Can't download some emails. Looking for ideas.

[sunbeam alpine]

Since yesterday I've been unable to download emails with a pdf attachment. All other mails come in no problem. I've scanned for malware, and also tried temporarily disabling anti-virus software, but it hasn't helped. If I log into our ISP webmail the mails are there and I can read them online. ISP says there's no problem at their end.

Google isn't helping...

Mozilla Thunderbird mail client on Win10, Windows Defender antivirus. Have also tried updating Thunderbird, made no difference.

Grateful for any suggestions...

ETA - it isn't linked to sender. If someone sends a message with text, it gets through. If they then attach a pdf, it doesn't download. It doesdn't prevent later messages from downloading - it just seems to skip over them.

Edited by sunbeam alpine on Friday 14th June 15:43

Edited by sunbeam alpine on Friday 14th June 15:43

[silverous]

What do you see - is the attachment there to open, do you get an error? Sounds like it could be a PDF app/plugin issue, presume you've rebooted etc. since it happened?

[sunbeam alpine]

silverous said:

What do you see - is the attachment there to open, do you get an error? Sounds like it could be a PDF app/plugin issue, presume you've rebooted etc. since it happened?

I don't see anything - it just doesn't download any message with a .pdf attachment. It just skips over them. Later messages also come in fine.

I can read/open the .pdf files if I log into the ISP webmail, it's just that they aren't downloading.

Could the problem be ISP/hosting-related? I've contacted them and they say there's no problem their end - they do spam filtering, but on incoming messages, so if it reaches my inbox (which it does), it should download.

[silverous]

Oh I see, the whole message doesn't come down to your client - I assumed it was just that the attachment wasn't downloading/opening. Odd, will have a think..

[illmonkey]

Setup a different client or a different machine to download your emails and see if/where it's not downloading. Process of elimination with this kind of thing.

Most likely antivirus or similar is still blocking the email

[jeremyc]

Are the PDF attachments particularly large?

Could there be a limit on download size somewhere?

If so, try emailing yourself a small PDF attachment to see if it will download.

[Sheepshanks]

sunbeam alpine said:

All other mails come in no problem.

Even email with other attachments - ie photos?

I use Thunderbird for personal email and I don't think it can block attachments, but it can prevent download of files bigger than a certain size - in Account Settings, Synchronisation and Storage.

[sunbeam alpine]

Solved! Somehow idiot (me) user fault!

I clicked on the date column and it re-sorted my mails from oldest to newest. Clicked again to get the newest on top, and - there they were - all the mails with attachments.

Given that my mails were sorted in date order when I had the problem, the only thing I can think is that somehow the mails were sorted by date, but with all mails with an attachment being at the bottom somehow - i.e. first sort on whether or not there's an attachment, and then sort by date? I have no idea how this could have have happened.

Thanks to everyone who replied!

[AW10]

It usually also possible to sort on with or without attachment; perhaps you inadvertently sorted them that way at some point?

[king arthur]

You feel stupid when it's something like that but we've all done similar.

"Arrrrrgh it's not working!"

<Panic for several hours>

"Oh hang on, yes it is."