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Lost 5 years worth of email on my computer

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 5 views
  • Last reply by Wayne Mery

amspaterson
amspaterson
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Hello

I have used Thunderbird successfully as my primary email tool for over 10 years and today my macbook pro crashed. I need help determining if the Thunderbird data (email folders trash folder etc) is somewhere on my computer. I have a time machine back up from Sept 27 which I can live with but before I erase my computer and restore just wondering what to do? thank so much Alexander P

Hello I have used Thunderbird successfully as my primary email tool for over 10 years and today my macbook pro crashed. I need help determining if the Thunderbird data (email folders trash folder etc) is somewhere on my computer. I have a time machine back up from Sept 27 which I can live with but before I erase my computer and restore just wondering what to do? thank so much Alexander P

All Replies (3)

Stans
Stans
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Hi.

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data to know where Thunderbird (by default) stores data on your computer.

If by crash, you mean your macbook does not boot into MacOS, then you would need some other means of accessing its storage device (HDD or SSD) to check if Thunderbird data is accessible and retrievable from the expected location. I'm afraid the exact procedure for doing so is beyond the scope of this forum. Perhaps a Mac community forum would be able to help.

amspaterson
amspaterson Question owner
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Thank you Stans so much for responding!

I found my profile on my computer. there are now two. After Thunderbird disappeared off my Computer yesterday I’ set it back up again but it seems like it started it from scratch and did not pick up my old profile. One profile was created March 21, 2011 and modified the same day. The second profile was created December 4, 2020 and modified yesterday October 8, 2022. I can send and receive OK but none of my old folders are showing. So that is now my big question is how to reinstall all my previous folders and create one thunderbird account. Please help me if you get a chance

Wayne Mery
Wayne Mery
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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It would be useful to know your profile names. Typlically I think there should be "default" and "default-release". The former is there for compability, and the later is mostly where your data should be.