Who manages the server?

Is the back-up of server files or client files?

What software was used to make the back-up?

How does this problem relate to Thunderbird?

An offsite IT person manages the server. They are at a loss.

The backup are client files, I believe. Not sure I understand that question.

Can't confirm software used. May have just been a backup of the file housed on the server.

It relates to Thunderbird because it has 10 yrs plus of emails. Mostly business stuff.

The file is large, but has an unrecognizable extension for Thunderbird to read. (.file)

If all of the 10 years of mail are on the IMAP account, they will repopulate on reconfiguring it.

Thats the problem. The IMAP account will NOT reconfigure. The only thing I have is the backup file with the wrong extension.

The problem is that your e-mail account was removed from the server. Two kinds of things can be done to recover your messages:

1. Was a copy of your account on the server made? If so, it can be restored. Apparently, though, no copy was made. If it had been made, the IT person would be restoring it. But it would be strange if there were no copy. Before making big changes on the server, the IT person would want a copy of the files in their original state. Doesn't the IT person have such a copy? Why aren't they using it to restore your account?

1. Was a copy of the files on your computer (client) made? In that .file file? In any other way (did you ever back up the files on your computer?)? If so, your e-mail files can be restored, though you must be careful how you do that. To know whether or not this can be done, you have to know whether or not the back-up that you have is a copy from your computer or from the server. If it is from your computer, then you have to know how to work with the back-up file. That usually entails knowing which software made the back-up. You have to know how to open the back-up file and get at the contents. Or you have to find some other copy of your computer's files. The .file extension seems to be a generic extension that does not tell us which application created it.

Thunderbird is not yet relevant in either scenario, but will become relevant if you have a back-up copy that you can work with.

I found this on a thumb drive. This is the correct time frame.

How can I restore this info to the account?

Is Thunderbird still installed on your computer? With the profile that you want to use?

Close Thunderbird.

I would copy all the e-mail files that you want to keep (sent, precision, etc.) without the companion .msf files, into “Local folders” in your current Thunderbird profile.

Then, when you connect Thunderbird to your re-established account on a server, they will not be affected. You can move the messages back to a server later if you want.

Open Thunderbird. It will need some time to index the new files. Your restored messages will be in Local Folders.

In your place, I might also wait for others to comment on this approach in case they have better ideas. But copying files into your local folders is pretty safe.

And start a regular back-up regimen?

Are you sure that your server folders (Precision etc.) are not still in Thunderbird?

There are several folders in Thunderbird. Including the ones in the backup. Its the inbox that is broken and cannot be resurrected.  ??

Can you post a screenshot of mail folders in your profile?

See attached. Inbox is empty and will not populate Cannot send or receive messages There should be 15K plus messages The screenshot I sent earlier show 1.8GB in the inbox? This is from some kind of backup I have. Not sure how it was created.

You wrote first that you cannot access “any of the emails”. When you posted a screenshot of your directory, you asked about restoring that information.

Are you saying now that you just need to recover the inbox?

Is the account on the server “corrupted” or is it non-existent (“disappeared”)? What do you mean that it “will not re-configure”?

Apparently, you have opened Thunderbird since the problem occurred. What happened when you tried to access the inbox?

(If your server account is active at all, make a copy of your profile and/or disconnect from the internet before opening Thunderbird.)

What do you want the fixed state of things to be?

In any case, accessing your four-year-old folders should work as I suggested. But maybe we can do better than that.

Didn't mean to be misleading. I have not used this email for quite some time and finally decided to reach out for some help. The inbox does not work. I cannot send or receive. When I try to "get messages" It churns for ever. Sometime a message will flash at the bottom saying something like getting X number of messages from some eroneous number like 18000. I haven't tried lately.

I suppose if I could fix the inbox, that would be an acceptable solution.

I believe the account on the server is corrupted. The emails in the folders got there from earlier attemts to fix the account.

Ultimately I would like to have the account working and have access to all the past emails.

Does any of this tie back to the "backup" folders from the earlier screenshot. Those folders show some type of data existing.

What are the msf files?

We responded at the same time, so this is out of sequence.

The 1.8GB file is from four years ago.

In your place, I would close Thunderbird, go to my profile, copy my inbox to local folders, open Thunderbird, and see if messages appear in my inbox in local folders.

If they did not, I would right-click on that folder in Thunderbird, and repair it.

You could repair the inbox in its natural location too. I just like working from a copy, and I do not know what will happen if/when this inbox connects to a server again.

Last resort would be copying the inbox from your old back-up into local folders in your profile, as described above.

Again, other people may have better ideas.

Yes, this inbox file is four years ago. This was the only backup data I have available. The email account failed around two years ago. I have concluded that those emails are gone forever or are hiding on the server somewhere. It is a private server.

I have attempted to repair the inbox Although not for sometime.

I will try some of your suggestions.

Sorry, did not mean to suggest that you were misleading.

To have the account working, the IT person will have to fix things at the server.

It is still not clear to me what you want to recover. Just the messages in the inbox? What else do you not have in Thunderbird now?

msf files are index files that get re-created when needed.