.msf files are index files, and do not contain email messages. They can safely be deleted when Thunderbird is closed, and will then automatically be re-generated upon next Thunderbird start.

Thanks that’s reassuring - however when I searched on .msf the only ones were those for the remaining account. The problem arose after I deleted an account and some months later people were saying I’d not replied and I thought it was they had replied to the deleted account and tried to set it up again and stupidly got myself in this mess.

C:\Users\Michael\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\i7npixt8.default\Mail

Can you suggest where the m issing data might be? Thanks Below you can see the mess - I only require the uk2 account

To recover a deleted account see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_FAQs_:_Recover_Deleted_Account

I tried that previously - they are lost - it'll teach me to be more careful -thanks for the swift replies.

Couple of thoughts.

Are you trying to recover the emails that were sent to those POP accounts after you removed them from Thunderbird? Your email accounts were POP, not IMAC, right? You deleted the account in Thunderbird some time ago. Did you also cancel the online accounts at that time? If not, and you have no other email client set up to retrieve email from those POP accounts, any emails received after you deleted the account could be still in the online account. Do you have webmail access?

If you are trying to recover emails that you had downloaded before deleting the account - You mentioned you deleted .msf files that belonged to the lost accounts. Did you only delete .msf files, or actually all files in a certain folder? The files with no extension are the ones that matter. The old emails themselves could still be there in the same location where you were deleting. That might be an older profile.

Did you ever make a backup or copy the profile - before this 'mess' of course?

AgnesRM said

Couple of thoughts. Are you trying to recover the emails that were sent to those POP accounts after you removed them from Thunderbird? Not particularly as I suspect they are few Your email accounts were POP, not IMAC, right? Yes POP You deleted the account in Thunderbird some time ago. Did you also cancel the online accounts at that time? Sorry I've muddied the waters - trying to add the cancelled account caused the problem and in trying to correct I lost all the mail from my main and only account - I'm not interested in mail other than tah which was in my main account If not, and you have no other email client set up to retrieve email from those POP accounts, any emails received after you deleted the account could be still in the online account. Do you have webmail access? 'Yes and years ago I downloaded thousands when I had a problem. However in this case the mail was from UK2 as I have a web domain and also an e-mail account.' If you are trying to recover emails that you had downloaded before deleting the account - You mentioned you deleted .msf files that belonged to the lost accounts. Did you only delete .msf files, or actually all files in a certain folder? The lesson is don't do things late at night! Yes as I searched only for that extension The files with no extension are the ones that matter. The old emails themselves could still be there in the same location where you were deleting. That might be an older profile. I've searched on "Thunderbird" but can only find the current mail - I still have my address book if that is any help Perhpas I'm looking for the wrong thing - what search string would return the lost mail? Did you ever make a backup or copy the profile - before this 'mess' of course? Ah! now that would have been prudent - so of course I haven't That is hard to admit - I've had e-mail since '94!

Hi So sorry I have not got back to you - COVID-19 is shutting me out of my workplace today... So is the uk2 account not POP? All the older ones were but maybe not this one. If it is IMAP, and you did not save any emails to local folders, then the messages should still be on uk2 account. Check with webmail if you can, and use that for current communication and try to figure out if anything is missing from the online UK2 emails. If they are there, you just need to set the right uk2 account settings and download (sync). If uk2 is POP, then hope you did not delete the whole profile. We can search for it.

Search string to find lost mail - actually to find the profile folder where maybe all the TB content still exists - This page lists TB files http://kb.mozillazine.org/Files_and_folders_in_the_profile_-_Thunderbird Note that the search you do needs to view hidden files and folders. Try "inbox" with no extension. You may get multiple results - from all those extra profiles. The trick is to find the one that is a large file compared with the others. From that, work up the folder tree until you get to Profiles - taking care to note which one of the folders with .default in the filename contains the large Inbox file. Then you can tell Thunderbird to use that profile as default - Either use this method to direct Thunderbird to the correct profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/using-multiple-profiles OR read down this page to 'restoring to a different location' and copy the correct files over to the current profile https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data Good luck, Agnes

Thanks for the reply. I did check the pop server with web mail and there were only from early this month – Thunderbird had remove from server after 14 days so that accounts for the loss. At the moment trying to finish family history and put all the papers in order –refecting on the amount of time I’ve wasted. Stay safe.

Ok, check back when you have time. Profile may still be there, but I am not sure how you can see the addressbook but not emails. Should both be in the same profile.