Thunderbird deleted all e-mails older than 14 days

Is there anything I can do to restore my e-mails?

The Recover deleted messages add-on should be able to retrieve your emails, provided you haven't compacted the folder yet.

Another option is Recuva from Piriform which can recover deleted emails. There is a free version available.

Note:

Before trying any off the above, don't forget to close Thunderbird and perform a backup. At least make a manual backup of the files you are going to work with.

What is the Recover deleted messages add-on?

The Recover deleted messages add-on adds "Recover deleted messages" to the folders context menu (right click on the folder).

It will work with any folder that has a mbox file (POP account, Local Folders, or IMAP offline folders created via Tools -> Account Settings -> Synchronizing & Storage) if you haven't compacted the folder yet.

It can recover messages whether they are deleted normally, or permanently deleted using Shift+Delete.

Source Undelete a message

What is Recuva?

Recover deleted emails

Email programs like Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or Mozilla Thunderbird don't store emails individually. Rather, they store each folder as a database file. For example, there might be a folder for the Inbox, another for Sent Mail, another for Drafts, one for the Trash and another for emails you've saved.

When you empty the email program's Trash, the email program empties that database file. Instead of restoring the database file, Recuva goes one step further and recovers emails individually.

When you recover emails with Recuva, they appear in a compressed .ZIP file (for example, Outlook Express.zip). You can use any standard ZIP file reader (including one built in to Windows) to open the .ZIP file up and see the emails inside.

Each email is stored in a standard .EML format, which means that you can import it to any email program -- not just the one it was sent or received from.

Source Recuva - Features

DavidPostill

Posted 2015-06-29T05:56:44.370

Reputation: 118 938

Thanks! This seems to be an interesting add-on. I will try it. – vojta – 2015-06-29T07:07:19.283

@vojta Don't forget, before you start, close Thunderbird and perform a backup. At least make a manual backup of the files you are going to work with! – DavidPostill – 2015-06-29T07:11:27.670

@vojta Answer updated with another recovery option. – DavidPostill – 2015-06-29T07:21:17.493

3If all else fails, you can try pulling the old Thunderbird profile out of your backed up data from before the reinstall. You did back it up, right? (The profile sits in %AppData%.) – Bob – 2015-06-29T06:54:04.273

1@Bob Yes, thank you so much! I restored the Profiles directory, then changed the profiles.ini and I can see all my e-mails now. You really saved my day! Is there any way to upload them back to the mailserver? – vojta – 2015-06-29T07:04:10.560

If you drag them into local folders and back to the mailbox, assuming it's IMAP, that should force an upload. I'm not sure if you'll end up losing a bit of server-side info, though. Probably not. – Bob – 2015-06-29T07:17:18.023

What about the Trash folder, sometimes they end up there. Take a look at web interface – emirjonb – 2015-06-29T09:29:43.103

@emirjonb Trash folder is empty... – vojta – 2015-06-29T10:05:45.260