You have created a folder called: 2017-12-22 Dial test indicator A000071712230049.c0bd95c0

Folders created in the 'Folder Pane' are in reality, 'Files' in the profile as you probably know. 2017-12-22 Dial test indicator A000071712230049.c0bd95c0 is a lengthy and unusual name. It has a full stop/period between the 49 and the c0 which I'be highlighted. In the 'File Type' column this lists it as a C0BD95C0 File

Mbox files contain emails and do not have an extension. The 'Type' should just say 'File'. An extension is a string of characters attached to a filename, usually preceded by a full stop and indicating the format of the file. It is highly possible that the use of the period in the file name is causing some confusion in your computer because it is being interpreted as an extension, hence why the File Type is incorrect.

Suggest you do not create Folders and put fullstop/periods in the name; use a hyphen or space instead. This could be the cause of all your problems.

It is also possible you have an AV product scanning files and this can cause files to be 'fixed'. Then the .msf files appear out of synch because the AV didn't touch it. Suggest you do not allow AV to scan Thunderbird folders and files or at very least ask you what to do and not auto fix.

re : compressed I think this may have been lost in a translation. But just for clarification, compacting a folder is not compressing or zipping a folder. Compacting means removing marked as deleted emails from a file, thus reducing file size, creating more space. Compacting corrupted files can lose emails.

You see in my message 2 captures. The above as I detected. The bottom how I changed things back to what is was before . Thus I never created a folder with that long name with a period. Again I did not create that. It was Thunderbird going crazy and doing that. I can not think of a way me doing something causing 2 empty folders to appear with almost the same name as the original folder with content. I checked with a backup from before the problem and it was exactly as how I changed things back. I am pretty sure Thunderbird has an integrity problem. Not properly recovering after a computer crash or a Thunderbird crash or a failing Thunderbird task or just not properly locking data being manipulated or memory over write etc etc. Crashes are a normal event that should be recoverable. I am a long time programmer and know what I am talking about.

I have AVG antivirus and it will ask before fixing. So that's not a problem

Yes I meant compacting instead of compressing

Rgds Hans Roos hansroos@wxs.nl hansroos@msn.com

So you have no knowledge about any of those : '2017-12-22 Dial test indicator etc' files.

Have you been running anything that could be contrued as 'Dial test indicator' tests on 22nd of Dec 2017 which may have auto saved to the wrong location.

I did some testing and try on errors and below you find the results and recommendation.

Yes, I have full knowledge of those files. They existed before. I called them folders with messages in it. On the HD in the mail/Local Folder etc, I see it are files and not folders. It was original a file/folder named '2017-12-22 Dial test indicator A000071712230049' which had/has 2 Emails in it. Somehow that got corrupted in the following way. It showed on the UI 2 folders with the correct name but ending with a decimal point but both empty. On the HD it showed with 1 real folder (empty) with the name ending with 2548dcf8 and it showed a file/folder with .c0bd95c0 behind it. The file/folder with .c0bd95c0 behind it had the correct date/time and length. The original file/folder name was gone. Also there was an MSF file for both.

I had an offline backup and thus I knew what it should have been. Nothing had changed there since 2017 Dec 23. I changed, not copied, things back to what they were. Deleted the folder ending with 2548dcf8, renamed the file/folder back by removing the ending .c0bd95c0 , deleted both MSF files. Restarted Firefox. Then things were the same as before.

At the time when the problem happened (2018 Jan 3 10:06), I was adding several messages to total different file/folders (Just look down to entries 2018 Jan 3 of about the same time). I knew something was happening because Thunderbird stalled for a while and became sluggish. I assumed a TB task crashed. I restarted Thunderbird and I then saw the problem.

I have AVG All Messages come from eBay. Unlikely there was a virus. All software is updated to latest version All fixes are applied timely

I had this problem before so it seems a persistent integrity problem of Thunderbird.

Going back to my earlier problems of which I still had the backups. The oldest time I can trace back is a file/folder created in 2016-10-16, gone wrong 2017-06-05 exactly the same type of fault. Different computer, different MS windows and different release of Thunderbird. So the fault is at least that old and structural.

Now I understand how to fix, I could make similar changes and got most of those file/folders and messages back. Condition is I need to know what the names should be. It does not works always. Looking on internet, there are several problems with disappearing/empty folders/and or messages

After making the correct changes apparently it fitted back in the structure/index and it showed again normal in the UI. As I do not know the internal structure and internal working of Thunderbird, I can only guess.

I think I can recreate the problem which should enable to tackle the problem.

In the capture "Flashlight 1" I show Thunderbird and Explorer In TB the folder name is: 2016-11-01 Flash light - Shipped USPS Viabox - Returned - Refunded In Explorer: 2016-11-01 Flash light - Shipped USPS Viabox - 026d6d9f That problem is created by Thunderbird !!!

