Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Hierdie gesprek is in die argief. Vra asseblief 'n nuwe vraag as jy hulp nodig het.

Recovering years of emails from Local folders

  • 1 antwoord
  • 1 het hierdie probleem
  • 1 view
  • Laaste antwoord deur christ1

Blair Southerden
Blair Southerden
more options

I have been using Thunderbird for years and each month I move emails that I wish to retain into a local folder for the year, and a sub-folder for the month. Around the New Year I opened TB and saw a message saying nnn mails being deleted from 2009 10 i.e. the sub-folder for October 2009. I had not initiated that delete and it seems that a background task has deleted all mails from the local folders. There is no evidence of them being in the local trash folder, or in the Windows recycle bin. If I change the view in TB to display the size of the folders it is showing a volume consistent with them being present, just invisible. How may i recover these mails? I have McAfee anti-virius installed and have run a full system search which has identified no events or virus present.

I have been using Thunderbird for years and each month I move emails that I wish to retain into a local folder for the year, and a sub-folder for the month. Around the New Year I opened TB and saw a message saying nnn mails being deleted from 2009 10 i.e. the sub-folder for October 2009. I had not initiated that delete and it seems that a background task has deleted all mails from the local folders. There is no evidence of them being in the local trash folder, or in the Windows recycle bin. If I change the view in TB to display the size of the folders it is showing a volume consistent with them being present, just invisible. How may i recover these mails? I have McAfee anti-virius installed and have run a full system search which has identified no events or virus present.

All Replies (1)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

It sounds like your mail files are corrupted. First of all create a backup of your Thunderbird profile folder. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-tb#w_backing-up-a-profile

Then try to rebuild the index file of the troubled folder. Right-click the folder - Properties - Repair Folder

Note: depending on the corruption this may erase messages from the affected folder which cannot be recovered anymore. In that case you'd need to restore them from a recent backup done prior to the corruption.

Corruption is often caused by anti-virus software messing with Thunderbird mail files. It is therefore recommended to create an exception for the Thunderbird profile folder, so that the real-time scanner won't attempt to scan the profile with your mail.

For more information on the profile location see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

Also see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_-_Thunderbird

Wrt McAfee, see https://wiki.mozilla.org/Thunderbird:Testing:Antivirus_Related_Performance_Issues#McAfee