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Thunderbird was too slow with windows 10. Had in-store roll back to Windows 8. Reinstalled Thunderbird. How do I get my folders and contacts back?

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Thunderbird was too slow with windows 10. Had in-store roll back to Windows 8. Reinstalled Thunderbird. How do I get my folders and contacts back? No backup was done. My understanding was that they could be retrieved after the reinstall via my username.

Thunderbird was too slow with windows 10. Had in-store roll back to Windows 8. Reinstalled Thunderbird. How do I get my folders and contacts back? No backup was done. My understanding was that they could be retrieved after the reinstall via my username.

Ŋuɖoɖo si wotia

I am rather shocked, and disappointed for you, that the store didn't see to it that your personal data would be preserved.

In upgrading from 8 to 10, windows usually sets up an "old" folder for user data. You may still have such a folder from the original upgrade from 8 to 10. This may contain old Thunderbird data, known as its profile.

If you were using IMAP then you would get a lot, if not all, of your working email store back as soon as you set up the account again, because that is stored online.

Contacts are another matter. They are stored by default on your computer and not online. I think if you'd been using an online contacts manager, you'd know you were using it and would have reinstalled it now.

Calendars are like Contacts. Local, unless you deliberately set about configuring it to use an online calendar.

Users or potential users occasionally post here, appearing to think that there is a Mozilla or Thunderbird service at work behind the scenes, handling, storing and looking after all their personal data. This is not so, and I don't know how or where we could put a warning notice informing new users of what exactly is (and isn't!) on offer.

Indeed, in some cases, after it has been explained how an email client works, I've seen prospective users saying that they don't see the point of Thunderbird at all, since gmail/outlook/yahoo/whatever does it all for them.

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Ɖɔɖɔɖo si wotia

I am rather shocked, and disappointed for you, that the store didn't see to it that your personal data would be preserved.

In upgrading from 8 to 10, windows usually sets up an "old" folder for user data. You may still have such a folder from the original upgrade from 8 to 10. This may contain old Thunderbird data, known as its profile.

If you were using IMAP then you would get a lot, if not all, of your working email store back as soon as you set up the account again, because that is stored online.

Contacts are another matter. They are stored by default on your computer and not online. I think if you'd been using an online contacts manager, you'd know you were using it and would have reinstalled it now.

Calendars are like Contacts. Local, unless you deliberately set about configuring it to use an online calendar.

Users or potential users occasionally post here, appearing to think that there is a Mozilla or Thunderbird service at work behind the scenes, handling, storing and looking after all their personal data. This is not so, and I don't know how or where we could put a warning notice informing new users of what exactly is (and isn't!) on offer.

Indeed, in some cases, after it has been explained how an email client works, I've seen prospective users saying that they don't see the point of Thunderbird at all, since gmail/outlook/yahoo/whatever does it all for them.