If you removed the original account, you probably didn't check the box to delete the associated data, so it's probably still in the profile, but not visible in TB. Help/Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, close TB. Open the Mail (POP accounts) or ImapMail (IMAP accounts) subfolder, and see if there are two subfolders named e.g. pop.gmail.com and pop.gmail-1.com. The former would be the folder for the original account, the latter, newer one the folder for the current account. Look in the older folder for mbox files, large files with no extensions, named after folders. If that folder contains your old folders, copy the mbox files to Mail/Local Folders, restart TB, and see if the folders appear under Local Folders in the Folder Pane.

You could also follow these instructions to point TB to the original Local Directory.

It looks like sfhowes may have saved the day!!! Whoever he/she is has my eternal gratitude. One question though. I was able to find my original files under pop.optoline.net (Didn't initially start on my gmail account). It looks like the folders each carry an extension sbd, such as Insurance.sbd A longer list of files seems to come with pairs, one with an extension msf and the other without, for example CME and CME.msf. One (I fervently hope last) question: Do I copy both the folders and the "naked" (not in folders) files to local folders? as well as those with and without extensions, as in CME and CME.msf

So maybe I appear to be an idiot, but I'm pretty good at academic endocrinology. If you ever need a consult on me....

Best regards and thanks!

Example: CME and CME.msf and Insurance.sbd

The file 'CME' with no extension is an mbox file and it contains emails. You need to copy these mbox files. The file 'CME.msf' is just an indexing file used by Thunderbird to aid access to the 'CME' file. You do not need to copy these files as they would be auto reproduced when you restart Thunderbird. The folder ' Insurance.sbd' means the 'Insurance' folder contained subfolders. If you opened the 'Insurance.sbd' folder it may contain mbox files and possibly more *.sbd folders if there were further subfolders. You would need to copy that 'Insurance.sbd' folder, but please note, you must also copy the 'Insurance' mbox file as well even if it contains no emails, because Thunderbird needs the 'Insurance' mbox file in order to know about its subfolders in the 'Insurance.sbd' folder.

Image below as a guide.

I tried following the advice above, but all that happened is I got the little blue "pending" circle for hours without progress. I then read the directions a bit more closely, and allowed the original files to be copied with numbers at the end. Then, nothing happened. Thunderbird just downloaded today's messages again. No old folders. Any other suggestions? I guess I could go to JustAsk and pay them to maybe remote-fix it. Unless somebody, in exchange for some PayPal$ might want to talk me through. I'm on EST (New York Time). Anybody interested? Thyroid, diabetes and metabolic bone disease are so much easier!

I'm confused. It looks like all my folders are present as "mail" but there is only one "profile." I just wasted a couple of hours with JustAnswer and got absolutely nothing of value. I'd gladly pay somebody who knows something to fix this. You can contact me off-list at glands@gmail (my secondary email address). With every day that goes by, my current, "impaired" list, lacking my old folders, continues to evolve away from my original. Desperate plea for help!

You were just copy pasting files from one folder - your mail account name folder into your 'Local Folders' mail account. It would be important to have exited/closed Thunderbird before the copy pasting as per image, otherwise nothing will be properly moved.

The folders containing emails would be under the 'Local Folders' mail account and not in the pop account.

It would be helpful if you posted three images. I'm talking about the profile name folder - not Thunderbird Folder Pane. The first image should show the contents of the 'Mail' folder.

• C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ Mail folder

The second image shows the contents of the original pop mail account name folder.

• C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ Mail\ pop account name folder

The third image should show the contents of the 'Local Folders' folder.

• C:\Users\<Windows user name>\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\<Profile name>\ Mail\Local Folders folder

Dear Toad-Hall It looks like my email folders with their categories are "scattered" at various levels. Is there any way you could, perhaps for a bit of "filthy lucre" work directly with me. This is 25 years of my life! I've spent over 20 hours, working with various commercial support companies, paying by the hour, and getting nowhere. If you, personally, are not, for whatever reason, comfortable providing remote support, perhaps you might recommend somebody who might. It appears that at least 3 companies, having hired bright folks, are unable to provide Thunderbird-specific help. Sounds like you, or one of the other folks on this forum could probably fix it in a few minutes. I'm not sure of the current exchange rates for points in heaven, but at this point, I'm really up against it. Al Padilla [email]@OPTONLINE.NET

Crete a folder in Local folders in Thunderbird... say "Fixed" Close thunderbird completely. If it is running all sorts of things will not work correctly as files may be in use.

