How about you back up to the original problem and side step the litany of failures your attempts to recover have caused.

Thunderbird has a couple of new features in V68, which you appear to have encountered in spades. Most probably because you previous install was 32 bit and your new one is 64 bit. This is something lost of folks will encounter as they migrate from 32bit to 64 bit versions of the software.

The details of the change is detailed here. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/unable-launch-older-version-profile

The article links to details on the use of the profile manager to select your new "default" profile.

I have addressed; The loss of your original profile following the transfer. Your inability to create an account, you do not need to as your old profile is back,

I have not addressed you apparent l;oss of mail after each move. I have not does so because I can not imagine how such a thing could happen unless you have modified the account directory information in account settings and if you had done so you would know where your mail was so it would not be a question in this forum.

I have also not address this "new chunky look" because I do not know what it means. Perhaps there is an image here that you might point me to that shows this chunky look. https://www.thunderbird.net/en-US/features/

I don't understand much of what you say but, I'm not a technician. I always download from the website and if I have a choice I always choose 64 bit. So if the website had been giving me a 32bit, I didn't know it. If they changed to 64bit without warning, then, yes, people like me will encounter issues. Anyhow, I fixed my problem by installing an older version. Upon checking, yes, it's 32bit. Version 60.9.0 and it tells me it's up to date. Don't ever remember Mozzilla giving me the choice of 32 or 64 bit. It's just what they put out and nowhere in the name does it state what it is. Thunderbird Setup 68.1.0 says nothing. Microsoft Visual C++ vc_redist.x64 tells me it's 64bit. I just went back to their download page and no where did it give me a choice. It was an automatic download. As for the clunky look, I managed to change the look that was default on the 64bit install. It was just too chaotic looking for my eyes since I was used to the old look I had. But then I deleted it and went back to the 32bit. Not that I knew that was the issue. Don't know how programs work so all those explanations don't mean much to me. Maybe if the writers/programers considered some of us non technecal folks in their instructions, there will be less complaints. I read the articles, thank you. They just didn't explain much to me since I felt as if I'm reading a foreign language. Thanks again for your help.

Using the newest 64bit version. Go to the help menu and select troubleshooting information. In the application basics heading of Thoubleshooting information is an entry about:profiles. It is the last entry in the heading group. Click it.

Pick the profile in the list that was your old profile. (Check it in your 60.9 version, but it will probably be called default and the one created by 68 will be called default-release. In 68 or later select the profile name you picked in 60.9 and make it the default.

Note that other than changing profiles from one to another, as long as you do not delete a profile using the remove button you will not loose any data, it is just like opening a number of word documents until you find the one you want to edit. When I first went into this stuff I also noticed a "Launch profile in a new browser" button. Whilst it is mislabeled, you can click that to open another instance of Thunderbird with that profile loaded. That will not set the profile as default which is what you want to do, change the default profile to use, but gives you another option.

Why am I persisting with this? Because the powers that be have made this new process whether we users like it or not. It will not be changing everyone going from 32 to 64 bits will have this problem. To prevent being left for ever on an old version the minute of two to select the correct profile in the new version will pay off in security in the long run. BTW I am still learning about this change myself. I do not like it am trying to simplify the process beyond what I offered up first off.

Thank you. Since it originally took me off guard and I went into a panic by not finding all of my emails, I've managed to calm down and read more. I have gone back to V60 on my PC, but I will install V68 on my laptop and work out the kinks that way and get used to it before putting it on my PC. Also just read about MailStore. I think I'm going to try that one out too so I can avoid future heart attacks when I think I've lost my emails. You have been most kind and helpful. I appreciate you for that. For taking the time to explain and reassure. Yes, I see now that Mozilla is going to stop support for the 32bit one soon and will make us all use the 64bit. At least now I can do it slowly. I just hate surprises and sudden changes. I also noticed that my Trash folder had disappeared when I created my IMAP account. Didn't know where they wanted me to send my trash to. I've sent a tweet about it. Meanwhile, I'll see how much was operator error when I install it on my laptop. Thanks again.

> just read about MailStore.

No, you should not do this. Don't be tempted by stuff you read that sound interesting. When it because available by default is the time to be happy for it.

> see now that Mozilla is going to stop support for the 32bit

No, 32bit support will not stop. How did you get that idea?

I read it somewhere on the Mozzilla pages that they will be converting over to 64bit and stopping the 32bit. If they automatically set the download to the 32bit and now they've set it to the 64bit, it does make sense.

MailStore is interesting. I'm trying it out on my laptop. It does back up the profile and I can see all my messages. It isn't as easy as they claimed though. Now the next step will be sending them back to Thunderbird after I install the 64bit to see what happens. The only way I learn about programs is by playing with it too, but I just don't understand all the techincal lingo most speak.

Forget what I said about Mailstore. I was thinking of something different called maildir.