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Hello,

I need help recovering my old emails from Thunderbird.

I am using a POP account. Recently, I changed the message storage location from the C: drive to the F: drive. After doing this, Thunderbird only shows recent emails, while my old emails are missing.

Here is what I have checked:

The mailbox files still exist on the F: drive. Inbox file: approximately 1.1 GB Sent file: approximately 1.18 GB I also have a complete Thunderbird profile backup of approximately 2.73 GB. The profile contains prefs.js, the Mail folder, and all profile files. Some account folders such as: pop.accessarchitects.in pop.accessarchitects-1.in pop.accessarchitects-2.in have Inbox files that are 0 KB. However, another mailbox file named Inbox is about 1.1 GB, which appears to contain my old messages. Thunderbird downloads and displays new emails correctly, but it does not display the old emails. I previously had around 60,000+ emails organised into many custom folders such as Contracts, Bills, Axis Bank Statements, Notifications, etc. Some mailbox files still have large sizes, but Thunderbird does not display their contents. My folder structure F:\Mails\

   Inbox (1.1 GB)
   Sent (1.18 GB)
   Inbox.sbd
   Local Folders.sbd

Inside Local Folders.sbd, I also have mailbox files such as:

Inbox (~642 MB) contract & bill (~778 MB)

The data appears to exist, but Thunderbird is not recognising or indexing it.

My Questions How can I reconnect these existing mailbox files without losing any data? Is there a way to rebuild the indexes so Thunderbird recognises the old messages? Could the issue be caused by an incorrect profile mapping after changing the storage location?

I have not deleted the original mailbox files, and I have a complete profile backup available.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Hello

I use Thunderbird for many years, I have a profile weighing 3,6 GB now… I already moved this profile on my old computer, from default location to a data disk. Now I needed to move it to a new computer, so I moved it to my Dropbox (with local storage on both), to conveniently access it from the new machine, and to have some kind of backup (with a real backup, more occasional, of course). I don't plan to launch Thunderbird from both computers, so there should be no conflict.

I installed a fresh new download of Thunderbird (152), which I just upgraded to 153. The new computer runs Windows 11 Professional (build 26200.8875), has 32 GB of memory and a large amount of free disk space.

My profile.ini file currently looks like: ``` [Install734AE0B000379192] Default=C:\Dropbox\Applications\Thunderbird\0q9jw2nn.default Locked=1

[Profile1] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=Profiles/ncc2rvps.default

[Profile0] Name=default-release IsRelative=0 Path=Profiles/30jrlwud.default-release

[General] StartWithLastProfile=0 Version=2

[Profile2] Name=PhiLho IsRelative=0 Path=C:\Dropbox\Applications\Thunderbird\0q9jw2nn.default Default=1 ``` Profile 0 and 1 were created at installation time. I added the Profile2 and I set StartWithLastProfile to 0 to ensure the profile manager sees the profile.

When I start Thunderbird, after choosing the PhiLho profile, I end up with an empty window: no accounts, no messages, no folders, etc. I see no relevant error in the developer console, or the logs. What I am missing?

I have followed your instructions at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/moving-thunderbird-data-to-a-new-computer and gotten nowhere all day. on it. You have "Profile Folders", a folder called "Profiles", a bunch of profiles (folders) inside the Profiles folder and profiles in Roaming and in Local paths. When I get the old profile 'k41******' copied to the new computer in both the Roaming folder and the Local folder the Thunderbird program still will not show me the old files. I don't need any of the thousands of emails in the old computer, just the Templates in one account. This should be easy. I should just copy the profile k41***** ect. and paste it into the "Profiles" (notice the pleural there) and then Thunderbird should work. But it does not.

Why do I continue to receive a message from Firefox after creating a New Profile?

Firefox This profile was last used with a newer version of this application. Please create a new profile. OK

A new profile PERSONAL #2 was created following the Steps to Create a New Firefox Profile.

What did I do wrong? how to correct, so that I stop receiving the error message?

