Thunderbird deleted my emails off AOL server by accident.
I ran Junk Mail Controls on my AOL Imap folder and Thunderbird marked everything as junk and put it all in trash on Local Folders. I selected all the emails and moved them back to the AOL inbox in Thunderbird. Everything looked fine but the next day I opened Thunderbird and everything in the AOL Inbox was gone. I logged into my email account on AOL and checked my Inbox and everything was gone.
I opened the Thunderbird profile for that email account and I can see the INBOX file there with all my emails in it, but Thunderbird won't load them.
Is there a way to force Thunderbird to load those emails so I can at least forward them back to the AOL server?
Chosen solution
@Toad-Hall
I found a solution using the following method:
1) Installed the Import/Export Extension in Thunderbird. 2) Clicked on Local Folders in Thunderbird. 3) Clicked on Tools/ImportExportTools/Import mbox file. 4) Selected "Import directly one or more mbox files" and clicked OK. 5) Selected "INBOX" from the "ImapMail/imap.aol.com" folder.
A new Inbox folder appeared in Local Folders with all my AOL emails inside. I highlighted all of them then right-clicked on one and selected "Copy To" and pointed to my AOL Inbox. All the emails were copied to my AOL profile inside Thunderbird.
When I logged into my AOL account all the emails were also on the AOL server. I am sooooooooooooooooooo happy to get them all back.
I am very grateful to you Toad-Hall for at least pointing me in the right direction to help me solve this so many many thanks to you for your reply.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (6)
Try this:
Do not startup Thunderbird.
Access the Appdat/Roaming/thunderbird/Profiles/Profile name folder. click on 'ImapMail' folder click on imap mail account name folder
copy paste the 'Inbox' (no extension) mbox file to desktop and rename it to eg: 'OldInbox' Keep this copy on desktop as a backup.
Now go back in the directory to Profile name folder. click on 'Mail' folder click on 'Local Folders' Copy paste the 'OldInbox' file into Local Folders mail account.
Start Thunderbird Do emails appear under 'Local Folders' in a folder called 'OldInbox' ? If yes, in 'OldInbox', right click on one email and use 'Copy to' > 'Inbox' on imap mail account. Exit Thunderbird and wait for processes to complete.
Restart Thunderbird. Is the email you copied to Inbox still in Inbox? Check is that email showing via webmail on server?
please report back on results.
@Toad-Hall
No it did not work I did everything you instructed down to the letter and nothing showed up in Local folders except the trash folder.
Chosen Solution
@Toad-Hall
I found a solution using the following method:
1) Installed the Import/Export Extension in Thunderbird. 2) Clicked on Local Folders in Thunderbird. 3) Clicked on Tools/ImportExportTools/Import mbox file. 4) Selected "Import directly one or more mbox files" and clicked OK. 5) Selected "INBOX" from the "ImapMail/imap.aol.com" folder.
A new Inbox folder appeared in Local Folders with all my AOL emails inside. I highlighted all of them then right-clicked on one and selected "Copy To" and pointed to my AOL Inbox. All the emails were copied to my AOL profile inside Thunderbird.
When I logged into my AOL account all the emails were also on the AOL server. I am sooooooooooooooooooo happy to get them all back.
I am very grateful to you Toad-Hall for at least pointing me in the right direction to help me solve this so many many thanks to you for your reply.
I tried backing up Thunderbird but forgot to close down Thunderbird first. I found that my entire inbox and address book have disappeared. Just a few emails were accessible. I would be very grateful if you could tell me how I can restore my inbox and address book. Many thanks Stuart
stuartzw said
I tried backing up Thunderbird but forgot to close down Thunderbird first. I found that my entire inbox and address book have disappeared. Just a few emails were accessible. I would be very grateful if you could tell me how I can restore my inbox and address book. Many thanks Stuart
You can try downloading and installing the ImportExportTools and following the instructions in the "Chosen Solution" section above. Substitute in your email profile name in step 5 then follow the rest of the solved section according to your situation.
ImportExportTool is found here: https://freeshell.de/~kaosmos/mboximport-en.html
Modified by KeyPad
I can't find the "chosen solution" section. Could you please help. Thanks Stuart