all INBOX emails disappeared--no luck repairing folder or deleting INBOX.msf but they are still showing on provider website

I suggest deleting the file named INBOX as well as INBOX.msf. Do that when thunerbird not running. This applies ONLY if the account is IMAP.

Making progress, I think. There were about 1150 messages originally. Last night started repopulating and still is in progress. Seems very slow. Current count is 1129 messages in Thunderbird Mailbox, but I can't access any. Tried restarting Thunderbird but didn't change anything. Bottom message bar still indicates connected to mobile.charter.net

No change since this morning. Can't open any of the inbox or sent items messages. Should I delete the INBOX file and try again?

It may be a coincidence, but I have seen a number of charter.net problems today.

On your question, I just don't know. I have not seen this before. Maybe someone else on the forum will have suggestions.

Thanks for the feedback. It was apparently a timeout issue on the server.

Hey Aaron,

Glad you got it sorted, even if it meant switching to Outlook.

For anyone else hitting this — if deleting INBOX and INBOX.msf doesn't work and the emails are still on the provider's site, it's almost always a sync or timeout issue on the server side, not your local setup.

Sometimes just waiting it out works, but if it's urgent, setting up a different client as a temporary workaround is a solid move.

Out of curiosity, did Outlook pull everything instantly or did it take a while too?

Outlook pulled every thin in a matter of a couple minutes