Windows 10 will reach EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. For more information, see this article.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Lost email bodies on Thunderbird: many of my emails in Inbox and Archive are missing. Also need to integrate to old profiles into current setup

havenonearth
havenonearth
more options

This is a problem that keeps getting more and more messy. A little over a year ago, I posted the following email:

"Some emails disappear from my Inbox and Archives. When I try to do a search for some of those emails, I find the header and the first few words, but not the email body. I have four email accounts on Thunderbird--Fastmail, Wiscmail (University of Wisconsin) and two Google accounts, but it doesn't matter which account is used--all accounts occasionally lose an email. For awhile I tried archiving emails right away but discovered that some would get "disembodied" right away. My archives are not stored online--instead they are stored on my computer. I use Thunderbird version 31.3.0 on Ubuntu Linux 14.04."

I never received a response. Since then, the situation has gotten more complicated.

I purchased a new laptop. My old laptop had Ubuntu Linux 14.04 on it, but I installed Ubuntu 14.10 on the new laptop. However, I had problems with that OS version and so I did a clean install and installed Ubuntu 14.04 since it was better supported. Now I have two old Thunderbird profiles, neither of which I have installed yet.

Currently I use Thunderbird version 31.5.0. My current setup and my old profiles all have a Fastmail account and two Gmail accounts. My Fastmail account is the main one and that's where I'm losing the most email--I don't use the Gmail accounts enough to know whether I'm losing emails there or no, but i seem to remember doing so before. I also have an old Office 365 account which my university used, but it's not installed on my current Thunderbird setup and do not plan on doing so. All of these are IMAP accounts.

To maximize privacy, I had been keeping my archives on Local Folders, but more recently, I have been letting my Fastmail account keep old messages. I am afraid to archive these messages for fear of losing them. Only problem now is that I can't open some old emails in the Inbox--even recent ones.

I'm at my wit's end. I've begun looking at new email clients because of my frustration. Hopefully, someone will respond this time?

This is a problem that keeps getting more and more messy. A little over a year ago, I posted the following email: "Some emails disappear from my Inbox and Archives. When I try to do a search for some of those emails, I find the header and the first few words, but not the email body. I have four email accounts on Thunderbird--Fastmail, Wiscmail (University of Wisconsin) and two Google accounts, but it doesn't matter which account is used--all accounts occasionally lose an email. For awhile I tried archiving emails right away but discovered that some would get "disembodied" right away. My archives are not stored online--instead they are stored on my computer. I use Thunderbird version 31.3.0 on Ubuntu Linux 14.04." I never received a response. Since then, the situation has gotten more complicated. I purchased a new laptop. My old laptop had Ubuntu Linux 14.04 on it, but I installed Ubuntu 14.10 on the new laptop. However, I had problems with that OS version and so I did a clean install and installed Ubuntu 14.04 since it was better supported. Now I have two old Thunderbird profiles, neither of which I have installed yet. Currently I use Thunderbird version 31.5.0. My current setup and my old profiles all have a Fastmail account and two Gmail accounts. My Fastmail account is the main one and that's where I'm losing the most email--I don't use the Gmail accounts enough to know whether I'm losing emails there or no, but i seem to remember doing so before. I also have an old Office 365 account which my university used, but it's not installed on my current Thunderbird setup and do not plan on doing so. All of these are IMAP accounts. To maximize privacy, I had been keeping my archives on Local Folders, but more recently, I have been letting my Fastmail account keep old messages. I am afraid to archive these messages for fear of losing them. Only problem now is that I can't open some old emails in the Inbox--even recent ones. I'm at my wit's end. I've begun looking at new email clients because of my frustration. Hopefully, someone will respond this time?

All Replies (2)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Do you create backups of your Thunderbird profile folder on a regular basis?

Wrt the missing mail see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Disappearing_mail

To maximize privacy, I had been keeping my archives on Local Folders

Don't be naive. As long as you send and receive email in the clear there is no real privacy.

Only problem now is that I can't open some old emails in the Inbox

What prevents you from opening those messages?

havenonearth
havenonearth Question owner
more options

What prevents me from opening the messages is that the email body doesn't appear in the message. I can see the title and who the message is sent to/from, but in clicking it open, no text appears.