If POP mail account and you keep any emails on the server they can be downloaded again when you create a new mail account.

If IMAP then these emails would be stored on the server, so create a new imap mail account to see those emails.

If you did not perfrom a backup then you are not in much luck.

I presume you performed a refresh as described here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-8/restore-refresh-reset-pc Resetting your PC reinstalls Windows but deletes your files, settings and applications – except for the applications that came with your PC..

So anything to do with Thunderbird would be deleted. Hence the need to backup Profiles.

For future reference: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

You can download Thunderbird from here: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/all.html

Hi, thanks for your reply. I did install the thunderbird and only partial emails were downloaded. And the folders I had created, they were all gone. Any way to get the more older emails back?

If you had a Pop mail account then those emails will have been stored in folders and files that were deleted when you refreshed the OS because they were not part of the Windows OS, nor part of the Windows apps or personal files.

If you backed up the Thunderbird Profile or emails as .eml files then they could be restored. Otherwise the only emails you have are those currently on the server, which you would be able to download.

If you had an IMAP mail account then all of your Folders and emails will be on the server, but you would have to recreate an IMap mail account to be able to see them. Anything you stored in Local Folders would have been erased.

All my email accounts were pop3 but i still don't see any folders. is there any particular setting i should do?

There will only be the default folders as it is a newly created Pop mail account.

If by luck refreshing the OS did not erase the Application Data files , but it does say that anything not to do with Windows would be deleted, then you would locate your Thunderbird Profile here: C:\Users\Windows user name\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\Profile name\

The AppData folder is folder is a hidden folder; to show hidden folders, open a Windows Explorer window and choose "Organize → Folder and Search Options → Folder Options → View (tab) → Show hidden files and folders".

Please check to see what you have in the 'Profiles' folder. As you have downloaded TB and created a new Profile, there should only be one default 'Profile name'. see image below - this shows I only have one Profile and i'm open on that profile.

If there are two or more then we can look at getting access to those folders and emails. Profile name is usually called 'xxxxxxxx.default', where the x's = numbers and letters. Tell me if you have more than one profile name.

If there is only one Profile, click on 'Mail' folder to show mail account names. you will see Local Folders and the mail account you created, but is there more.? Post an image of what you see in the Mail folder or type the exact info for me to see. You can click on mail account name to see what folders are included. Is there a mail account containing all the old folders as files?

If you have more than one Profile, access each in turn and check the Mail folder for mail accounts. Check mail accounts to see if any old folders as file names exist.

However,it is possible that everthing in Appdata folders was erased. If erased then old Profile containing all mail accounts, all folders, all emails etc would be gone. You would only see one new default profile containing the recently added new pop mail account.