Thunderbird: how to recover lost emails after sync

0

I had years of emails from an old hotmail email address in Thunderbird.

I'd changed the password and lost it, so for 2 yrs it didn't update in Thunderbird.

I found the password and logged in via web browser, which basically reactivated the email - apparently Microsoft purged everything since it was inactive >1 yr.

Which would be fine, it's a tertiary email, but when I opened Thunderbird and put in the new password, it synced with the server, and all the emails that were saved disappeared.

Is there any way to recover them? I tried to read how to find the files, but can't locate them.

DoctorWhom

Posted 2016-09-24T21:03:41.927

Reputation: 289

What OS are you using – adampski – 2016-09-24T22:59:48.667

Windows 7. Thunderbird v 45.3.0 – DoctorWhom – 2016-09-25T03:00:07.783

Perhaps give this a read: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1009228 I'd be very interested to hear the result. If a success I can help write up an answer. However don't get too excited as this answer suggests there's little hope: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1049848#answer-698156

– adampski – 2016-09-25T09:45:54.247

If you haven't allowed the mailbox files to compact yet, there's a decent chance they still exist in those files, but I'm not sure there is a simple method to get them back. I accidentally deleted all the files in one mailbox. As I recall, I had to open the file in an editor, determine what status code to look for (eg, 0009 I think) and then do a Replace All back to 0001 (I think). Then start Thunderbird and re-delete the few I didn't really need since the last compact had run. I had found all the info I needed on Mozilla Thunderbird forums via Google. – topshot – 2016-09-26T19:18:13.117

Answers

1

To restores LOST email messages for Thunderbird, you can also try these steps as an action:

  1. Turn off automatic email checking as a precaution.(This is typically not necessary but avoids a potential cause for conflicts.)
  2. Click the right mouse button on the folder you want to repair in Mozilla Thunderbird.
  3. Select Properties… from the menu that appears.
  4. Go to the General Information tab.
  5. Click Repair Folder.
  6. Now click OK. Note: You do not have to wait for the rebuilding to finish before clicking OK; do wait before doing anything else in Mozilla Thunderbird, though. Good Luck!

Amanda

Posted 2016-09-24T21:03:41.927

Reputation: 11

Asked: 2016-09-24T21:03:41.927

Viewed: 335 times

Active: 2017-07-19T06:13:29.520