Learn About Thunderbird Maximum Request Size Exceeded Issue

Mozilla provides a perfect email client for all Mac, Windows and Linux users in Thunderbird. It can create, send and receive emails through IMAP and POP3 accounts. But, sometimes people find that they are receiving an error message saying ‘ uid max mailbox size exceeded Thunderbird ’ or  “Thunderbird error message size exceeded”. This indicates a space issue in saving emails to Thunderbird application. Users face challenges in reading, sending and receiving on daily emails. This post describes all the steps and ways necessary to solve error: Thunderbird maximum request size exceeded. Read the following segment to figure out the best way to resolve the error when thunderbird maximum literal size exceeded

Issue Faced Due to Thunderbird Mailbox Size Limit Exceeded

Following are some of the many issues faced by users who have large mailboxes and using Thunderbird application:

• Unable to send and receive emails on the email client without errors.
• An error message: ‘ uid max mailbox size exceeded Thunderbird ’ is shown.
• Cannot read email messages from the Inbox folder.
• Unable to delete emails and free space on the server.

Reasons for Thunderbird Maximum Request Size Exceeded

Here are the top few reasons as to what causes error messages to pop-up in TB configured email account:

• The recipient has too many emails and the server isn’t accepting any more.
• Using an abandoned account that has not been checked or cleaned over years.
• Limited mailbox space that creates error, ‘ UID max mailbox size exceeded ’.
• Thunderbird mailbox folders cannot exceed the 4GB limit
• An issue with Windows platform and Thunderbird v3.1.
• There is some corruption in the Thunderbird MBOX files.
• Antivirus or firewall software has deleted or quarantined Thunderbird storage files.

Methods to Check Mailbox Size when Thunderbird error message size exceeded

Following are some of the different techniques and procedures to resolve error : Thunderbird Maximum Request Size Exceeded & recover email data from a corrupt Thunderbird profile:

Solution 1: Check Deleted Items Settings

 

• First, Launch the Thunderbird Application.
• Then, go to Tools >> Account Settings >> Server Settings.

• Next, select Leave messages on the server.
• Then, select an appropriate number of days to manage Thunderbird mailbox size limit & resolve Thunderbird Mailbox Size Limit Exceeded.
• Also, select the option to keep messages Until I delete them.
• Finally, click OK to save changes.

Solution 2: Manage Disk Space when Thunderbird Max Message Size Exceeded

• First, go to Thunderbird>>Tools>>Account Settings>>Disc Space.

• And select don’t delete any messages option.
• Also, select Always keep starred messages to check mailbox size Thunderbird when thunderbird max message size exceeded.
• Finally, click OK to save changes.

Solution 3: Compact Folders

• In earlier versions of Thunderbird 3.1, change the Folder view to All.

• Then, right-click and Inbox folder and select Compact to solve error Thunderbird Maximum Request Size Exceeded to an extent.

Solution 4: Recreate Deleted Items Folder

• First, Open Thunderbird profile to delete emails on Thunderbird.
• Then, click the three bars on the top-right corner and select Help >> Troubleshooting Information.

• From the Application Basics tab, click on the Open Folder button.

• Next, Exit Thunderbird.
• From the file explorer window, go to Mail folder and select the email account having Thunderbird mailbox size limit exceeded issue.

• Now, select the Trash and Trash.msf file and delete them.

• Then, restart Thunderbird and create a new folder with the name Trash.

Solution 5: Upgrade Thunderbird v3.1

• Go to the Menu bar >> Help >> About Thunderbird.

This will remove any Thunderbird large folders issues or Thunderbird error message size exceeded error.

Note: Another Alternative is to try splitting the large-sized MBOX file to avoid

• Then, configure the same email account on the new version of Thunderbird.

Solution 6: Contact ISP Support

• If nothing else works, contact the email service providers to increase the mailbox quota of the email account in question.
• Otherwise, ask them to delete some emails from the server

Solution 7: Move to New Profile

• Often, antivirus deletes some storage MBOX files during quarantine.
• Recover the MBOX email file and place it back in the Mail folder to remove Thunderbird Maximum Request Size Exceeded issue.

Solution 8: Use an Automated Solution

Often the manual solution is not able to resolve the issue: thunderbird maximum literal size exceeded completely. Either email cannot be recovered for a POP3 account or errors are generated again and again over time. In such a case, one looks to view emails through a WebMail or Outlook. This can be easily done by using the SysTools MBOX to PST Converter. It extracts email data from Inbox.mbox file and transfers it to a format compatible with MS Outlook. It is an easy fix to resolve error Thunderbird mailbox size limit exceeded.

Conclusion

Thunderbird is a well-known email client but sometimes errors can persist in best of applications. It is required to regularly check mailbox size in Thunderbird and keep compacting folders when thunderbird maximum literal size exceeded. This post describes all the necessary ways to fix Thunderbird maximum request size exceeded issue in version 3.1. Another alternative solution is also mentioned to use an automated software to make the task easier and direct.