I couldn't display messages in Inbox; after trying "repair folder," my Inbox messages vanished; messages in other folders OK.
I had maybe 1000 e-mails in my Inbox. I know, not good, but my husband has over 3000 and his Inbox seems to function fine. Then one day, suddenly I couldn't read any Inbox messages. When you clicked on the Inbox folder, the header information would be there: subject, correspondents, and date of each message. But when I clicked on the header info to display the message, the message was totally blank. No subject, no text, no attachments, nothing. I then tried "repair folder," but then the Inbox messages disappeared completely. It shows zero messages in my Inbox. Messages in other folders were, and are, fine.
I will check back here, but feel free to contact me at kate "at" compassionatespirit "dot" com. I'm using webmail until I can figure this out. Thanks.
Chosen solution
Thanks! This looks like a virus problem. Windows Security removed a threat on Monday, and it probably removed the entire Inbox. I've now verified this (and changed my security antivirus program). Alas, it's not in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\LocalCopy".
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No!.
You have around 1000 emails listed in Thunderbird and when you repaired the index into your email store the list was revised to be empty, most probably because the emails that were in that file have been deleted by your anti virus program of choice. Usually they was something about a threat contained in a file "inbox" or in an email and then they delete the entire inbox file and it's contents when you tell it to fix the problem..
The other possibility is the file has become corrupted.
What is the size on disk shown in the properties along with the repair button. Size will be a good indicator of which has occurred.
Chosen Solution
Thanks! This looks like a virus problem. Windows Security removed a threat on Monday, and it probably removed the entire Inbox. I've now verified this (and changed my security antivirus program). Alas, it's not in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows Defender\LocalCopy".
Modified by Kate Lawrence
It is worth remembering that whilst you see an 'Inbox' folder in the Folder Pane, in reality, it is a single text file - one single document which contains emails appended/written to the file one after the other with the oldest at the top/start of the file. It is not a folder. Emails are not in separate files. So, whilst you can store many emails in that one single text document file and all maybe ok for a long time, this type of storage - all your eggs in one basket method, it is risky and could be catestrophic; especially if you did not create very regular backups. It can also be difficult to open very large text files.
I would advise you use the Inbox as an Inbox - that is for new mail or unread and needs sorting mail and not as a general purpose storage for important emails. The Inbox is a file that gets a lot more action than most other files. In receives, moves, copies, deletes emails etc and therefore needs regular maintenance in compacting to clean and tidy the file.
If you have an imap account and an empty folder updates the server, you could lose all emails on server. Regard imap accounts as a virtual view of what is stored on server and not as a downloaded copy because imap folders constantly synchronise with server. It is still just as important to create backups.