Do you have the global search turned on? Tools menu (alt+T) > Gptions > Advanced > General

toverend said

I want to be able to search for past messages. My Thunderbird stops searching in May of 2013 and then I have all more recent messages to sort through one at a time. I want my search to do right up to current messages.

Yes - I do have the Global search turned on - thanks.

Help menu (alt+H) > troubleshooting information click on the show folder button for the profile. Close Thunderbird In Explorer delete the file global-messages-db.sqlite Restart Thunderbird and wait while it re-indexes your mail. Hopefully that will stir it into doing all of it.

Hi Matt, Just to clarify: I open Help in Thunderbird, then go into Troubleshooting and click on the Show Folder button. Then I close Thunderbird and in Explorer, delete global-messages-db.sqlite. I restart Thunderbird and wait while it re-indexes my mail, and hope this sorts things out. Can you confirm if I have these instructions right? Thanks.

Yes. I'm not sure what you added or clarified by paraphrasing Matt's directions.

I was looking for a confirmation from Matt re his instructions. Just didn't want to do something to the university's system for e-mail. Sorry for any confusion.

well a week has passed, what result?