Hi Jeff,

The common recommendation is to make an exception in anti-virus software for Thunderbird because otherwise it can cause many problems.

To see if the cause of your problems might be the anti-virus software, start Windows in safe mode with networking, then check Thunbderbird for problems.

Hi Rick Thanks for your response but I do not understand how to check Thunderbird for problems. Apart for the missing Junk folder all other operations work.

"check Thunbderbird for problems" = see if the problem that you reported still occurs.

Hi Did what you said with partial success. The Junk folder came back with the expected list of 28 junk email titles but none of the email contents are available and therefore no actions are performed on the original list of email titles. I reset the Junk retention days to 4 (from 14) and none of the emails were removed. I cannot do anything with the titles that were in the list at the time of the problem. All new actions with Junk emails perform as expected except on old email that I mark as Junk was not removed after the change to retention days but I can manually remove it.

The link between the Subjects and the emails seems to be lost. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help.

I don't use Windows or anti-virus software. I can only guess that what you are seeing is the lasting effects of your anti-virus software processing some messages. It is noteworthy that all new actions with junk messages perform as expected. So now it's time to make an exception for Thunderbird in your anti-virus software.

How to access the bodies of the older messages, I do not know. Are those messages quarantined somewhere by your anti-virus software?

Hi I have already made the antivirus exception. When I click on the email subject in the Junk folder absolutely nothing happens. I cannot perform any actions on it, I cannot view, copy, delete or move the email that should be attached. All the items in the Junk folder at the time of the event are the same, completely dead. I checked the quarantine areas and nothing is there.

Right click on the junk folder, select "Properties", then click on "Repair folder". Close the window. Click on one of those bad messages. Can you see message bodies now?

I have no more ideas. I have not worked on such a problem myself. Maybe someone else will help.

Hi Did the repair and all the 'dead' entries were removed. That now totally fixes my problem. By the way I am a 75 year old grandfather. Thanks for your help.