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Thunderbird version: 140.1.1esr (aarch64) MacOS 15.6

After the most recent Thunderbird update, I noticed that one of my local folders was completely empty. When I do a search for an email that was in that folder, the email shows as a search result, but when I click on the search result, it opens a new tab and says 'no message found' - although a preview of the email is visible in the search results.

I have tried restoring a backup of the local folders from my Time Machine backup, and while restoring those files did wind back all the other local folders and emails, it did not restore any emails into the problematic folder, even going back to my oldest time machine backup on the 26th of May this year - when I know the emails were still accessible - didn't help.

It's clear that the emails are still there, in some form, since the search function can sort of find them, however there is an issue retrieving and viewing them.

I am hoping someone can help! Thank you in advance, Claire.

I've been using Thunderbird email for a few years. I use many folders to organize my emails. Recently, when I attempted to move emails from my inbox to a folder, the emails returned to the inbox. It doesn't happen with all the folders, but it is happening more frequently.

What can I do to fix this?

New incoming emails are no longer marked as "unread" and In bold print when they arrive. I have to manually mark them as unread. Then when I read them, they do not consistently change to "read". This was not a problem until I started using the 128.10.0esr (64-bit) version of Thunderbird.

Every time I open my email, an error box pops up saying: "The folder 'inbox on dmmuel@westriv.com could not be compacted because writing to folder ailed. Verify that you have enough disk space and that you have write privileges to the file system, then try again."

Otherwise, everything is working fine. I receive my emails and I can send. Can you explain this error box?

Where can I see my available disk space? And what does the term 'write privileges to the file system' mean??

Thanks for any help.

dmmuel@westriv.com

I'm on 141.0 (64 bit). I'm trying to create a mail folder (right click on "Local Folders", "New Folder"option). As I type the name, when I exceed eight positions the "Create Folder" tab goes dark. In other words, you can't create a folder with a name longer than eight positions. This is new.

SORRY, this is my error. I'm embarrassed to say what it was. I was trying to create a new folder, but a folder with the same name already existed. Duh........

I would delete this question but I don't see a way to do it.

I've contacted the volunteers before when my follow-up on a problem wasn't resolved. I haven't had any answers or suggestions since. I don't know what I did to create the problem a couple of weeks ago, while I was trying to change the chronological order of receiving current emails. I wanted the most recent messages at the top with the oldest at the bottom (descending?). The whole system froze; when I rebooted and reopened Thunderbird I discovered that all the folders used for saved messages appeared to be empty. Moreover, every time I read a message in the recent panel it would also "disappear" as soon as I closed it to read another message. One of the volunteers suggested a method to retrieve the lost messages in the folders. I followed his instructions and when I got to the "repair" button, it was grayed out and didn't function, so I'm at a loss. So far as the most recent messages are concerned: very few are displayed in that file. I can only read them now in "All messages". For the first time since I've been a Thunderbird user, I've been forced to go to Gmail through Google and I really miss the Thunderbird platform's features. I hope someone can help sort out my problems.

Hi, since Thunderbird 141, tbsync add-on is no more possible. So : how it is possible to sync Hotmail contacts (and calendar) ? What is the way for setting this ? Thank you for your answers.

my current ISP, Livingston Communications is closing it's offices and all services. Are you a service provider or do I need to go over the Netscape or something? At 83 all this tech stuff can be confusing. Please help or advise. Thank you

Hello all!

I use Thunderbird as a local archive for my email. I have two accounts in the application: my home email via my ISP (POP) which I predominately use and my gmail (IMAP) which I don't generally use. There are years of messages in folders and sub-folder under the POP account, but nothing under the IMAP.

I’m up to date with Thunderbird at v140.1.0esr (aarch64) on my iMac with Sequoia 15.8.

On 07/22/2025 I went to download some messages via my ISP POP account and saw that a whole bunch of my email folders no longer had any subfolders and were empty of any messages. Some were also duplicated. Please see the attached image.

I haven’t changed any settings in years, and I do not have any add-ins. One of the nice things about Thunderbird has been its solidity and simplicity.

After every session, I would empty my trash and compact.

Suddenly my email seems to be gone along with sub-folders while top level folders are duplicated.

Wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to troubleshoot this? Since I don't do anything fancy with the application and with the suddenness of this issue, I can't image I'm the only person having it? I’m quite concerned I may lose many years’ worth of messages.

Thanks much in advance! CPRoot

I know how to create a new folder in my inbox; I have done it a handful of times.

Left click on Inbox Click on New Folder Type in a name in appropriate box "Create Folder" goes from pinkish to red, so I click on it....

And the folder never appears. What obvious thing am I doing wrong??

Hi. We are using 140.1.1esr 64 bit. We have a very large (70+ GB) pop Mail folder, with hundreds of folders. The folders are not under Inbox but under the account name itself. Items are moved to the folders through drag and drop. We have qn issue where adding items to a folder can cause it to disappear, and a sorting problem where the alphabetical list of folders starts over again. The screenshot shows the sorting issue. We have tried: Repeatedly removing msf files. Deleting folderlist.json, and index file in Mail. Latest try was deleting folderlist.json, and global-messages-db.sqlite, and everything from mail folder except mbox files. This seemed to work at first, but still having problems with the alphabetized list starting over again, folders disappearing after moving items between them. Also have some mbox files that appear to have mail in them, can read it with notepad, but do not create folders when copied back to Mail or Local Folders. Looking for suggestions as we don’t seem to be getting anywhere. Thanks.

I have setup a new IMAP with Thunderbird and my deleted messages are not displaying in the Trash area. I am currently on release version 141.0 (64 bit). I am running it on Windows 11 Pro service pack 24H2. I do not have any antivirus setup at this time.

First off I have multiple Trash bins, one for each account listed under the Inbox and then one in the Local Folders area, so I am not completely sure why the Local Folders one exists and what it's purpose is for. When I delete a message from the DrReilly account it is removed from the Inbox and and I see the number count go up on my Trash folder under the Inbox. However, when I go to the Trash folder it is completely empty but indicates I have messages in it (see Screenshot 1). I have toggled Unread, Stared, Contacts, Tags, & Attachments and the messages never show. I have verified that when I delete a message it is supposed to direct the messages to the Trash bin (see Screenshot 2).

The interesting thing is my issue is only with the DrReilly account, the deleted messages are showing up in the AHAH account (also an IMAP) with no issues. The only thing I can see different about the 2 accounts is that in the AHAH account folders it has a Trash & a Trash.msf file (see Screenshot 4) and the DrReilly account folders only have the Trash.msf file (see Screenshot 3).

I have tried everything I can find with a search and nothing seems to resolve the issue.

Can someone please help?