Now if I stop TB, delete msf and rename the file/folder to what is should be: 2016-11-01 Flash light - Shipped USPS Viabox - Returned - Refunded then the following happens if I start TB: See "Flashlight2" In TB the content is gone In Explorer a folder is created called: 2016-11-01 Flash light - Shipped USPS Viabox - 026d6d9f A msf file is created called: 2016-11-01 Flash light - Shipped USPS Viabox - 026d6d9f The file/folder: is the same

Doing the same with other file/folders, I can get different results. Unable to delete folders, duplicated folders etc etc.

So apparently if a difference between the TB name and Explorer name occurs, then the problems crops up. If in Explorer I delete the folder, delete the MSF and rename the file/folder back to how it was created by the TB problem, then the content is back.

So apparently if for what ever reason, there is a difference between the name in TB and Explorer then things go wrong. e.g. a corrupted internal database.

I deleted global-messages-db.sqlite and panacea.dat

That solved many of the problems and the rest I could fix manual.

So what is needed is a tool to fully test integrity, enable synchronization of the TB internal tables and the mail folder, enable to delete obsolete stuff, report discrepancies and fix things.

I call this integrity problems created in TB and TB not checking for those. TB should be self healing as practical all critical software is or should be. That's a differentiation.

I now had to force a problem, trace processes, do some reverse engineering, try to understand internal tables, found discrepancies and was able to fix. That's all nice for a hobbyist but not for a business.

You probably have something like that because you need that for testing

re: In Explorer: 2016-11-01 Flash light - Shipped USPS Viabox - 026d6d9f That problem is created by Thunderbird !!!

If in Thunderbird Options, you have the 'Allow windows search to search messages' selected, upon using windows search the first time the *mozmsg folders containing *wdseml files are created to facilitate the Windows search function. Thunderbird program itself does not use those folders or files; it uses the mbox and index files. If you do a search in Explorer then Windows uses the *.mozmsg folder not the mbox file. Check to see if there is a difference in the *.mozmsg folder name and the profile stored mail account name which contains the mbox file. The *mozmsg folders are usually in the same place as the mail acocunt name and mbox files.

You could try: Exit Thunderbird. Delete the *mozmsg folder. Make sure all mbox file and .msf indexing files are correct in Thunderbird profile.

Start Thunderbird. Tools > select: Clear Recent History Allow some time for this to be processed. Then run a search in Explorer to recreate the *.mozmsg folder and see if it is now correctly named.

Alternatively, switch off the following in Options. I have this switched off as I do not want disc space being wasted on duplicates. Thunderbird search is good enough for me. In your case it would worth testing and running for a good period of time to see if this annoying habit of name changing works. After doing the next bit, I would then create an up to date backup.

• Menu icon > Options > Options >Advanced > 'General' tab
• uncheck 'Allow windows search to search messages'
• click on OK.

Exit Thunderbird delete the *.mozmsg folder(s). Start Thunderbird.

I think I found the TB problem. At least what is causing the problem. It is a combination of TB not checking if provided data is correct and a user inputting garbage. If anything is entered by a user, renamed or what's or ever, then TB must check if input is 100% valid. It does not do that. If a user provides garbage, then that is not a user error but a TB problem. I did a lot of testing and more.

Let me explain what went wrong in my case.

I save all my eBay Email transactions in TB, I copy the name, add later the tracking number, delivery date and more. I copy blind from eBay into TB. Some of the entries in eBay are hyperlinks and that is not clear visible. Example the tracking number in eBay is a hyperlink to the shipper and a number to display. If I copy that tracking number unedited into TB, then TB clearly can not handle the hyperlink information. The tracking number is shown correct but I could trace that TB internal gets lost and tables end up confused and integrity of TB is compromised. If I first remove the hyperlink and change all data to normal readable characters and then copy into TB, it never goes wrong.

So TB must check a lot better all input and make sure that all data and characters and length can be processed correctly. Again, wrong data input from a user causing difficulties in an application is an application error and never a user error. Please inform the developing team to fix this.

Clearly you are trying to use Thunderbird as some sort of document management or transaction tracking system. It is am email program. So it will all go bad if you try and use it for anything else.

I suggest you reappraise what you are doing. IF you paste anything into the Thunderbird profile folder then Thunderbird will try and make sense of it in terms of the mbox/MSF file system. You should not paste anything at all into the Thunderbird folders on the file system. Thunderbird manages them not you!

Perhaps look at one of the note add-ons that actually makes notes on the email's you receive. Or use appropriate software for the appropriate job.

Well you don't get the point I am using the rename function of TB to add some information to the file name. Just using the by TB provided rename function. I assume that is allowed. I am not at all manipulating the TB internal file system. What goes wrong is that when I past something into the name when I rename, then TB is not checking the validity of the input. Apparently if you paste something stupid in that name, then TB goes nuts. TB should check the validity of the changed name. If TB does not check that, then that is a TB error and not a user error.

I have spend quite some time into trying understanding the problem, did some reverse engineering, checked what went wrong in TB internal and found a way to correct the corrupted data so that I did not lost information and could continue using TB.

Looking at internet, then there many users having similar problems. TB has an integrity problem and I have tried to help to understand that. Either the TB development team takes this serious and tries to fix this or I must conclude TB is not a solid business system.