Thunderbird deletes mails
I try to move my profile from one computer to another. There are some obsolete accounts with emails I still need. These obsolete accounts where removed from email server but I still need emails from obsolete accounts locally. My Thunderbird profile with obsolete accounts works perfect on the old computer, but when I move profile to a new computer and launch Thunderbird first time I can see all obsolete accounts and all emails but if I close Thunderbird and open Thunderbird again I can see obsolete accounts but Thunderbird removes all emails from them and I can see only empty Inbox folder. How can I prevent Thunderbird to delete emails from accounts it can not synchronise with email server? When I move Profile it is 164 GB, but after launching Thunderbird second time my profile become 80 GB so Thunderbird deletes all emails locally that it can not synchronise with the server.
All Replies (8)
My guess is that these obsolete accounts are IMAP and the accounts are still defined in Thunderbird. If my guess is correct, you need to COPY (not move) all messages in the account to Local Folders. You can do that by exiting thunderbird and using windows file explorer to copy and paste to Mail\Local Folders folder in the profile. OR, you can install the importexporttools NG addon and highlight Local Folders and right click and select import mbox option and then select the folders in the imap\<imapaccount> folder in profile (IGNORE the msf entries in both options).
Thank you very much for your quick answer. Probably local folders are the only solution. I just curious why obsolete accounts work fine on the old computer despite the fact Thunderbird has no access to the server but Thunderbird on the new computer deletes all emails from the accounts it has no access. Thunderbird versions are the same on both computers. Is there any way to do not synchronise selected accounts with the server? Second question is why Thunderbird removes everything from the account if it can not synchronise it?
Thunderbird tries to sync IMAP accounts to the server. On install, it tries to access server and, finding nothing, sync's the message folder by deleting everything. That's the IMAP way. I'm sure there are others who could provide a technical explanation, but the basic answer is that IMAP always syncs to the server. If it isn't on the server, then it will be removed locally.
Your explanations are absolutely right if Thunderbird connects to server, but why it removes everything when it can not connect. I consider that behaviour very strange.
Not strange. That is exactly what IMAP does. the source/master is the server, not the PC.
If Thunderbird can not connect to the server why it removes all emails from the account?
IMAP is designed to manage emails on a server. It then downloads to PC. The design is to keep server and PC in sync. And, by removing messages from PC, they are now in sync. When using IMAP, it is important to keep this in mind. You are not the first to assume messages on PC were 'safe.' That's only for POP.
Thank you for clarification, but how can Thunderbird synchronise mails on PC and server if Thunderbird is not connected to the server? There are mails on PC, Thunderbird tries to connect to the server, connection fails and Thunderbird removes all mails from PC, I think it is not correct. If Thunderbird fails to connect to the server no actions are required.
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