Deleted emails

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mus429
Posts: 3
Joined: March 20th, 2017, 4:31 pm

Deleted emails

Post by mus429 »

Hi,
I deleted all my emails in error(4 years). I am using an imac (Snow Leopard) and have backups on Time Machine. I've tried updating the profile with no success. What I have recovered is everything that was not being deleted. All the set up folders and its contents are fine. It's just the emails in my Inbox that have gone. Thunderbird has obviously completed a compacting process so they appear to be gone, however, after I replaced the prefs.js file from a backed up file, the inbox displays all the lost emails for 3 seconds then they disappear again and I'm left with the last 3 days emails still on the server. The last 3 days are still there because all this happened 3 days ago and I haven't deleted anything since.
If it can show the 'lost' emails for 3 seconds then I assume they must still be somewhere, maybe. Can anyone help. I have copied the back up profiles with no success. I also use Thunderbird on a Macbook Air and all the missing emails have disappeared from the version too.
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DanRaisch
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Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
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Re: Deleted emails

Post by DanRaisch »

If it can show the 'lost' emails for 3 seconds then I assume they must still be somewhere, maybe.
Unfortunately that's not necessarily true.

How is the account set up in Thunderbird, as POP or IMAP? Find out using menu path Tools->Account Settings->Server Settings->Server Type at the top right of the dialogue.
mus429
Posts: 3
Joined: March 20th, 2017, 4:31 pm

Re: Deleted emails

Post by mus429 »

imap is the primary email as I have 6 email accounts and 2 are pop3 and the others are imap. In this case it is imap account that has had the emails deleted. I notice in the profiles that it has a number of files in the imapMail folder
imap.mail-1.com
imap.mail-2.com
imap.mail-3.com
imap.mail-4.com
I presume these are the other email accounts using imap
mus429
Posts: 3
Joined: March 20th, 2017, 4:31 pm

Re: Deleted emails

Post by mus429 »

The file size of the 'Inbox' folder is 538mb in my backup file while the current file size is much smaller. I have tried replacing the 'inbox' file with the back up file with no result
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DanRaisch
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Joined: September 23rd, 2004, 8:57 pm
Location: Somewhere on the right coast

Re: Deleted emails

Post by DanRaisch »

Restore that Inbox file but don't launch Thunderbird. Using a file manager, copy the file Inbox into the Local Folders directory and rename it OldInbox (no file name extension.)
Launch Thunderbird. You'll lose the contents of the file Inbox in the Imap folder because when Thunderbird connects to the server it will synch the local file with the server. Because the deleted messages are no longer on the server they will be deleted from the local file.
However, because you have copied the file Inbox to the Local Folders structure, you should find a new folder within that entry in the left hand pane of the main Thunderbird window with the name OldInbox. Hopefully it will contain the missing data. If so, you can copy messages from that OldInbox folder to the Inbox folder of the IMAP account in Thunderbird which will result in their being restored to the server as well.
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