My Thunderbird opening panel contains no information. Opening is safe mode didn't fix the problem.
The opening panel contains empty boxes. Mail isn't displayed and no folders are listed at the left. I get the audio tone when new mail arrives but Get Messsages doesn't work.
Chosen solution
You created many of those profiles. They occured because you opened Profile Manager and selected to create profile. Some were given a distinct name which could only be done by you. You also completely messed up your Profiles by nesting them. Either this was done manually or you were attempting to use the Profile Manager to move Profiles into Profiles. This screwed up many of the preferences so nothing in the profile could be located. If a Profile cannot be located and you run Thunderbird, it would have thought that none existed and so may have created one as default. This I suspect occurred with the later added profiles. The profiles,ini file was not registering several profiles, which indicated that there was a major issue. The fact that the profiles.ini file was altering and loosing the saved content also meant that profiles.ini could not be read - hence a new profile was created. I'm not sure what you had been doing or trying to achieve, but it was quite a mess and totally unusable. But that is now all in the past and has been wiped clean.
You now have one Profile folder name. That profile name can be used to hold several mail accounts. There is no reason why you would need to use Profile Manager unless there was a good reason to create another Profile.
You should only start Thunderbird from the Thunderbird shortcut icon on your desktop or taskbar icon or via Start > Programs > Mozilla thunderbird.
Yes you can delete all those backup files as that profile name was not completely ok with it's preferences - providing you have got all the data you need from them into the new profile.
You can easily create a fresh backup to store on an external device - just in case you ever need it again - using the ImportExporttool.
In main Thunderbird user interface where you see the FolderPane containing mail account and folders and the list of emails. Tools > ImportExportools > Export Profile You may get a prompt saying TB may be unresponsive whilst performing this. click on OK Then a new window opens allowing you to select where to save that Profile. You must not save it any Thunderbird folder. Create/ use if created, a TB Backup folder on Desktop and use it for the backup OR choose an external device. It is always useful to save a complete fully working and ok profile as backup and store it on an external device. the ImportExporttool can also be used on specific accounts or folders to backup just mail in eg: mbox files or as separate .eml files using the various Export options.
It's good to hear that you have now got a working Thunderbird. Some additional info to help you maintain a working Thunderbird.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (5)
Actually, I followed the link to instructions for exporting/importing the files as .LDIF files and that seemed to work well. Did this do all I needed to do? At this point I guess I'm back 99% and I really appreciate your expertise and patience. Many thanks.
One final question. How did this happen in the first place? Was it all a matter of too many profiles operating at once? I have no idea where they came from. What do I need to do to prevent it happening again? I assume I can delete all the backup folders on my desktop?
Chosen Solution
You created many of those profiles. They occured because you opened Profile Manager and selected to create profile. Some were given a distinct name which could only be done by you. You also completely messed up your Profiles by nesting them. Either this was done manually or you were attempting to use the Profile Manager to move Profiles into Profiles. This screwed up many of the preferences so nothing in the profile could be located. If a Profile cannot be located and you run Thunderbird, it would have thought that none existed and so may have created one as default. This I suspect occurred with the later added profiles. The profiles,ini file was not registering several profiles, which indicated that there was a major issue. The fact that the profiles.ini file was altering and loosing the saved content also meant that profiles.ini could not be read - hence a new profile was created. I'm not sure what you had been doing or trying to achieve, but it was quite a mess and totally unusable. But that is now all in the past and has been wiped clean.
You now have one Profile folder name. That profile name can be used to hold several mail accounts. There is no reason why you would need to use Profile Manager unless there was a good reason to create another Profile.
You should only start Thunderbird from the Thunderbird shortcut icon on your desktop or taskbar icon or via Start > Programs > Mozilla thunderbird.
Yes you can delete all those backup files as that profile name was not completely ok with it's preferences - providing you have got all the data you need from them into the new profile.
You can easily create a fresh backup to store on an external device - just in case you ever need it again - using the ImportExporttool.
In main Thunderbird user interface where you see the FolderPane containing mail account and folders and the list of emails. Tools > ImportExportools > Export Profile You may get a prompt saying TB may be unresponsive whilst performing this. click on OK Then a new window opens allowing you to select where to save that Profile. You must not save it any Thunderbird folder. Create/ use if created, a TB Backup folder on Desktop and use it for the backup OR choose an external device. It is always useful to save a complete fully working and ok profile as backup and store it on an external device. the ImportExporttool can also be used on specific accounts or folders to backup just mail in eg: mbox files or as separate .eml files using the various Export options.
It's good to hear that you have now got a working Thunderbird. Some additional info to help you maintain a working Thunderbird.
ANOTHER LITTLE PROBLEM Formerly, when I clicked Write or Forward, the address book would open, I could click on an address, and it would automatically fill the To box. Now, I have to manually open the address book, right click and click on Properties and then copy and paste the address into the To box. Any fix for this?
re :Formerly, when I clicked Write or Forward, the address book would open
The 'Address Book' itself does not open by clcking on Write, Reply or Forward button.
What I think you mean is in a new Write message, you cannot see the 'Contacts Sidebar'.
You need to enable it.
- In a new Write message.
- 'View' > select 'Contacts Sidebar'
You can also toggle this view by using the f9 key on keyboard.
This allows you to select an address book to display it's Contacts for quick insertion by any of these methods:
- double click on contact name
- drag and drop
- select contact(s) and click on eg: 'Addto TO' button or other button options.
I'd add that there is a right-click option too. Whoever designed this sidebar went out of his/her way to accommodate users' preference quirks.