My old laptop died, and just reinstalled TB on new laptop. I have the SSD with old profile, and added profile to the new Profiles folder. Thought it would be as simple as editing the Profile.ini to specify the old profile, but that hasn't worked. Need help.

Dennis

im loged in to firefox and i want to change from 1 of my profiles to another one of my 3 profile but it wont let me choose on of the other profile it show them to me but cant pick one ?i have work to do and i cant get anythiing done because of this ?

Win 11, v.153.0 Firefox (default), v.153.0 T'bird.

Lately, when there's a link in an email and I click on the link, it takes me to a Firefox browser that's not my normal one - this new one doesn't have my settings, saved passwords, or home screen default, etc.

What happened and how can I fix it? Or must I wait for another update? (It just now updated to 153.0 and the problem still exists)

It is quite annoying.

Thanks.

I rebooted my Windows 11 PC yesterday and apparently Thunderbird updated to version Thunderbird 128.6.1esr (64-bit) during the reboot. Unfortunately, when I opened Thunderbird, it showed a Create New Account screen instead of my existing email accounts. I went to "about:profile" and it lists my existing profile as the default, but it will not access any of the accounts in it. I've tried reinstalling Thunderbird over the existing copy and get the same result. I'm at a loss as to how I can retrieve many, many years of emails in six accounts!

I've been using the extension "Tree Style Tab" and "TST Colored Tabs." I've been looking for a way to disable the native Firefox tab bar, whether on top of the window or to the left side. I haven't been successful on my own.

After a couple of hours troubleshooting this with CoPilot, It suggested I post the following short summary:

============

Firefox 152.0.6 (64-bit) about:profiles shows active profile: C:\Users\dmerc\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\usm8kxcr.default-release

Opening that directory from about:support shows an empty folder.

profiles.ini references: agwp164m.default-release

userChrome.css loads correctly in a separate profile but not in the profile containing my current extensions and history.

============

The details of how it came to this conclusion:

============

Based on everything you've found:

The profile with your current extensions and recent history is reported as: usm8kxcr.default-release

Opening that profile folder shows an empty directory. The only other real profile on disk is: agwp164m.default-release

We successfully proved userChrome.css loads in a different test profile (Profile 1) because the toolbar turned red. Therefore, the CSS mechanism itself works on your machine.

My conclusion is that your Firefox profile registration has become inconsistent. Firefox appears to be using a profile that does not correspond cleanly to the profile folders you're seeing in Explorer. At this point I would:

Back up the entire folder: (NOTE: DONE - backed to to another drive) C:\Users\dmerc\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox

Keep using the profile that contains your extensions and recent history. Avoid deleting any profiles or profile folders.

Post the details you've collected to either: the Mozilla Support forum, or r/firefox

The key facts to provide are: Firefox 152.0.6 (64-bit)about:profiles shows active profile: C:\Users\dmerc\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\usm8kxcr.default-release.

Opening that directory from about:support shows an empty folder.

profiles.ini references: agwp164m.default-release

userChrome.css loads correctly in a separate profile but not in the profile containing my current extensions and history. \ Those facts point to a profile-management issue rather than a Tree Style Tab or CSS issue.

The good news is that your current extensions and recent history are still accessible, so this doesn't look like data loss. The profile mapping itself needs to be untangled before custom CSS can reliably be applied.

=

It also suggested not copying any folders and files between profiles for now.

Good morning,

I’m reaching out because I’m having trouble with my Thunderbird email and need some assistance.

I was using Thunderbird without any issues before, but now all my old emails have disappeared. I can still receive new messages, but I’m unable to send emails like I used to. I also can’t recover or view any of my previous emails.

It seems like something may have reset or become corrupted, and I’m not sure how to restore my old messages or fix the sending issue.

Could you please help me get Thunderbird working properly again and recover my old emails if possible?

Thank you for your support.

