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inbox full emails vanished

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Matt

Tashty
Tashty
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Hi support

I have followed tried and tested every bit of advice offered on google and mozilla forums to no avail.

Here is the issue.

Opened thunderbird from which I run several email accounts. One of the account's inbox said it was full [The folder Inbox is full, and can't hold any more messages. To make room for more messages, delete any old or unwanted mail and compact the folder.]

I didn't want to lose a single message and wasnt' sure what compacting did. I deleted a lot of the messages and moved the rest to a subfolder under the inbox that I had created. I assumes I had moved all my emails. I then read a bit more on the forums and backed up my profile. Then I compacted my inbox and it went blank. There was no warning that compacting would mean i would lose my emails. 38,000 emails to be precise.

I tried to restore the profile, but found that the inbox then still stated in was full but reflected a size of over 4 gigs but no emails visible or in the collum next to the size.

Do I assume I have lost everything? I have a backup from May but that is not really enough.

Hoping you can save me, and if not that you can add a warning to the compacting email instruction because usually one is notified of the result before clicking a button that costs you everything.

Attached a screen shot of what everything looks like.

Thanks in advance.

Saying a prayer!

Tamsin

Hi support I have followed tried and tested every bit of advice offered on google and mozilla forums to no avail. Here is the issue. Opened thunderbird from which I run several email accounts. One of the account's inbox said it was full [The folder Inbox is full, and can't hold any more messages. To make room for more messages, delete any old or unwanted mail and compact the folder.] I didn't want to lose a single message and wasnt' sure what compacting did. I deleted a lot of the messages and moved the rest to a subfolder under the inbox that I had created. I assumes I had moved all my emails. I then read a bit more on the forums and backed up my profile. Then I compacted my inbox and it went blank. There was no warning that compacting would mean i would lose my emails. 38,000 emails to be precise. I tried to restore the profile, but found that the inbox then still stated in was full but reflected a size of over 4 gigs but no emails visible or in the collum next to the size. Do I assume I have lost everything? I have a backup from May but that is not really enough. Hoping you can save me, and if not that you can add a warning to the compacting email instruction because usually one is notified of the result before clicking a button that costs you everything. Attached a screen shot of what everything looks like. Thanks in advance. Saying a prayer! Tamsin
Attached screenshots

All Replies (3)

Matt
Matt
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Hmm, right click the folder, select properties and then repair. My guess is your index is just missing or out of date.

Note on Compacting. It creates a new storage file without the messages you have deleted. until a compact occurs they remain in the file but hidden.

We see issues especially when anti virus programs are allowed to mess around in the Thunderbird profile folder. They take some 10 minutes per MB to scan files. So they will be locking up your new mail file for around 40 minutes to scan it, while Thunderbird is trying to index it. That the anti virus should not even be touching such a file is not relevant to the anti virus folk who insist text files are dangerous some how. I have no idea how.

Tashty
Tashty Question owner
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Hi Matt

Thank you so much for your response! Especially over the weekend. Unfortunately I already tried the fix of Reparing the folder but this does not solve anything. I don't have a virus program running on my Mac at all. I am running a brand new macbook pro retina and latest Max OS. I have also tried deleting various folders for re-indexing. Is there anything else I can do ? Where would I find the compacted folders and can once restore a compacted folder? According to my searches I can not. I have also tried backing up the profile and replacing it with the backup after trying several fix to no avail. Could you point me in the direction of a file or folder that I might be able to clear out so that I can view the 4 gigs of emails apparently in my inbox. Many thanks in advance. Tamsin :-)

Matt
Matt
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Why does everyone think that compacting is something that should A be able to be undone and B cause a problem.

It has me flummoxed and has done for years.

Right click the folder, select properties. What is the size on disk?

You might like to read my first blog post on this topic from 6 years ago. Some things have changed, but the file names and locations have not. http://thunderbirdtweaks.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/my-inbox-if-full-really-but-it-looks.html

We also see this a lot with gmail now because they actively discourage actually managing your mail in favor of searching it. But as the limit only "sort of" applies to POP mail accounts it is a difficult issue to capture.