to sfhowes : sir, many thks for your response. Unfortunately your suggestion did not result in overcoming the problem.

I have further information....

I have TB set up on a Windows 7 laptop also. I have checked this, and the same problem exists! So it is NOT a Linux issue. (I use the same Hotmail account on both machines, also the same gmail account, which still works ok on both laptops.)

I will be grateful for any further help.

Tom.

I became suspicious that the problem lies with MS Outlook, and i found a site on the web where many people are having problems with Outlook during the last few days. Their problems seem to be in making direct connections to Outlook, not via TB.

However, perhaps the TB problem that I am experiencing has the same cause.

(see http://downdetector.co.uk/problems/outlook )

Any comments?

Tom.

Thanks once again!

I did check the servicestatus site that you mention, and it says that all is well - everything working. This seems to be in contradiction of the (Uk) people who are having problems as I mention in my previous post!

I did not use two-step verification. But do you think that a change of password for Outlook/Hotmail is likely to lead to overcoming the problem? (I have not done it yet as it will require changes to a number of devices.)

Any further comments/help please?

Tom.

I mentioned previously that I had inadvertently omitted to press the save button when I re-entered my password, so it does not reside in the PW Manager. Now I frequently get asked for my pw when trying to get messages from Hotmail. But when I enter it (correctly!) the same problem occurs - a black window saying that there is no connection to the server. And the password is not saved in the PW Manager when I did press the save button. I found more details on the web re. the settings, so I changed to ... INcoming server IMAP set to outlook.office365.com

                                          port 993,  SSL/TLS,   normal PW

OUTgoing server smtp.office365.com

                                          port 587, SSL/TLS,  normal PW.

But no change - the same problem persists. I am beginning to think that this is a problem that cannot be resolved - maybe it is something between MS Outlook and Thunderbird that only they can fix. But perhaps I am being too pessimistic. I suppose it is nearly time to try deleting my Hotmail account in TB, and starting it again as a new account. What do you think? I do appreciate very much indeed your help with this issue. Tom.

Hello SFHowes!

Thks once again. Unfortunately I cannot move or copy any of my emails (Inbox, Sent, or a sub-files that I created e.g.one I named Personal) to the local folder or anywhere; I guess that this is because I am not connected to the server.

If I understand correctly, the Profile should hold all my emails. But I do not know how often it is updated, nor if the emails are separated into the folders such as the ones that I created, or if they are in just one long block.

In any case it seems that to rely on the Profile for backup copies may be the only option.

Do you have any alternative ideas?

Thanks and regards, Tom.

I feel that I am falling deeper into the quagmire of this problem!

I changed the security to STARTTLS as you advised, but to no avail (the university website that I had consulted previously gave SSL/TLS).

I thought that I had created a new profile, and indeed its name appears both in the Profile Manager list and in the ini file in the .thunderbird directory. But I cannot find the actual file anywhere (to see what is in it), despite searching exhaustively. So I am assuming that I have done something wrong despite trying carefully to follow the procedure given in the link that you sent. But what?

The default profile is there in the .thunderbird directory. I cannot see any formating in for example the IMAP sub-directory, so I suspect that the sub-folders that I created in TB (eg Personal) have been rolled up into one big block.

I wonder if it might be more efficacious just to delete the TB Hotmail account, start a new one, and rely on the archives in my Outlook Hotmail account for recovery of my emails. Any views?

I feel that I am putting you to a lot of trouble, for which I apologise. It emphasizes my thanks for all your help. Tom.

I took a deep breath and deleted both my Hotmail and Gmail accts from TB. Then closed it. I then re-started TB with the new profile from the terminal, and began re-entering my two accts. At first I tried manual setup, but kept getting an error saying my Pw or Username were wrong (they were not!), so eventually I tried the automatic setup method. Eureka! I got TB back in working order, and to my complete surprise all my sub-folders were there - Personal, etc. Great result! The only thing that seems amiss is the absence of my personal (action) calendar. I shall search further to see if I can recover it, but if not this is a minor snag. So, unless there is a regression, it seems that the issue is resolved. (Incidentally, it appears from lack of interest from others that only I have suffered this problem - that seems strange!) I am grateful indeed for all your help - you have been very generous with your time and knowledge. Is it my job to mark as solved now? Tom.

Mr SFHowes : many thanks for all your help. I have one further query if you will be so kind to respond.

I cannot find a file with the new profile. I have searched my file system, with "show hidden files" enabled, but it is not showing up. I have searched from the terminal with locate, find and grep.

I do find the old default profile file in .thunderbird. I also see in the same directory the profiles.ini file.

The profiles.ini shows the path to both the old default file, and the new profile file, both in directory .thunderbird. Profile0] Name=default IsRelative=1 Path=y9oblahblah.default

[Profile1] Name=my new profile name IsRelative=0 Path=/home/me/.thunderbird Default=1 As you see the only difference is the value of "IsRelative", but from what i read in Mozillazine articles this should make no difference to the fact that the default profile file is visible but the new profile is not. Please can you guide me to the new profile location? Tom.

Followed your instructions. The about profiles page shows....

Profile Default Default Profile = no Root Directory = /home/ me /.thunderbird/y9oomwso.default Local Directory = /home/ me /.cache/thunderbird/y9oomwso.default

Profile: TBprofileDeb250917 This is the profile in use and it cannot be deleted. Default Profile = yes Root Directory = /home/ me /.thunderbird/

Notice that there is no entry for a local directory.

When I follow the "open directory" links, I see the y9oomwso file in .thunderbird, but I cannot despite exhaustive searches find the new profile file TBprofileDeb250917. But as I reported earlier, the profiles.ini file does reference it. And TB seems to be working normally with the new profile.

So where the new profile is remains a mystery!

Since TB is working, the fact that I cannot find the new profile file is hardly an important issue and I fear that I am wasting your time.

So many thanks indeed once again.

Tom.