Robin,

You and I have been sharing in a prior thread. My recollection from those comments is that you are now using an IMAP account.

Thunderbird does not have a backup process. The user is responsible for backing up for protection against outages. Unless you deleted the POP account on your PC, you should still have all downloaded inbox messages and all sent messages. The change done by your email provider would have zero effect on a POP account on your PC. In your earlier post, you indicated that a tech person advised on what to do on your PC, and that you are unsure of what that was. If that person is available, it may be good to ask. From your post, I infer that the POP account is no longer there. True? If he deleted the POP account and created an IMAP account, he may have destroyed everything you had. So, if the account is not there, I suggest this: - click help>troubleshootinginformation - scroll down to 'Profiles' and click 'about:profiles' - on that screen will be listed all profiles thunderbird is aware of - click the 'open folder' button for each profile and then open the Mail folder to see if your POP account is there.

That's the best I can offer, Robin.

David,

Since I needed to recover medical & legal info (messages) before the close of business I found & downloaded Thunderbird recovery software ($50+ with tax). I found the two messages (e-mail address & info), thank goodness.

I can - will this weekend check out what you wrote about profile etc. to see if all the POP3 data is there. Thinking positively, please tell me how to put the files in my Thunderbird set up. I will 'try to get back / recreate a POP3 account. I do not feel comfortable using the IMAP format.

There is nothing I would like more than to be able to click/check off the 'Problem Solved' option.

Remain WELL & be SAFE!

Mrs. Robin Adair-Weber

Do keep your copy of this thread. I'll be here to give details when you respond. I'm glad you recovered some of your data.

David,

I have not (am not) deleting it. Of course this is Firefox, not Thunderbird, unless a person 'closes' their Thunderbird account is the same as deleting it (has the same effect - result as deletion), I have not intended nor knowingly deleted any of the messages I want/need to retain.

I 'think' I've recovered a file copy of each, but I have no idea how to put-move the recovered file data to either ideally a POP3 or if worse comes to worse an IMAP configured account.

And I used to 'think' I was somewhat adept at figuring out computers & software. NOT

Again, I appreciate your effort(s) AND help/assistance.

Remain WELL & be SAFE!

Mrs. Robin Adair-Weber

Good morning, Robin, Assuming you found a message folder (actually a file), the first goal is to have access to it. Try this: - click help>troubleshootinginformation - scroll down to 'profile folder' and click 'open folder' - exit thunderbird - you are now in your profile - click the Mail folder and then click the Local Folder folder - now, paste the located file (ignore any msf files) into the Local Folder folder - restart thunderbird and the folder should be accessible.

If you are uncomfortable with windows file explorer, do this instead: - install the importexporttools NG addon - highlight Local Folders - rightclick and select the importexport option to import mbox - locate and select one of the recovered message files - repeat the process for remaining file(s) - the messages should now be accessible. They are not within the accounts, but can be treated as desired. If you want to restore them within the account, we can do that, but I felt you wanted access to use them as a priority. Let me know how it goes.

Are the messages that you need available in webmail?

Rik,

THANKS for helping. Sorry, I'm not sure what your question means. Via "web mail"? In case my post wasn't clear, thanks to the ISP's ' technician ' the whole account is ?was? gone. It had been POP3 he had me change it to IMAP. grrrr David has, I believe, given me the guidance to gain access to the POP3 data [files - IN Box & folders messages].

As soon as I can, I need to try what he instructed.

David, I asked if (how) I can create a new POP3 account so I can end up with what I had before. The IMAP not only is unfamiliar - new to me, but I've had (used) POP3 for ? 30+ ? years!

Remain WELL & be SAFE!

Robin

I did not read your earlier discussion. Maybe there is more clarity there. What I see here is some uncertainty. One way of clarifying the issues is to see what is available when you log in to your service provider’s site and access your e-mail there. Is there an account? What kind? What messages are there?

It is a long shot, but it is possible that the messages that you need are still there.

Edit: Never mind. Probably not at all helpful.

Robin, First, I recommend my prior suggestion on capturing the files you recovered. Second, if you now have an IMAP account, we can quickly (most likely) create a POP account. - IMAP and POP accounts share the same syntax for the outgoing SMTP server. So, click to 'account settings', highlight the IMAP account in left sidebar, click the 'edit outgoing server' button and write down the server name - now, click the 'server settings' link on 'account settings' pane and write down the incoming server name - post both of those and I think we can then construct the POP settings.

The plan will be to create a POP account alongside the IMAP account and then remove the IMAP account after everthing is working.

Robin, You and I have been sharing in a prior thread. My recollection from those comments is that you are now using an IMAP account.

For completeness lets post a link to that thread https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1540215

unless a person 'closes' their Thunderbird account is the same as deleting it (has the same effect - result as deletion), I have not intended nor knowingly deleted any of the messages I want/need to retain.

Not really, when you remove a POP account from Thunderbird you implicitly remove the hook that is used to hang all the accounts folders on in the user interface. Hence the apparent deletion of your mail. As David says, nothing is deleted unless you actually specify that in the account removal. For POP mail accounts everything remains on disk where it always was, it is just a matter of finding it.

Your account recovery software "should have identified the file as something like "inbox" with a path somewhere in the Windows appdata folders. If that is the case, not the path and file name, it will save a lot of looking later. That is the file with all of your message from an account inbox in it, not just a single email. If it identified a file with WDSEML in the file extension it is a garbage file which may or may not be the complete email as those files are limited to the first 40kb (I think I recall from 20 years ago) of the message and are written for the benefit of windows search. They are unused by Thunderbird (I had over 100,000 of them when I turned of the windows search integration. That is the file with all of your message from an account inbox in it, not just a single email.

Sorry about the unhelpful comments. I paid too much attention to the question marks and not enough to the facts.

Rick,

IF that's the only error/mistake you made this week, you're doing many times better than I am!

Your willingness to HELP is appreciated! THANKS

Be WELL & be SAFE!

Robin