getting Local Folders back into Thunderbird

When you open "Local folders.sbd" and then all the six *.sbd folders at the top one after the other, all of them are empty? But there are also mailbox files in "Local folders.sbd" (such as ACX, Adobe, Amazon, AmEx, Authors Guild, Book Club, ...ect ect) which have size between some MB and 92 MB. How can you see that they are empty ? To be sure: please post a screen shot with the contents of "Local Folder.sbd"

These all say 'file folder' but there's nothing in them.

I am going mad, damned AI!! And what is in the other folder on the same level, named "Local Folders" without the suffix .sbd?

This is the other folder

Much better! I still wonder how you were able to create these hallucinant Local folder hierarchies. Let's try this one but first thing to do is create a backup copy of these Local Folders and save it in your documents.

As usual all following actions must be executed while Thunderbird is closed: copy the Local Folders (shown in your last image) to your Desktop. Go back in folder Mail, rename Local Folders in Local Folder-old and drag it to your Desktop. Now verify that there are no Local Folders left in your Mail folder, then drag & drop the "real" Local Folders from your desktop in folder Mail. Restart Thunderbird and tell me that I can go to sleep.....

The folder with the 2 subfolders?

If nothing else, I've become much more proficient at creating screenshots. If you'd rather take this up tomorrow, I think you've put in plenty of time today.

The folder with the 2 subfolders?

Hugh??? I mean the "Local Folders" folder shown in your latest screen shot. The one which is on the same hierarchy level as the folder "Local Folders.sbd". You remember? (see image)

I think I need to wait until tomorrow. The more I try to follow the instructions, the more confused I get.

Again, thanks for your help.

OK -- almost there, maybe. What is the "real" Local folders folder? I have a backup, the Local Folders, and Local folders old.

Which one do I put back in Mail?

Almost there but the last step is the most difficult for you to understand. So once again: I think that I have identified the xxxxxxxx.default-esr profile folderas the one which contains your missing 'Local Folders'. When opening the Mail folder within this profile folder we see a folder "Local Folders" which is a subfolder of Mail (to verify go back to the image in your message from 10/15/255 11:30 AM). I enlarged your image to point on the "Local Folders" which I consider being your "real" (original) Local Folders since ( see my new image) The yellow "Local Folders" in this image contains essentially a "Local Folders" folder and a "Local Folders.sbd" folder as you can see in the tool tip

Your image in your message from 10/15/25 1:58 "this is the other folder" convinced me that these "Local Folders" must must be the original - or "real" - Local Folders which actually are not displayed. So i marked it with a red rectangle in the new image

Do you follow me? So I want you to make a copy of these "Local Folders" in the red rectangle and paste it on your desktop. To access the Local Folders in the red rectangle you have to double-click on the yellow Local Folders you see in my new screenshot.

After copying the real Local Folders to your Desktop rename the yellow Local Folders in Local Folders-old and move it to your Desktop. Now there no longer any Local Folders in your Mail folder. Drag the real Local Folders in your Mail folder and start Thunderbird and this should be the end of this discussion ... If you still doubt or don't understand you can mail me at mapenzi at free dot fr

OK, let's try once more.... Let me go back two days to your message from 10/15/25 11:30 AM in which you show a screen shot of a yellow folder "Local Folders" located in the Mail folder (I join a copy of your screen shot to my message for better comprehension). Now please double-click on the yellow folder "Local Folders" do open it and display its contents, then make a screen shot of those contents.

Again, thanks for your tolerance and patience. Here's what you asked for. (I hope!)

Sorry, I think I gave you a wrong instruction. What do you see if you open the yellow folder "Local Folders" (the one displayed in my message from 9:44 AM) with a simple click ?

Thanks to Mapenzi for his patience and willingness to help. I've been using Thunderbird for probably 30+ years, but never had to look 'under the hood' so this was all new and confusing. But I've got my local folders back!