Windows 10 reached EOS (end of support) on October 14, 2025. If you are on Windows 10, see this article.

Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Este fío arquivouse. Faga unha nova pregunta se precisa axuda.

Recent messages disappeared from folder display

Old Coot on a Bike
Old Coot on a Bike

I just did something that has caused recent messages in a particular folder to become hidden. I cannot figure out how to make them visible again. Here's how it happened.

I have a folder A that contains a lot of messages. I tried to click on it in the folders sidebar to make it the active folder. Unfortunately, it was a click/drag that resulted in moving folder A to inside folder B. I didn't realize this at the time. Because of the size of folder A, Thunderbird went into a big loop (doing its work) that I interpreted as a lockup. I killed the Thunderbird process from Task Manager.

When I brought Thunderbird back up, I noticed folder A was not there at the top level. I eventually found it in folder B, and moved it back out. Unfortunately, messages in folder A from the past 2 1/2 months no longer show up in the display of folder A contents. This includes incoming messages which certain message rules move from Inbox to folder A. The messages are still in folder A: I can search for a specific message that I know is there, and the resultant list shows that it is in folder A, and I can click on it in that search-list and see the message. But it (and all recent messages) are not displayed in the folder A list when I select folder A from the folders sidebar.

I'm sure it's a matter of rebuilding some pointers that were destroyed when I killed Thunderbird. But how do I do that?

I just did something that has caused recent messages in a particular folder to become hidden. I cannot figure out how to make them visible again. Here's how it happened. I have a folder A that contains a lot of messages. I tried to click on it in the folders sidebar to make it the active folder. Unfortunately, it was a click/drag that resulted in moving folder A to inside folder B. I didn't realize this at the time. Because of the size of folder A, Thunderbird went into a big loop (doing its work) that I interpreted as a lockup. I killed the Thunderbird process from Task Manager. When I brought Thunderbird back up, I noticed folder A was not there at the top level. I eventually found it in folder B, and moved it back out. Unfortunately, messages in folder A from the past 2 1/2 months no longer show up in the display of folder A contents. This includes incoming messages which certain message rules move from Inbox to folder A. The messages are still in folder A: I can search for a specific message that I know is there, and the resultant list shows that it is in folder A, and I can click on it in that search-list and see the message. But it (and all recent messages) are not displayed in the folder A list when I select folder A from the folders sidebar. I'm sure it's a matter of rebuilding some pointers that were destroyed when I killed Thunderbird. But how do I do that?

All Replies (3)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
  • Moderator
The messages are still in folder A: I can search for a specific message that I know is there, and the resultant list shows that it is in folder A, and I can click on it in that search-list and see the message.

What you see is just the part of the original message which got indexed by Global Search.

You can rebuild the global database and these orphans will disappear.

To recover the lost messages you'd need to restore them from a recent backup created prior to the accident.

christ1 modificouno o

Toad-Hall
Toad-Hall
  • Top 25 Contributor

As you can actually select email from search list AND open it to read the email, perhaps Folder A needs the index fixing to allow it to display.

Right click on Folder A and select 'Properties', click on 'Repair folder', then click on OK.

Old Coot on a Bike
Old Coot on a Bike Question owner

Thanks, you two, for your suggestions. I will make note of the solutions you offered in case I need them in the future. It's good to know those options exist.

This problem was actually the result of a bicycle accident in which I fractured a clavicle. As a result of trying to use the mouse with my off hand, I actually created TWO different copies of folder A. (Don't ask me how.) I interrupted one of the copies in the middle; that is the one that showed no recent messages in the Thunderbird window. The second copy was, fortunately, intact. It was a simple matter to move the second copy of folder A back to its original location. Everything seems to work fine, including all my message rules.

Thanks again.