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Recover Thunderbird Local Folder

  • 17 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 17 views
  • Last reply by sfhowes

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How to recover "Local Folder"

Hi,

It is the second time that the following happens to me: I updated Thunderbird 68 to 78 and all my datas are lost, especially e-mails, calendars and local folders.

I do not worry about my e-mail (which are on the provider's server Imap), or my calendars (which are on my phone), but I really worry about my local folders, as I do not have any back-up of the e-mails located in this folder.

Could you please help me to recover the local folder and all the e-mails in it?

Thanks.

'''How to recover "Local Folder"''' Hi, It is the second time that the following happens to me: I updated Thunderbird 68 to 78 and all my datas are lost, especially e-mails, calendars and local folders. I do not worry about my e-mail (which are on the provider's server Imap), or my calendars (which are on my phone), but I really worry about my local folders, as I do not have any back-up of the e-mails located in this folder. Could you please help me to recover the local folder and all the e-mails in it? Thanks.

All Replies (17)

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Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles. What is the name of the current, default profile, and are there any other profiles listed?

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Hi sfhowes,

Thanks for your reply.

I changed the "default-release" to "default-release-4".

Here are the profiles and the Root directories (I tried different options when I went back from Thunderbird 78 to 68): default-release C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\jiadlfzr.default-release (possible to click on "Open folder") default-release-1 C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\7a3feiyj.default-release-1 (not possible to click on "Open folder" - does not appear in the Profiles files) default-release-2 C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\tqn6v37n.default-release-2 (not possible to click on "Open folder" - does not appear in the Profiles files) default-release-3 C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\2vw0iicp.default-release-3 (possible to click on "Open folder") default-release-4 C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\5qn72hut.default-release-4 (possible to click on "Open folder") default-release-5 C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\6fnaa5cv.default-release-5 (possible to click on "Open folder")

I think that I could save (but I am not sure) the initial profile before the move 68 -> 78 -> 68: dbklni8d.default-release-1 I did a copy/paste with this file dbklni8d.default-release-1 in the Profiles file. So the latter appears in C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles but not in Help -> Troubleshooting Information -> Profiles -> about:profiles

And finally, if I open each of the profile files that I find in C:\Users\RezaM\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\ the dates inside each files are different: jiadlfzr.default-release some files dates back to September 2019 7a3feiyj.default-release-1 does not appear tqn6v37n.default-release-2 does not appear 2vw0iicp.default-release-3 some files dates back to September 2019 qn72hut.default-release-4 all dates 27 or 28 February 2021 6fnaa5cv.default-release-5 all dates 27 or 28 February 2021 dbklni8d.default-release-1 some files dates back to September 2019

Thanks again for your help.

Modified by Prince of Persepolis

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Look in the Mail and ImapMail folders of the non-current profile folders, and then in subfolders for the accounts, e.g. Mail/pop.gmail.com or ImapMail/imap.mail.yahoo.com, as well as Mail/Local Folders, for the mbox files - large files with no extension, named after folders. Copy the mbox files (renaming if necessary) to Mail/Local Folders of the current profile. When TB restarts, the folders should appear under Local Folders in the Folder Pane.

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The very good news is: I have found the Local Folders and the ImapMail ;) It is located in the jiadlfzr.default-release

I set that one as the default profile and when I restart Thunderbird, I get the message "Your Thunderbird profile cannot be loaded. It may be missing or inaccessible"  :(

I did a "mbox" search on the HDD and the system did not find any file called like this.

Modified by Prince of Persepolis

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Don't change the default profile from what it already was. Just copy the mbox files to Mail/Local Folders in the working, default profile.

You won't find 'mbox' by Windows search.

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So what should I do now that I changed the default profile and that I am unable to open Thunderbird?

What is "mb" and how am I going to find it?

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Press Windowskey+R, type thunderbird.exe -p to open Profile Manager, select the correct profile, or create a new one.

The mbox files are described in my earlier reply.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Importing_folders#Find_the_mail_folders

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Hi sfhowes,

You are a champion! All the files are back in my Local folder! THANK YOU!! I don't know how to thank you!

Can I change a profile name? For instance from default-release-9 to default-release?

How can I do now to recover the To do list? And the calendar?

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Profile names can be changed in Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles.

If you launch the profile that has the calendar and To do list (from about:profiles), export the calendar and list, then import them in the new profile. If it's a network calendar, add it in the new profile and then sync with the online calendar.

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I have found so many different profile: Users -> RezaM -> AppData -> Local -> Thunderbird -> Profiles: 7 different profiles Users -> RezaM -> AppData -> Roaming -> Thunderbird -> Profiles: 6 different profiles And they are not the same: which one are the correct ones?

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I can't say which is the 'correct' one. Look at the dates, and once you have a working profile, set it as Default.

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In an old profile, how does a To do file looks like?

And how can I transfer the data in the new profile?

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If the To do list is part of an add-on, you'll have to find out from the add-on author. If it's a list of tasks in a calendar, look in the calendar-data subfolder of the profile. I think local.sqlite is the relevant file.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Transferring_data_to_a_new_profile_-_Thunderbird

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I think that I got it: in one of the profiles, there is a "calendar-data" in which there is a "local.sqlite" a "calendar-data.sbd" in which there is an empty "local.sqlite" and a "local.sqlite.msf"

The problem is that this profile does not appear in about:profiles

Can I copy/paste these in the new profile?

Modified by Prince of Persepolis

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The calendar-data folder is just part of the profile, so it doesn't appear in about:profiles.

Back up the current calendar-data folder and copy in the other one.

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I did the procedure you describe and could not find the Todolist. The procedure you describe is to find the calendar.

The Todolist I am looking for is not part of the Calendar.

The "todolist" is delivered together with Thunderbird and I can not find the old one: where is it located please?

Thanks for your help

Modified by Prince of Persepolis

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If you were using the Todo.txt add-on to connect with the Todo app, I can't say where the data is stored. Perhaps look in the extensions subfolder of the profile folder. It looks like the add-on is not completely updated for TB 78.