Drag all of the files and folder your old account in the pop.optoline.net folder into the folder you created "fixed" it will be in you file system as mail\local folders\ fixed.

Restart Thunderbird. You "fixed" folder should now be populated with all of your optopline email and folders.

This situation is totally crazy. I appreciate Matt's advice, and immediately followed. Attached are my currently available folders. There is no junk (spam) folder, and despite having send more than a dozen emails since this morning, there's only one (maybe lingering on from before) in the sent folder. So right now, I can't save anything I send. I tried creating a new folder, and didn't notice that there were 3 options: 1. Inbox 2. glands@optonline.net (my email address) 3. Alfred J Padilla (my name) When I create a new folder in Inbox, it either isn't created, or it's not visible When I instead choose my email address one of the options is pop.optonline.net, which seems to contain most, but not all of my old folders. I can't access those folders, so I have no idea whether they contain my old emails or not. And once I save my new folder there (in this case FIXED) I can no longer view or access it. All the advice I've received so far has been almost (to me) intuitive, and almost worked. But it looks like if I were to copy all my old files into fixed, it would remain invisible under normal circumstances. Is there anybody out there willing to help 1 on 1? My guess is that this is fixable, but dependent on what you see.

I'm not sure I know how to work with the pop folders and the profile folders. The folders containing emails seem to be not all in one place. Further, when I view some folders, e.g., pop.optonline.net vs pop.optonline.net.sbd, some files do seem to contain emails. should I copy everything from pop.optonline.net folder by folder into pop.optonline.net1? And then what about the sbd folders? Or could I get away with just renaming and switching the names? And local folders are still another issue.

I'm really at a loss. could somebody recommend either a person or an organization that could help? I'm more than willing to pay, and while I'd like to learn more about this, I'm working on a lecture I'm supposed to give at NYU medical center, so what's left of my (formerly useful) brain, is too "divvied up" to be able to do this. Even adding my wife's 2 doctorates to the mix, we still can't make any headway.

Won't some kind and merciful person come to the rescue? Anybody?

You have quite a lot to sort out. Someone has been copy pasting various files into all sorts of places, so things are a mess.

The first image on far left shows: Profiles > 9u3ykc4s.default (this is a 'profile name' folder) It should ONLY contains files and folders that are specific to the 'profile name' folder. eg: 'blocklists' folder and 'browser-extension-data' folder BUT you/someone have pasted a load of mail files into that 'profile name' folder and they should not be in that profile name folder. Also mbox files are now being displayed as folders. eg: !PapersToReview, ASTRONOMY, So this is a mess and needs fixing.

You need to select the 'profile name' folder called '9u3ykc4s.default' so the contents are displayed in the right pane and set the 'View' to show details, so displayed as a list. Make window as big as possible to show more content. Post some images that show the full content of the 'profile name' folder called '9u3ykc4s.default' as there are many more files than displayed and I'll tell you what to keep and what to move out of that 'profile name ' folder.

AS an example: Look at image below to see what 'View' I'm talking about.

The second image shows: Mail > Local Folders > > pop.optonline.net > > > 0a50c2c0.sbd and others > > > ASTRONOMY.sbd > > pop.optonline.net.sbd

But you/someone appears to have moved the entire pop mail account name folder called 'pop.optonline.net' into the 'Local Folders' mail account. No one said to move the actual mail account folder itself into the 'Local Folders' folder. This is wrong.

Move that pop.optonline.net mail account folder out of 'Local Folders' so it is back in the 'Mail' folder. The 'Mail' folder should contain only POP mail account name folders and Local Folders. Local Folders pop.optonline.net pop.optonline-1.net

Please note: POPONLINENETTEMPORARY is not a mail account That folder should not be in the 'Mail' folder. Create a folder on your desktop called 'TBBackUp' Move the POPONLINENETTEMPORARY folder into 'TBBackUp'

I really appreciate everybody's input. I've spent several hundred dollars on companies and individuals who said they would fix the problem, but things are only worse. I've lost any ability to save sent emails, (sent folder is there, but when I send, a copy doesn't go there).

