When Thunderbird Stops Receiving Mail, the first reaction is usually to start changing settings inside Thunderbird. I would not do that straight away.
I have seen this happen plenty of times where Thunderbird looked like the problem, but the mailbox itself had stopped receiving mail. So the first thing I would check is webmail.
Open your email provider’s website and sign in to the same email address. If the new messages are missing there too, Thunderbird is not really the issue. The problem is with the mailbox, password, storage, or the email provider.
If the messages are sitting there in webmail but Thunderbird is not showing them, then I would come back to the computer.
Make sure Thunderbird has not gone offline
Thunderbird has an offline mode, and it is easy to miss because the program still opens normally and all your old mail is sitting there.
Open Thunderbird and check File > Offline. If Work Offline is selected, turn it off.
Then click Get Messages.
I would also restart Thunderbird at this point. If the computer has just come out of sleep, changed Wi-Fi networks, or briefly lost internet, Thunderbird can sometimes sit there without reconnecting properly.
Check the password before touching server settings
If you recently changed the email password, this is one of the first places I would look.
Click Get Messages and watch for a password or sign-in window. Enter the current password and complete any login page that opens.
One useful check here is simple: if the password works in webmail, you know the account itself is still accessible.
If it does not work in webmail either, fix the password with the email provider first.
Check whether the mailbox is full
This one gets overlooked.
Some email providers stop accepting new messages when the mailbox reaches its storage limit. Log in to webmail and check the available storage.
If it is full, delete some old mail and empty the Trash or Deleted folder. Then send yourself a small test message.
Update Thunderbird
Go to Help > About Thunderbird and let it check for updates.
Email providers do change their login and security requirements from time to time, and an old Thunderbird version can suddenly have trouble connecting even though it worked perfectly before.
Restart Thunderbird after the update and test it again.
What I would not do first
I would not immediately remove the email account and add it again.
That can be fine with an IMAP account, but some older Thunderbird setups use POP and may have mail stored only on that computer.
If webmail works, Thunderbird is online, the password is correct and the mailbox has space, but mail still will not download, I would check the provider’s Thunderbird settings next before deleting anything.
That is usually a much safer point to continue from.
Leave a Reply