I'm not sure I understand the problem. You were storing folders and files in your trash?

Here is the structure of my Thunderbird Folders:

"Inbox" folder "Draft" folder "Sent" "Archives" "Trash" "Local Folders" folder "Trash"

I was confused as to why this second "Trash" existed under the "Local Folders" folder. I scanned/checked the contents of this "Trash" folder and saw a lot of unimportant files that looked like previously deleted files. I was in the process of cleaning out old and irrelevant files from my Thunderbird email program, so, I thought it was safe to finalize the file deletions by clearing this "Trash." When I pressed the 'delete' key, I received no caution/warning that folder files would be lost in this process. After clearing the files from this "Trash," I discovered that it also deleted all the older files that existed within ALL of my folders. I have lost huge amounts of important information (of particular concern is lost genealogy information).

So, I am wanting to know if these deleted files from my email folders are retrievable. The circumstances of this issue should be reviewed by the Thunderbird programmers as this situation should not have occurred as there should be a warning about what will be lost if that particular "Trash" is emptied.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

When you click to empty trash, that's what happens. It removed files you had previously marked for deletion. The files are gone.

This issue is....I didn't designate them for deletion.

Well, you might look in the Local Folders section with File Explorer for any residue, but I fear it's lost. And, I don't want to seem harsh, but from your original post, it's unclear what keys you actually pressed. I regret your loss.

To provide greater clarity (which I doubt provides any additional insight), I clicked on the 'trash' located under 'local folders' which then brings up all the files within that 'trash.' I did not see any important files listed, so I clicked on one of the files within the 'trash' folder and pressed 'control' and 'A' simultaneously which highlights all files held with the 'trash' folder so I can then delete all of the files at one time. I did not see any of the important folders and files (which I lost & which I want to recover) showing at that point in time. This shows a specific weakness in the Thunderbird programming which should be corrected as it allowed a unintentional & catastrophic loss of files/data which should not have occurred.

Thank you for trying to assist.