XN 4.1.4 not showing all unopened mail

When I accessed a Yahoo mail account to send an email, I found an unopened email that is several weeks old. Since then I have accessed other accounts to also find more unopened email. XN did not indicate unopened mail for these accounts.

Using Windows 10, Firefox 55.0.3, XN 4.1.4

I have several Yahoo accounts and am not using other servers. When using the interval timer or the "Check Now" option XN reliably cycles through every account but only shows new mail for some.

All accounts can be accessed through the XN drop down box, so it does not seem to be an access issue.

From Firefox I deleted all cookies related to Yahoo and allowed XN to reinstall its own relevant cookies; so it does not seem to be related to foreign cookies.

I cycled through "Check Now" several times to stabilize the access to the accounts; so it does not seem to be a stability issue.

Any suggestions as to what else to try?

 

jeroen's picture

It can have escaped your attention on a previous XN notification. I reckon you have set the option to reset the counter when opening messages. Unfortunally XN then gives you no clue when you overlook a message. That's why I suggested a long time ago to also show the inbox as a folder. That way hoovering over the account will still show the overlooked inbox message in the foldercount.

The obvious solution for you seems to uncheck the option to reset the counter when opening messages.

I rechecked the options page and all accounts have identical configurations.

jeroen's picture

The option 'Reset counter when opening messages' is a general option (not account-specific). Do you have this option unchecked?

Do you perhaps use filters to redirect your mail to a folder? Then you should uncheck the folder-specific option 'Notify inbox only' for these accounts.

All accounts have identical configurations.  The only box that is checked in the XN options is 'Notify inbox only' for each account. All references to unopened email is to email in the inbox.

jeroen's picture

When you have the same version (yahoo webserver), I can guide you to investigate your yahoo account. The script handles 4 different versions, but most likely (I hope) we both have the same last yahoo.com version.

  1. On your inbox page type Ctrl+U for HTML Source (reload page when this doesn't work)
  2. Search (Ctrl+F) for this string:    ,"folders":{
    - when it is there, your yahoo service gets delivered by the same type webserver
  3. When you continue to read that html line, it reads like:

    "folders":{"1":{"id":"1","name":"Inbox","path":"Inbox","accountId":"1","types":["INBOX"],"isSystem":true,"total":24,"unread":7,

    total = the total number of your Inbox messages
    unread = the number of your unread Inbox messages

This unread number is the only count that gets notified in case of 'Notify inbox only'.

I did not find  "folders":{ in the page source but based on your recommendation I did find what I think is the relevant part.

The first segment is from an account that does show the correct number of unread messages:

{"filterByTotal":null,"folderHash":194,"folderInfo":{"fid":"Inbox","name":"Inbox","dir":"ltr","index":"1"},"id":"1","hasMoreMessages":null,
"totalScanned":null,"isSystem":true,"lastUidRead":null,"recent":null,"size":null,
"softDeleted":0,"total":5,"totalConversations":null,"unread":3,"unreadSoftDeleted":null,
"link":{"type":"RELATIVE","href":"\/ws\/v3\/mailboxes\/@.id==VjJ-ayvHE3V-1NjfK0GuGd6VZpIz2ZSE7xzf4CnJiNKVVhNK1HkYkH2Fo1uqEm0HVm75\/folders\/@.id==1"},"types":["INBOX"],"acctId":"1"},

The second segment is from an account that does not show any unread messages:

{"filterByTotal":null,"folderHash":34,"folderInfo":{"fid":"Inbox","name":"Inbox","dir":"ltr","index":"1"},"id":"1","hasMoreMessages":null,
"totalScanned":null,"isSystem":true,"lastUidRead":null,"recent":null,"size":null,
"softDeleted":0,"total":21,"totalConversations":null,"unread":3,"unreadSoftDeleted":null,
"link":{"type":"RELATIVE","href":"\/ws\/v3\/mailboxes\/@.id==VjJ-QrhIxdI3wS1YPzHHKlK9yJgYgPAW7uvcCbQuMVqFxhqHsU-kKRl98JTEVJO0ynv5yqtsdt-jko-uK0ko8KHOrw\/folders\/@.id==1"},"types":["INBOX"],"acctId":"1"},

Both excerpts indicate three unread messages. There does not seem to be any obvious difference that would defeat a string search.

 I did notice, however, that all the accounts that do not show the number of unread messages were created within the last year, while those accounts that are older do show the correct number.

 

jeroen's picture

So both these accounts are served by the same webserver, that is a different one than mine. That the string match is only unsuccessful on the 2nd account is hard to believe, because - as you said - the strings are identical apart from @.id. What you can do is mark these 3 messages read, wait for a while and mark them unread again. Good chance they will get notified then (meaning they did somehow got cached by XN)...

I am not at home now, so I will check which webserver version and the match of the script later.

Maybe I should have mentioned before that the "Y" icons are also missing for these difficult accounts. As well, it nags at me why only the accounts less than a year old are having issues. 

Seeing as we don't know the cause I may as well mention another symptom which is likely unrelated: Sometimes, before opening a desired account, XN cycles through one or more other accounts, opening one after the other. When it stops cycling, it may or may not be on the desired account.

jeroen's picture

Did you execute my suggestion to mark the 3 messages read and then unread?
What is the result?

