<SOLVED> transferred profile; can't get to mail (Linux)

[tomcloyd]

[ OS: Linux Mint 18.1 Cinnamon 64 bit / Thunderbird 45.8.0 ]

Following instructions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pr ... -a-profile, I took the new profile created by the TB install, then copied the contents from my old profile into it.

TB launches fine. My message filters and folder structure is all there. But the cursor keeps displaying it's "busy" indicator state, and I cannot actually read any mail that should be in the folders. Clicking on a folder accomplishes nothing.

My system monitor indicates that TB is using about 4% of the CPU. I see no indication in the TB interface as to what it's actually doing.

I'd welcome any ideas as to how to go forward with this. It's a fairly urgent matter for me.

UPDATE: Continuing to look for a solution on my own, I came across this very recent article - https://www.lifewire.com/repair-folders ... rd-1173102. Basically, it suggests deleting all your profile's *.msf files, so as to force a rebuild of the index files. So, I did that - I found about 50 of them in various places. It did not solve the problem. Upon relaunching TB, I see the same problem, except that when I click on a folder name now, the work "null" appears at the bottom of the window, at the extreme left of what I take to be TB's status bar.

I'm obviously still very much lost with this. All suggestions welcome.

[DanRaisch]

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Edit->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.

[tomcloyd]

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Edit->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.

POP - "pop.gmail.com". These are the same settings that have been working forever on my old 32-bit Dell desktop.

Thanks for your response.

[DanRaisch]

With a POP account all of the existing message data (as opposed to new messages just arriving) is stored on the local computer. That means that the files should be available in the transferred data. It sounds as though Thunderbird may not be finding those files or the files are corrupted.

Try copying the file "Inbox" (without the quotation marks) from the old profile folder. It should be in a directory named \Mail\pop.gmail.com. Close Thunderbird. Copy that one Inbox file and paste it into the new profile in the directory with that that same name. Open Thunderbird and see if that Inbox folder is accessible.

[tomcloyd]

Your suggestion makes sense, except that those files were already copied and present in the right place on my computer.

Among the possible problems, one I'd thought of but not pursued was directory/file ownership. I checked into this, and it turned out that /Inbox and contents belonged to root. That likely happened because I initially saved the profile using a root level copy routine (I had my reasons).

Setting the directory/file ownership to my user account made the mail accessible to Thunderbird. Lesson learned.

Thanks for your suggestions; they clearly led to a solution. (I've studied decision making behavior and creativity in humans, and it turns out that dialog alone improves outcomes, whether or not the other party actually provides relevant new information - fascinating and useful fact, yes?)

[DanRaisch]

- fascinating and useful fact, yes?)

Yes, quite interesting. I'm happy to hear you found the solution.