I renamed an AOL folder and the content's disappeared

[rogerstevencorke]

I've just started using an AOL email address and I tried to set up a Spam/Junk folder. For some reason best known to AOL, it calls this folder Bulk Mail. Having set it up, I discovered there was already mail in it that shouldn't have been junk.

Through Thunderbird, I renamed the folder "Spam". Boy, that was a mistake...the emails in it - all of which had been wrongly assigned as spam - disappeared. I renamed the folder back again as Bulk Mail but it was too late. They were gone.

How do I get them back and how do I set up a spam folder in Thunderbird (and in webmail, come to that)?

As usual, AOL Customer Care have been completely useless. First they said they don't deal with third party software queries, on the basis that I'd used Thunderbird to rename the folder, and then then said they didn't have a department answering customer service questions! Makes you wonder why they call the department Customer Care, doesn't it?

Is there anyone out there who can guide me step-by-step on how to recover these files and set up a spam/junk.bulk mail folder on AOL?

Many thanks in advance.

[tanstaafl]

If you haven't compacted the folder yet (which will physically remove the deleted and marked hidden messages, meaning you are out of luck) go to tools -> account settings -> account_name -> server settings -> "when I delete a message" and set it to "just mark it as deleted". This will not move messages when you delete them, and will display any deleted messages with a line drawn through them in the folder listing. If your messages haven't been physically removed yet (its possible AOL did that due to some special casing for a spam folder) that will give you the opportunity to undelete them by deleting them again.

Thunderbird doesn't care what folder you use for junk, though its usually best to use whatever folder your email provider uses. Set the junk folder in tools -> account settings -> account name -> junk settings to "bulk mail".

When you are all done you can set "just mark it as deleted" back to "move it to this folder: trash".

[rogerstevencorke]

Fantastic. Thank you so much.

[rogerstevencorke]

Hi Tanstaafi. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water....

... it didn't work after all. I created a Bulk Mail folder and all seemed fine - until I logged on to my AOL webmail account, where I found the emails I thought I'd lost were back. They were in a folder called "Spam".

I haven't got a folder called Spam on my desktop and they're not in the Bulk Mail folder. So I tried creating a sub-folder of the actual email account (like Inbox/Sent/Archive/Trash and Bulk Mail) but Thunderbird won't let me do this. I was able to create a subfolder of my Inbox called Spam but, as that's a blue sub-folder, that didn't work.

At least I've got my emails back but it would be great to get them in a folder on my desktop

Any thoughts?

So the emails I want to keep are up there in webamil but don't want to come home to my desktop through Thunderbird.

[makaiguy]

In TBird, right-click your account name in the left panel. Select Subscribe. Place a check mark in the box beside any server folder you'd like TBird to handle for you.

[rogerstevencorke]

Hi Doug
I've got all the folders ticked but the Spam folder in AOL webmail, containing emails which are not spam, doesn't appear in Thunderbird and I don't seem to be able to create it. The olnly folder I can create called Spam is a blue sub-folder of the inbox, which is not the same thing.

[tanstaafl]

Try pressing the refresh button in the subscribe window. If the missing folder doesn't show up in the list of folders to subscribe try logging into aol webmail and browsing its settings to see if there are checkboxes to control what folders are exposed to the IMAP server. Gmail webmail lets you control what folders/labels are hidden from the IMAP sever, so its possible AOL does too.

[rogerstevencorke]

Tanstaafi, you are a genius! what I had to do was this: delete the Bulk Mail folders on my accounts, go to the account name, click subscribe and then I saw the series of folders attached to my account. The only one not ticked was Bulk Mail - presumably a different Bulk Mail folder from the one I had just deleted but it looked the same. When I ticked it and restarted Thunderbird, there was the folder with spam email inside it. Thank you so much.