Dee

I'm trying to move from Windows to Linux without downloading all my imap messages again. What I've tried: 1. Install tbird on Linux, create new profile. 2. Close tbird. 3. Using Linux file manager,

 - delete contents of new profile folder
 - copy contents of old profile folder into new folder
 - delete Compatibility.ini in the copy

4. Open tbird with -p (profile manager)

I've tried twice with different results. The first time at step 4 I started offline. Thunderbird opened will all my previous tabs open, except that all the internet tabs reported connection failure - as expected. Under account settings, both local folders and my gmail account reported the correct (new, linux) path. When I went online and completed the gmail OAuth dialog thunderbird reported an inbox summary folder error, and deleted all the imap mbox files. I closed and restarted tbird- which failed with a crash dump. the terminal window reported successful minidump creation- the file manager showed the minidump file at zero size.

I repeated the process (recreating the original unmodified profile). This time at step 4 I started online, and tbird never opened- it generated the crash dump immediately.

Two questions: 1. Is it possible to transfer an imap profile and avoid re-downloading all the old messages? 2. What am I doing wrong that I'm getting the crash dumps?

Windows: [Compatibility] LastVersion=147.0_20260108190847/20260108190847 LastOSABI=WINNT_x86_64-msvc LastPlatformDir=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird LastAppDir=C:\Program Files\Mozilla Thunderbird

Linux: [Compatibility] LastVersion=140.12.1_20260628021646/20260628021646 LastOSABI=Linux_x86_64-gcc3 LastPlatformDir=/initrd/mnt/dev_save/Thunderbird-portable64/thunderbird64 LastAppDir=/initrd/mnt/dev_save/Thunderbird-portable64/thunderbird64

In the Move Thunderbird data to a new computer article, it says under "An alternative method for Mac":

"CAUTION: Do not open Thunderbird again on the original computer - unless you repeat the process in reverse to transfer the folder contents back to the original computer before opening the app. (If you forget, you can manually check one version against the other to ensure important messages are retained, but it's messy and time consuming.)"

It's not entirely clear to me why this would be an issue, but it makes me wonder if that would make the following use case problematic:

1. The user already has Thunderbird on "Computer A" set up, and wants to copy their Thunderbird profile onto "Computer B" to get the same setup and email accounts on both computers. They intend on using both "Computer A" and "Computer B" simultaneously. For simplicity's sake, let's assume all email accounts use IMAP, so emails are synced with the server, and thus simultaneous access between multiple clients is possible.
2. The user follows the instructions to copy their Thunderbird profile from "Computer A" to "Computer B".
3. The user opens Thunderbird on "Computer B" to make sure everything is working (let's say it's working and emails are syncing to "Computer B").
4. The user then opens Thunderbird on "Computer A". Their expectation would be that they would see the same emails and settings as on "Computer B". If they composed/moved/deleted an email on either computer, those changes would sync and be visible on the other computer.

Would this be an issue? Or should the user just start anew on "Computer B" and manually sign in to all of their email accounts again?

Hello,

My little brother signed me out of my mozilla account while trying to login to his school account using my computer yesterday. Now, even after signing his account out AND removing his account entirely from my firefox, I'm unable to login using my credentials on the "original profile" which is what I've always used. This is the message I get when trying to login:

This profile was previously synced to a different account To keep your data organized and secure, each Firefox profile can only be synced to one account. To sign in using (email)@gmail.com, create a new profile.

He wasn't even able to fully login with his account, and even after completely removing his account from my firefox (as far as I know) I'm not able to sign into the original profile at *all*, even though that's what I've always used. Does anyone have a solution for this?

When I try to login with my Firefox account to configure Sync, I get a message that says that I am logged on to a different profile and asks if I want to switch. If I switch, I get the same result with the other profile. There is only one profile folder in the Profiles directory, there are no other files or folders. What should I do?

Or to open the profile selection sidebar?

I don't see it in about:keyboard but maybe there's something else somewhere.

If not, what's the quickest and easiest way to switch profiles?