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emails missing from Thunderbird inbox, but are present in webmail

  • 6 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 30 views
  • Last reply by mattmilw

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I've managed to really foul things up.

My Yahoo account has 15,000+ emails. I frequently have to repair my file in Thunderbird to keep things working properly. Last night, I was looking at my account, and I'm not sure specifically what I did, but I saw I now had 6,000 files in Trash. Normally, I believe that number for me is under 100. Assuming these to be trash, I deleted them. After doing this I went to repair the folder, and now I only have 71 files in my Inbox. The strange thing is if I look at my Yahoo in webmail, my files appear to be all there.

I tried un-installing Thunderbird, and re-installing. I still only have 71 files. I deleted my profile, and re-installed Thunderbird as a brand new user, but still only 71 files.

Any thoughts as to why I can't access these files even though webmail shows they weren't deleted?

Thanks, Matt

I've managed to really foul things up. My Yahoo account has 15,000+ emails. I frequently have to repair my file in Thunderbird to keep things working properly. Last night, I was looking at my account, and I'm not sure specifically what I did, but I saw I now had 6,000 files in Trash. Normally, I believe that number for me is under 100. Assuming these to be trash, I deleted them. After doing this I went to repair the folder, and now I only have 71 files in my Inbox. The strange thing is if I look at my Yahoo in webmail, my files appear to be all there. I tried un-installing Thunderbird, and re-installing. I still only have 71 files. I deleted my profile, and re-installed Thunderbird as a brand new user, but still only 71 files. Any thoughts as to why I can't access these files even though webmail shows they weren't deleted? Thanks, Matt

All Replies (6)

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Right click the account and select settings Select server settings for the account. Is the account imap or POP?

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I've tried setting it up can both ways. It's currently POP. Funny thing is, even though it only has roughly now 100 items in the inbox, I can search and find items from years ago.

Thanks for responding.

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There is a total disconnect between POP on your device and what web mail says. The POP protocol downloads mail from the inbox and either leaves a copy on the server or deleted the mail depending on the settings you choose.

IMAP will faithfully reflect the mails and folders on the server and is is a synchronized protocol.

Have you actually tried viewing the old mails instead of just the summary? I think you might find they can not really be found.

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I misspoke about being able to search and find older emails. I can't do this in the POP account. I can do it in the IMAP account.

Sorry for the confusion.

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) No confusion really.
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At this point, my Inbox in Thunderbird (IMAP) and Yahoo webmail only contain roughly my last 100 emails. I can search Thunderbird or webmail and find my thousands of old emails. I feel fortunate that they're still available to me, but I wish I knew why they are no longer in my Inbox.