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Inbox and folders do not appear, not sure why.

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  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by samjcarlo27

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When I open the thunderbird app on my laptop, my inbox and folders don't appear. Attached a picture below. I can still see all my contacts in Address Book, can still send messages if I start a new one, etc. I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling, tried safe mode, tried disabling add-ons. Not sure what else to do, never had this problem before, but it's been like this for about a month. Maybe it started after an general computer update (running Windows 10)? I don't remember at this point and have updated more since.

When I open the thunderbird app on my laptop, my inbox and folders don't appear. Attached a picture below. I can still see all my contacts in Address Book, can still send messages if I start a new one, etc. I've already tried uninstalling and reinstalling, tried safe mode, tried disabling add-ons. Not sure what else to do, never had this problem before, but it's been like this for about a month. Maybe it started after an general computer update (running Windows 10)? I don't remember at this point and have updated more since.
Attached screenshots

Chosen solution

If your current prefs.js doesn't obviously appear to be corrupted, the fastest way out of this may be to follow the steps in 4. of the previous link: add the accounts and then point the Local directory to the folder with the mail, or create a new profile and transfer data from the old profile to the new one.

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Try https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database

For some reason it has helped some of those with that symptom.

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Just tried this now and it did not fix the problem. I was able to see the re-indexing with my folder names, inbox, sent, etc. in the activity manager window, but my folders and inbox still do not appear (same as picture originally attached). Closed and started again after the indexing and still nothing. Any other ideas?

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You might have a corrupted prefs.js file. Help/Troubleshooting, click Open Folder, close TB, open prefs.js in a text editor and look for account details, as explained here:

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Recovering_a_profile_that_suddenly_disappeared#Corrupt_or_empty_prefs.js

If it's corrupted, there may be an older version named prefs-1.js, prefs-2.js etc., that can replace the current prefs.js.

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Read the article above, but I'm not sure I need to replace the file. I have a "prefs" JavaScript file that DOES contain the "mail.account" statements as the article says it should with the last date earlier today (the 8th) around the time I tried the last help comment. I also have two prefs.js files (one BAK file and one NEW file) from 2014 and neither has the "mail.account" statements as the other does. Those are the only files that seem relevant -- should I go ahead and replace any of them? And if so, I'm not sure which to replace the potentially corrupted one with. Thanks for the help so far!

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Chosen Solution

If your current prefs.js doesn't obviously appear to be corrupted, the fastest way out of this may be to follow the steps in 4. of the previous link: add the accounts and then point the Local directory to the folder with the mail, or create a new profile and transfer data from the old profile to the new one.

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Not exactly sure what actually did it, but I am now back in business! Made a new profile and moved data and it didnt work... but then chose one of the originals and it did? Transferred a couple other folders/files and everything seems in order. Thank you so much for the help!