I also tried to do exactly as instructed in your comments, but without success, and following all the rearrangements and manipulations, I'm not sure where to even (re)start.

You folks must be slapping your foreheads at my ineptitude. Is there any way one of you might be willing to do the good deed of a lifetime and help me reverse the obvious (to you) errors and get my digital life back?

Some of these files are of great sentimental value, and others relate to my academic and professional life. As things stand, I can't get even my current, limited profile to function.

1. Post some images that show the full content of the 'profile name' folder called '9u3ykc4s.default' as there are many more files than displayed and I'll tell you what to keep and what to move out of that 'profile name ' folder.

What difficulty do you have in doing this?

2. The second image shows: Mail > Local Folders > > pop.optonline.net > > > 0a50c2c0.sbd and others > > > ASTRONOMY.sbd > > pop.optonline.net.sbd

NOTE: If Thunderbird program is running then you must close it - Exit Thunderbird now. If it is still running then you cannot work in the profile folders to move stuff.

The image shows you have put the pop.optonline.net mail account folder into 'Local Folders' folder. Move that pop.optonline.net mail account folder out of 'Local Folders' folder and put it into the 'Mail' folder. The 'Mail' folder should contain only POP mail account name folders and Local Folders.

• Local Folders
• pop.optonline.net
• pop.optonline-1.net

Have you created a folder on your desktop called 'TBBackup' ? if no, then create it.

In the profile folders, in the 'Mail' folder there is a folder called 'POPONLINENETTEMPORARY' Please note: POPONLINENETTEMPORARY is not a mail account. I know it has copies of pop mail account folders, but do not worry about that at this point as you are not using those specific files. That folder should not be in the 'Mail' folder.

NOTE: If Thunderbird program is running then you must close it - Exit Thunderbird now. If it is still running then you cannot work in the profile folders to move stuff.

Move the 'POPONLINENETTEMPORARY' folder into 'TBBackUp'

Confirm when the 'POPONLINENETTEMPORARY' folder has been moved out of profile into the 'TBBackUp' folder.

re : I've lost any ability to save sent emails, (sent folder is there, but when I send, a copy doesn't go there).

I'm amazed anything is working. At this point do not worry about it. We need to get everything sorted, so folders are all in the correct place.

To: Toad-Hall But I do worry about it. My computer skills, which might be adequate for power point lectures, are not up to this. I don't know how much of the file trashing was just my doing, misunderstanding or incorrectly following directions, or to the misdirected efforts of several helpers, paid and unpaid. I may have pristine (or nearly so) copies of data files and profile files. Is there any way that we could possibly connect remotely, one-on-one, arrangements ranging, per your preference, from eternal gratitude, to free endocrine/medical advice (in perpetuity), or filthy lucre. I'm open to any and all, because I'm desperate, and hope that I haven't already made recovery impossible. Step-by-step instructions, as you seem to have been offering is like the story of the bishop and the 3 monks.... Please help. My best contact is [email]"at" optonline.net or "at" gmail.com Al

Tried to start following some of the directions above. Instead, it seems that sometimes, if I've read a message, it disappears. So I missed several medical conferences, at one of which I was supposed to participate.

Can anybody please contact me directly, or if failing that, perhaps recommend somebody who could fix it remotely?

I myself, admittedly a geezer, can't do this myself.

[email]"at" optonline.net

[Somehow my last comment didn't make it to the list] Dear Toad-Hall For my geezer age category (70-80) I'm considered computer literate, at least for what I've been called to do. This is completely beyond my abilities, and I have not been able to follow the provided instructions without, apparently, making things worse. I've paid a number of companies and private individuals, none of whom have your facility with the program. At this point, sometimes when I review an email, it is lost when I move on to the next one. My "trash" bin seems to exist, but no files go there when deleted. I was supposed to participate in a medical conference this morning, but the logon information was "lost" with its accompanying email. If you, or somebody else on this list can't help directly, is there anybody (either a specific person, or an organization) that might be willing or able to address this issue. I'm more than happy to pay. I am at [email]"at" optonline.net