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Saved searches keep resetting

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

JAz9
JAz9
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For no explainable reason and with no pattern that I can tell, all the folders and all the criteria of a saved search are wiped out and lost.

I tend to keep a few saved searches (used to be two, now four) open in their own tabs. Not sure if that relates but I doubt it. Not 100% but I think I remember this happening even when the searches were not left opened in their own tab.

It's intermittent but its pretty consistent that it will happen at some point (usually within a week or so's time).

It's maddening because some of the searches are fairly elaborate to set up and there's not even a way to export/import them so manual set up each time it happens. It's literally about 10mins of work each time and a dead stop to my workflow, right in the middle of whatever I was doing when I needed the saved search. Extremely frustrating. And going on two years that this happens.

Have been through reinstalls and profile refreshes but it somehow persists.

Since it's a typical/expected question: no ccleaner or anything like. Windows Defender (with tbird profiles dir excluded), superantispyware and mbam - but only manual scans (and with tbird profiles excluded) so nothing should be interfering with tbird at all.

Anything I can provide from my machine (logs, configs, whatever) either before and/or after an occurrence is yours if it helps track this down. Just ask.


Please.

For no explainable reason and with no pattern that I can tell, all the folders and all the criteria of a saved search are wiped out and lost. I tend to keep a few saved searches (used to be two, now four) open in their own tabs. Not sure if that relates but I doubt it. Not 100% but I think I remember this happening even when the searches were not left opened in their own tab. It's intermittent but its pretty consistent that it will happen at some point (usually within a week or so's time). It's maddening because some of the searches are fairly elaborate to set up and there's not even a way to export/import them so manual set up each time it happens. It's literally about 10mins of work each time and a dead stop to my workflow, right in the middle of whatever I was doing when I needed the saved search. Extremely frustrating. And going on two years that this happens. Have been through reinstalls and profile refreshes but it somehow persists. Since it's a typical/expected question: no ccleaner or anything like. Windows Defender (with tbird profiles dir excluded), superantispyware and mbam - but only manual scans (and with tbird profiles excluded) so nothing should be interfering with tbird at all. Anything I can provide from my machine (logs, configs, whatever) either before and/or after an occurrence is yours if it helps track this down. Just ask. Please.

All Replies (3)

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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The usual recommendation when smart searches aren't working properly is to delete the smart mailboxes subfolder of the Mail folder in the profile, and also virtualFolders.dat.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Unified_Folders_not_working

Deleting virtualFolders.dat will delete your saved searches, but once you recreate them and get them working, the dat file can be backed up and restored in the event of future problems.

JAz9
JAz9 Question owner
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So I followed the advice and it seemed ok but a few days later and this has already occurred again.

Btw, in addition to losing my saved searches I also lost my custom columns set up. In case anyone else follows. (and for the record, my first saved search did not disappear after I deleted the files; and yes, I did have tbird off when I did it. Not sure if that's a clue or smth..)

Other suggestions??

sfhowes
sfhowes
  • Top 10 Contributor
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If your saved searches aren't working, it suggests to me there's some underlying problem with the mail folders, which is difficult to diagnose. I would rebuild a folder on which a saved search is defined and see if it makes any difference. For an IMAP Inbox folder, e.g., this involves opening the profile folder (Help/Troubleshooting Information, click Open Folder), closing TB, opening the ImapMail subfolder, then the folder for the account, and deleting the mbox file (Inbox) and the index file (Inbox.msf). When you restart TB, the Inbox will sync with the mail server and re-download the current messages.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Compacting_folders#Real_fix

This kind of folder refresh can often fix a number of folder corruption issues.