting multiple emails and drafts.

Alexander

[LizzieW]

Alexander - I've got gmail set up as an Account on Thunderbird, along with Virgin, but when I click on gmail, there isn't a  cog on the right hand side.  However, if I right click, on my gmail address in the local folders, I get a list of reading e-mail, Accounts and Advanced Features.  There is a cog under accounts, headed View settings for this account.  But there is nothing named Labels, nor is there a list as you suggest.  However, under Advanced Features, there is Manage Folder Subscriptions.  When I open that, there is a folder list and under that has Drafts, Inbox, Junk, then an overall folder called Gmail.  This has All Mail (which is already unticked), Drafts, Spam, Sent Mail etc. and various personal folders, re family history, neighbourhood watch etc.  where I keep e-mails until I've finished with them.  There is no way of mention of Show in IMAP box, I'm just asked to subscribed or unsubscribe.  If boxes are left unticked - like All Mail - then they are unsubscribed.  I've no idea why Inbox, Drafts and Junk are under my e-mail address and Drafts and Spam are under Gmail.  Ideally, I'd like them all under the one heading.

I'm just confused.  I don't have this problem with Virgin and Thunderbird, and another problem is that Gmail is letting phishing mail through which Virgin never does. 

Lizzie

[Alexander.]

My instructions applied to logging in to Gmail in your browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, etc), not Thunderbird. Is that what you were doing? I've attached a screen shot with the cog, yours should look similar.

I really don't like how Gmail folders work in IMAP. I don't know how to get the Gmail folders all into the main folder - I've tried many times.

[LizzieW]

I was logging in to gmail in Thunderbird, but I opened it in Firefox as you suggested and unticked All Mail and hid it plus one or two other labels I didn't want.  I did notice that when I send an e-mail from my virgin email address, Gmail has it set up so that it will be sent via google, which of course explains why when I forward an e-mail from my virgin inbox, it appears in the gmail sent as well as Virgin sent.  I couldn't see how to stop that happening.

Hopefully, things will be OK in future.

Lizzie

I've done a test on sending e-mails from Virgin and it seems if I just send an e-mail to me at gmail it only ends up in Virgin's sent box, but if I forward an e-mail to me at gmail, it ends up in gmail's sent box as well as Virgin.  I'll be able to check on the number of draft copies when I start typing long e-mails again during the week.

By the way to open gmail in Thunderbird,  click on Tools, Account Settings and at the bottom left hand side there is an option Account Actions.  Click on that and you can add a mail account.  That's what I did and then I added my gmail address.  So now when I open Thunderbird, I have both Virgin and Gmail in boxes, sent, deleted etc. etc.

Thank you for showing me the other way to open google mail in Firefox, as I was able to report a phishing e-mail as Spam, which I hadn't been able to do when it arrived in Thunderbird.  I don't have that problem with Virgin, because it already puts such e-mails in a spam box so they never reach my laptop.