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I have Thunderbird set up to use my Gmail account through IMAP. All works well and good, except for one problem:

I have a group of gmail mail filters set up to redirect mail into different labels based on what it's for. However, by default, it seems Thunderbird only checks the Inbox for new messages. Is there a way to get it to check the subfolders aswell?

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6 Answers 6

Reset to default
24

I do exactly the same.

If you right click on a folder, then select properties, there is a check box that says "Check this folder for new messages". That's the one you want!

Unfortunately I don't think there is any way to do this for all folders at once, you have to do them one by one.

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  • should be updated
    – Sadık
    Commented Jul 4, 2016 at 16:27
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It can be done, similar to Thunderbird 2: Tools - Options - Advanced - Config Editor, then set mail.check_all_imap_folders_for_new to true.

In Thunderbird 8 the property is called mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new

See also: Checking for new messages in other folders - Thunderbird - MozillaZine Knowledge Base

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  • 6
    in thunderbird 24 i had to set the key mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new to true
    – DmitrySandalov
    Commented Apr 23, 2014 at 14:00
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Thunderbird 3 will automatically update/refresh individual IMAP folders when you switch to them (e.g. click on them). None of my "Check this folder for new messages" options are checked.

You can update all folders at once by clicking File, Offline, Download/Sync Now... or File, Offline, Work Offline. The former option asks if you want to go offline following the sync. When you come back from Offline, the sync happens again.

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    for me, this was "THE ANSWER". The other answers where not fitting, as I still had to click on every single folder to sync them. But the "Download/Sync" button does it correctly. Would be nice if this could be done automatically (schedule)
    – MacMartin
    Commented Sep 21, 2021 at 12:34
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The solution for me was to double click on each folder once. All subfolders show immediately. It is clearly a bug.

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It may take a while to synch and download all of your email and folders, when first setting up sometimes its as easy as waiting enough time for it to sync. Look at the bottom left, it will say something like.. "Downloading XXX of XXX in inbox" and its in process of downloading still.

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    Please note that this question is 7 years old and therefore, your solution may not be valid to the question asked.
    – TheKB
    Commented Jun 13, 2016 at 15:55
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In 2023 and beyond, here's what you need to do:

First, open Config Editor by going to Settings->General and scroll to the bottom, then click Config Editor.

Next, search for mail.server.default.check_all_folders_for_new and change the value to True

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  • Please do not post the same answer to multiple questions. If the same information really answers both questions, then one question (usually the newer one) should be closed as a duplicate of the other. You can indicate this by voting to close it as a duplicate or, if you don't have enough reputation for that, raise a flag to indicate that it's a duplicate. Otherwise tailor your answer to this question and don't just paste the same answer in multiple places.
    – DavidPostill ♦
    Commented Apr 13 at 16:04

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