How do I get them back?
Thanks
Where have my emails gone?
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TipperToo
- Posts: 5
- Joined: January 10th, 2022, 9:29 am
Where have my emails gone?
I've just opened my Thunderbird Email to find that all my emails have disappeared.
How do I get them back?
Thanks
How do I get them back?
Thanks
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tanstaafl
- Moderator
- Posts: 49647
- Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm
Re: Where have my emails gone?
More details please.
POP or IMAP accounts?
Do your accounts still exist? (check tools -> account settings and the mail&news accounts section of help -> more troubleshooting information)
Can you see the accounts and folders in the folder pane, but they just have no messages? If that occurs check whether you lost any folders that weren't automatically created (such as the inbox). Something might have changed the local directory settings in the accounts server settings, which tells it where downloaded mail is stored.
Did you also lose your contacts/address books? If that occurs I'd suspect something occurred that made it either refuse to use your existing profile or lose track of it.
Did your PC crash, you do a major upgrade of Thunderbird etc. shortly before this problem occurred?
I suspect you can get all of your email back, but the solution depends upon what broke.
POP or IMAP accounts?
Do your accounts still exist? (check tools -> account settings and the mail&news accounts section of help -> more troubleshooting information)
Can you see the accounts and folders in the folder pane, but they just have no messages? If that occurs check whether you lost any folders that weren't automatically created (such as the inbox). Something might have changed the local directory settings in the accounts server settings, which tells it where downloaded mail is stored.
Did you also lose your contacts/address books? If that occurs I'd suspect something occurred that made it either refuse to use your existing profile or lose track of it.
Did your PC crash, you do a major upgrade of Thunderbird etc. shortly before this problem occurred?
I suspect you can get all of your email back, but the solution depends upon what broke.
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TipperToo
- Posts: 5
- Joined: January 10th, 2022, 9:29 am
Re: Where have my emails gone?
Thanks for your reply. To answer your questions:
POP or IMAP accounts?
IMAP
Do your accounts still exist? (check tools -> account settings and the mail&news accounts section of help -> more troubleshooting information)
Yes still there and accessible via my iPhone and direct on webmail. Local folders only, ie, only those shared with iPhone. But other downloaded/stored emails now missing.
Can you see the accounts and folders in the folder pane, but they just have no messages? If that occurs check whether you lost any folders that weren't automatically created (such as the inbox). Something might have changed the local directory settings in the accounts server settings, which tells it where downloaded mail is stored.
Accounts and folders are there but empty. Once new emails are read they disappear!
Did you also lose your contacts/address books? If that occurs I'd suspect something occurred that made it either refuse to use your existing profile or lose track of it.
Address book is OK. I suspect I opened a spam email allegedly from either UPS or DPD (I’ve since deleted it) which may have changed my profile?
Did your PC crash, you do a major upgrade of Thunderbird etc. shortly before this problem occurred?
PC had crashed at start up with a screen error yesterday but booted up OK today.
I suspect you can get all of your email back, but the solution depends upon what broke.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
POP or IMAP accounts?
IMAP
Do your accounts still exist? (check tools -> account settings and the mail&news accounts section of help -> more troubleshooting information)
Yes still there and accessible via my iPhone and direct on webmail. Local folders only, ie, only those shared with iPhone. But other downloaded/stored emails now missing.
Can you see the accounts and folders in the folder pane, but they just have no messages? If that occurs check whether you lost any folders that weren't automatically created (such as the inbox). Something might have changed the local directory settings in the accounts server settings, which tells it where downloaded mail is stored.
Accounts and folders are there but empty. Once new emails are read they disappear!
Did you also lose your contacts/address books? If that occurs I'd suspect something occurred that made it either refuse to use your existing profile or lose track of it.
Address book is OK. I suspect I opened a spam email allegedly from either UPS or DPD (I’ve since deleted it) which may have changed my profile?
Did your PC crash, you do a major upgrade of Thunderbird etc. shortly before this problem occurred?
PC had crashed at start up with a screen error yesterday but booted up OK today.
I suspect you can get all of your email back, but the solution depends upon what broke.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
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tanstaafl
- Moderator
- Posts: 49647
- Joined: July 30th, 2003, 5:06 pm
Re: Where have my emails gone?
Somehow switching to "View -> Messages -> unread" and/or "View -> Threads -> unread" could cause your problem. You want both set to "All".
It sounds like your profile is basically healthy but you either have some sort of view (see above) or message aging problem. See if http://kb.mozillazine.org/Message_aging gives you any ideas. I'd start by checking that Tools -> Account Settings -> [account name] -> Synchronization & Storage -> "Disk Space" has "synchronize all messages regardless of age" and "don't delete any messages" selected.
If that doesn't help see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Empty_folders .
If you log into webmail using a browser are all of the old messages there? How about the recent ones that disappeared after reading?
It sounds like your profile is basically healthy but you either have some sort of view (see above) or message aging problem. See if http://kb.mozillazine.org/Message_aging gives you any ideas. I'd start by checking that Tools -> Account Settings -> [account name] -> Synchronization & Storage -> "Disk Space" has "synchronize all messages regardless of age" and "don't delete any messages" selected.
If that doesn't help see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Empty_folders .
If you log into webmail using a browser are all of the old messages there? How about the recent ones that disappeared after reading?
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TipperToo
- Posts: 5
- Joined: January 10th, 2022, 9:29 am
Re: Where have my emails gone?
Hi thanks for the suggestions.
Those that my aged brain can grasp seem to be all present and correct and I still can't see locally stored messages.
What appears to be happening is any new mail once read disappears both in the inbox and of course everything stored locally because they have been read!
Is there a setting that I may have accidentally clicked on that stops it showing read messages?
I hope it hasn't deleted them as various work and home projects are contained in those messages!!!
Any further suggestions?
Thanks
Those that my aged brain can grasp seem to be all present and correct and I still can't see locally stored messages.
What appears to be happening is any new mail once read disappears both in the inbox and of course everything stored locally because they have been read!
Is there a setting that I may have accidentally clicked on that stops it showing read messages?
I hope it hasn't deleted them as various work and home projects are contained in those messages!!!
Any further suggestions?
Thanks
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TipperToo
- Posts: 5
- Joined: January 10th, 2022, 9:29 am
Re: Where have my emails gone?
Ahh!!
Seems I had accidentally clicked on the 'show only unread messages' button!
Clicking it back shows all messages both read and unread in the inbox AND all other 'read' messages are restored and in view in their folders.
Although I really didn't understand what you thought may have happened, it made me analyse what I could and couldn't see.
All back on view now...Hurrah!
Thanks for making me think.
Seems I had accidentally clicked on the 'show only unread messages' button!
Clicking it back shows all messages both read and unread in the inbox AND all other 'read' messages are restored and in view in their folders.
Although I really didn't understand what you thought may have happened, it made me analyse what I could and couldn't see.
All back on view now...Hurrah!
Thanks for making me think.