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Mail folders disappeared and Thunderbird asks me to start a new account.

AddieMucket
AddieMucket

I started up my computer as usual and Thunderbird did an automatic update. Then Thunderbird opened but the screen has no mail folders. There is a new user screen offering me a gandi email and asking me to add an account. No matter what I do or how I log on, I can't find any of my mail folders or accounts EXCEPT that the address book is there.

I started up my computer as usual and Thunderbird did an automatic update. Then Thunderbird opened but the screen has no mail folders. There is a new user screen offering me a gandi email and asking me to add an account. No matter what I do or how I log on, I can't find any of my mail folders or accounts EXCEPT that the address book is there.

All Replies (3)

user01229325
user01229325

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_profile_that_suddenly_disappeared

AddieMucket
AddieMucket Question owner

Thank you Airmail...this got me a little way toward a solution but is a bit over my head! (not techy here).

Since my address book looks fine, I followed the "lost/corrupt" directions. I located the pref file and see several "mail.account" lines there (a server and identity for each email address??)

The next sentence in the instructions confused me. If I DO find mail.accounts, what then? Do I need to then go on to #1 and #2 below, back up and find a new copy of the js prefs file? How and where would I find a new copy?

Thanks...

user01229325
user01229325

I am not sure what to tell you there. If at all possible I would export your address books to have a backup before you go too far. If you can still get to the address book window use Tools-Export. Otherwise just copy the .Mab files somewhere save.