I reloaded thunderbird's new version (6.8 ?) not realizing that it would wipe out all data from earlier installation. Can I recover lost files?

It looks like you updated from TB 60.9 to TB 68. Was this done voluntarily or by an updater utility? I suggest you uninstall TB 68 (won't affect your profile data) and download and run the installer for TB 60.9:

https://archive.mozilla.org/pub/thunderbird/releases/60.9.0/win32/

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried doing that but all it did was remove the new thunderbird. My old one is still in cyberspace somehwere. Hopefuly, it's still in my pc as well. any other suggestions? Thank you!!!

So, you uninstalled the new TB, and can't download the installer for v. 60.9? Are updates controlled by another program such as Kaspersky?

Kasperksy? Not that I know if. I don't think so. Do you have a good, non-ad infused link to download 60.9? Thank you!!!

I gave a link in my first reply. Choose your language and download the exe.

Hi, I uninstalled the 6.9 & re-installed as you suggested but still no link to my old files. I wonder if there's any way to search or uncover them if they're stuck somewhere in my hard drive. As always, many thanks for your efforts.

Just for clarification, I re-installed TB 6.0 ...

Select Help/Troubleshooting Information, click Open Folder to open the profile folder in File Explorer. Then, go up one level to C:\Users\<winusername>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles. Which folders are shown in the Profiles folder? Go up one more level to show the Thunderbird folder. Open profiles.ini in a text editor and copy the contents to a reply here.

I hope you mean 60.9.0 (there is no "." after the "6")

The upgrade/update process is flawed. I was appalled/shocked that the new installer didn't detect or in no way indicate that it would remove the old version and all it's settings. This is really bad software behavior and should never be done "Ever" Please fix/address this issue or at the least have the new installer show a warning dialog that tells you what it will do and give you the change to abort the installer. I had to restore from backup in order to get my previous Thunderbird version along with the profiles and settings back online. The system in question is Windows 10 Pro, version 1809 OS Build 17763.615

Regards,

I'm guessing you installed the 64bit version 68, which, if the 32bit version 60 has been in use will causes a new profile to be created - but it doesn't wipe out the old profile. When you go back to version 60 you should be able use the old profile. And you can find the old profile by going to Help > Troubleshooting > find "about:profiles" and click on it. You want to relaunch thunderbird using the first, default profile.