I tried this on several accounts. No effect.

jeroen's picture

The string you provided does not match with any of the searched strings in the script. So the 1st account must offer the unread count elsewhere too. (The 2nd account could proof to be a new version: a follow-up from your 1st account's version)

I need you to search the 1st account's html for all versions:
this.mode=3     ,"folders":{    (this mode you already excluded)
this.mode=2     .folders
this.mode=1      folderlist.      (this mode is yahoo.co.jp)
this.mode=0     class="folders">

When you've found the version (mode), search the 2nd for the same string. When my logic is correct it is not there and we found the cause. (To be sure search the 2nd also for all versions)

jeroen's picture

I have X-notifier 4.1.4 on Firefox Nightly (Alpha) Portable 57 and there I have both an account with the New Yahoo interface and one with the Classic Yahoo interface. The string you provided is from Classic (mode=2  .folders).

My default XN Yahoo account is the New one. When I open the browser sometimes the Classic one stays greyed-out. I have to click it to make it work. And both accounts open in the same tab (it switches).

I repeatedly tried a number of things - all on Yahoo and Firefox, and something seems to have worked, but I don't know which or what combination and so far the reliability is marginal.

First I went back to RpD's question and tried to switch the display to basic it didn't seem to have any effect other than loading the page much faster. Furthermore, some of the accounts didn't want to switch to basic, so I started to delete the Firefox cache just before saving the Yahoo settings on every try.  There were also several instances where no matter how often I tried, I could not switch to the basic display.

In the meantime, I took every opportunity to delete the links to other email accounts whenever that stupid Manage Accounts box opened up. It seems that I can try to remove these links, but as soon as XN does its scan, Yahoo puts some or all of them back. I'm trying to see if I can find a pettern. Yahoo says that these links can be removed, but then it outs them right back.

 

 

I am seeing inconsistent anomalies with 4.1.4 for FF and Chrome, but my computer has been crashing lately.  If they become consistent, I'll describe them... somewhere.  Relative to this thread I guess, I was having trouble with the 'Reset counter when opening messages' option working as expected (inconsistent though).

Otherwise, Gmail is multi-session which means you can have multiple accounts open in their own tab, as far as I know.  I don't see any of my other providers supporting multi-session access, which means you have to work in one tab for the related accounts one at a time, otherwise they interfere, somewhat inconsistently.

jeroen's picture

I think RpD just asked you whether you still use the Classic interface or whether you switched to the New interface and that he never asked you to go back to Classic interface.

He didn't ask me to switch.

But since he raised the point, I thought that it was worth the effort to find out if it made a difference. Other than being much faster in basic, it did not make a difference directly, but it did show that the account links are a factor because they do not work with the basic display; and by trying to remove them, I found that sooner or later Yahoo insists on putting them back; and when the links are put back, the display reverts to "Full featured." I think this is a serious security issue on computers with multiple users as well as a PITA for people who wanted to see what it was about and don't like it. 

jeroen's picture

Hey RpD,
Posting almost simultaneously...
Yes, X-notifier can only facilitate what the provider website offers.

jeroen's picture

Both strings you provided are part of a long string in JSON nested array notation starting with .folders= ,obviously containing all folders data incl the Inbox folder and there is nothing wrong with the 2nd string and the way the script parses it (I can assure you though I haven't seen the complete json string).
JSON nested array notation: https://www.w3schools.com/js/js_json_arrays.asp

jeroen's picture

The last paragraph of your post (about links to other email accounts) comes out-of-the-blue to me. I don't want to get into that and think I will stop my effords here. Goodnight.

With your help I was able to bring all but one of my accounts to work. How reliable it is remains to be seen. At this point, I think most of the problems stem from Yahoo trying to upgrade their security. There could also be some issues with Firefox Legacy add-ons not working properly due to the transition.

Sorry to blindside you with the account links. I didn't think those account links were relevant until I started getting into the Yahoo account configurations. It only then became obvious that it was more than just a nuisance.

For now, I can work with what I have. I'm sure that more difficulties are coming as the transition continues.

Again, thanks for your help.

 

You said: "That's why I suggested a long time ago to also show the inbox as a folder."

Seems that he agreed. When I mouseover the accounts, XN shows all the folders with unread messages and the number of unread messages including the inbox right next to the account name. It's just that the inbox isn't labeled.

jeroen's picture

I assumed you use the option to reset the counter when opening messages, but you don't. When one does, the number of unread inbox messages in X-notifier turns zero on opening the account page and then of course the number next to the account name disappears. I have made several fixes in the past (o.a. Gmail) where in that case I added the still existing number of unread inbox messages to the list of folders below (as first nr). On Firefox it then also shows in the folderlist of the X-notifier-window and -sidebar.

jeroen's picture

I now understand you mean the links to your other YAHOO accounts. These are there for your convenience as part of the interface. What are you trying to achieve by removing them? This only will cause logging out of that account. As soon as you login (clicking the XN account) it will show up in the Manage accounts popup again. It is just part of the interface. You cannot change the behavior of the webserver.