Email folder disappeared
Hi,
I tried to move a folder but it had a stop-sign but I released the mouse button and the folder was gone, I figured it would simply leave it where it was. now the folder is neither in its old nor in the location i wanted to put it in. If I search for emails within that folder, results still come up but when i click on the email it shows another search page with no results... can I still somehow restore these emails? what could have caused this? this also deleted the emails from my imap-email so i cannot recover them from there they are also not to be found in any trash folder, neither locally nor remotely on the server
All Replies (11)
Open your profile folder > ImapMail > {server name}. Do you see a (mbox) file with the name of the lost folder? The file has no exension. Some imap servers do not support the "move" command, so that could explain why the folder is no more.
There are no mbox files, only msf I have "moved" folders before but this time it just didnt "allow" me to so I tried dropping the folder where it should go anyhow, even though there was a "block" sign showing... usually this would end up doing nothing but the folder is simply gone... however what is weird is that i can still search for messages inside that folder and it seems to have them indexed or something because i see the beginning of the content in the search result but then there is no email to open in the results
re :There are no mbox files, only msf
This means you do not download full copies of emails, only their headers. When you select an email, it is retrieved from the server and downloaded to a temp file on computer to facilitate viewing. It is not stored in Thunderbird.
re : however what is weird is that i can still search for messages inside that folder and it seems to have them indexed or something because i see the beginning of the content in the search result but then there is no email to open in the results
That's because the Global Database still has a record for a header, but when it tries to retrieve email, that email does not exist in expected folder on server, so content appears blank.
You could only have dropped the folder into a location that did not have a block sign.
When you 'move' something off the server, the server deletes it.
If this is a gmail account, you might still find the emails in the 'All Mail' folder as you would have only deleted the label.
As you do not choose to download full copies, I'm presuming you have not made a backup of the profile.
Mhh, how do I select to always download all emails and download them completely, not just the headers? Unfortunately this is not a gmail account, its a simple imap account based on Plesk. Seems the emails are gone but I did create server sided backups so I will only lose a handful of emails, would have been nice to restore them but it looks like they are gone for good. Thanks for the help though!
Is there any recommended way to create backups of the local files (on Windows) or is copying the whole profile folder to another disk every X days the best method?
Questionario said
Mhh, how do I select to always download all emails and download them completely, not just the headers?
Via the menu bar, go to Tools > Account Settings > Synchronisation & Storage.
Via the hamburger menu button, go to Options > Account Settings
- Message Synchronising > Keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer
- Disc Space > Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age
- Disc Space > Don't delete any messages
These options are enabled by default. If they are not, you must have changed them at some point.
Seems the emails are gone but I did create server sided backups so I will only lose a handful of emails, would have been nice to restore them but it looks like they are gone for good.
Kudos for having taken a backup. Imagine if you hadn't taken any! We see a lot of painful data loss reports that could be avoided simply by taking backups.
Is there any recommended way to create backups of the local files (on Windows) or is copying the whole profile folder to another disk every X days the best method?
There is no "right way" or recommended way of doing so. You use whichever method suits your workflow. Copying the whole profile folder (while Thunderbird is not running) is definitely the simplest wholistic approach. It is enough in many cases. I, however, prefer zipping the folder so that I end up with a single zipped folder, instead of a folder whose contents can be mistakenly messed with by overzealous security programs, especially when the folder is stored as is on external storage media. I use the free 7-zip archive manager to create the zip with no compression and protect it with a simple password so that scanners do not unzip the archive for scanning inside it. The profile folder also gets backed up when a system image backup is taken manually every week, and also when a user data backup is automatically taken as part of my routine backup regimen.
Good info by Stans.
This link may help.
Note: the 'Advanced' button allows you check that all folders and subfolders have been selected.
After making changes, I recommend you restart Thunderbird to ensure all is reset correctly.
This will mean you will get copies stored within Thunderbird in mbox format. However, please remember that imap folders still only show what is on server because they are synchronising. The mbox files should not be considered as a backup in themselves. So, once you have got a full copy download, that is the time to exit Thunderbird and get a backup copy of the Thunderbird folder.
settings are as you both mentioned, my files are still stored in the same format (.sbd folders, .msf index files and folder contents in files with the same name as the folder without extension), not mbox files are you sure thunderbird uses mbox format to store emails? I mean I can export and import mbox files but they are not stored as such in the profile folder
@Stans: I will probably stay with folder backup in that case as that works better with a sync program so I dont need to zip the whole profile but instead can only copy modified files
Those files without extensions are the mbox files.
duh, I assumed they would have a .mbox extension... yea i have those but for the folder that was gone, only the .msf file was still there... so yes, lucky i had a somewhat recent backup and "only" lost a handful of emails :) Thanks for the assistance :)
Questionario said
duh, I assumed they would have a .mbox extension...
I don't know why Thunderbird excludes the .mbox extension. It would have been a lot more easier to make users understand how and where Tbird is storing their messages.
Regarding lack of extension : RFC 4155 states File extension(s): mbox database files sometimes have an ".mbox" extension, but this is not required nor expected.
Please note: you cannot copy paste an mbox flle directly back into the profile imap account folder, but you can copy paste mbox files back into the 'Local Folders' folder either manually via profile folders whilst thunderbird is not running or by using ImportExportTools NG addon extension whilst Thunderbird is running. This is because when Thunderbird starts up it synchronises with server and that mbox file/folder does not exist on server, so it is effectively removed. But if you put it into 'Local Folders' then the folder will appear and then you can copy batches of emails back into an existing imap folder, so they appear on server again.