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i uninstalled Thunderbird in 2016 and reinstalled it today. why did all my old emails from 2014 and 2016 appear

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  • Last reply by christ1

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I had verizon as my email server but used MS Outlook 2003 as my third party email service. I then started using Thunderbird as my third party email software. Eventually I uninstalled Thunderbird in 2016. Verizon then discontinued their email service and switched to aol which still allowed verizon customers to use a third party email service. Today I downloaded and reinstalled Thunderbird and all my old email messages etc.. starting in 2014 that were in Thunderbird when I uninstalled it reappeared in the newly installed version. How can this be? The messages were never saved on the Verizon email server

I had verizon as my email server but used MS Outlook 2003 as my third party email service. I then started using Thunderbird as my third party email software. Eventually I uninstalled Thunderbird in 2016. Verizon then discontinued their email service and switched to aol which still allowed verizon customers to use a third party email service. Today I downloaded and reinstalled Thunderbird and all my old email messages etc.. starting in 2014 that were in Thunderbird when I uninstalled it reappeared in the newly installed version. How can this be? The messages were never saved on the Verizon email server

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How can this be?

Profile files are stored separately from the Thunderbird program files. The program files are static and do not change (except when you upgrade the Thunderbird application version). Because we store profile and program files separately, you can uninstall Thunderbird without losing your messages and settings, and if something goes wrong with a Thunderbird update your information will still be available. It also means that you don't have to reinstall Thunderbird in order to delete your information or troubleshoot a problem.

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data