Address books nearly empty after reinstall and intray housekeeping
I am in the process of changing from one primary email address to another, and as a result I recently spent a lot of time deleting emails from the old address or moving them to Local Folders (and subfolders of). At around the same time, I also deleted and reinstalled Thunderbird, because I wanted to change its install location. I managed to recreate my four accounts without any difficulty, but an unexpected consequence of one or the other of these actions seems to be that most addresses have vanished from my address books. It is as if the address book records are pointers to intray email headers, and when those emails are removed, so are the address book entries ... though I'm sure that's not what's actually going on! Maybe it's just coincidence, but whatever the explanation, it is the case that my address books are shadows of their former selves. I browsed the first three pages of hits when I searched for "address book", but there are more than a thousand hits and that way lies self-help madness! Although I did look at one hit that gave me to wonder if I need to rebuild the global database. Grateful for any wisdom; been using Thunderbird for many years and this is the first time I've resorted to asking the community. I'm using the latest release, v102.11.0 64 bit, on a desktop with Windows 7 Home Premium SP1.
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re I also deleted and reinstalled Thunderbird, because I wanted to change its install location.
I'm presuming you only deleted the program, so you could install it into a different 'custom' directory and not the default. But that would not have effected anything to do with your profile.
Q - Did you reinstall the same identical version of Thunderbird which you were previously using ?
Q But did you mean you also wanted to move the profile data itself to a new storage location?
re: I managed to recreate my four accounts without any difficulty,
If you merely reinstalled the program then it would have started up and hooked up to the original profile data, thus meaning you did not recreate any accounts. Q Did this occur?
However, if you actually move the 'profile name' folder to another location.... Q Did you do this: Start Thunderbird, create a new profile and pointing it to look at the old profile - this would have updated the 'profiles,ini' file, so the new installed Thunderbird would know where to find the new location of original profile. Q Or this: Did Thunderbird start with a new profile, so you created the mail accounts again and then went into the Account Settings - Local directory and pointed the account to look in a different folder ?
re Address Books: In Address Book Q: Have you lost visibility of any actual address books? Q: Do you only use 'Personal Address Book' and 'Collected Addresses'?
Q: Is it only contacts that are missing? Q: What is the name of the address book that has missing contacts?
Hello Mr Hall :)
Thank you for such a comprehensive reply. Sorry it too k me a while to reply – now I’m retired I’m spending a lot less time glued to a computer in the daytime! I guess the best way to respond is interspersed, same as you did to me. I’ve used bold for my latest set of additions.
re I also deleted and reinstalled Thunderbird, because I wanted to change its install location.
I'm presuming you only deleted the program, so you could install it into a different 'custom' directory and not the default. But that would not have effected anything to do with your profile.
You are correct about the reason for the reinstallation. I have a separate hard disk (D:) for programs and my Thunderbird installation was in the default directory so I wanted to move it there. However, I’m sorry but I misled you, by unforgivably sloppy use of language, about how I did it. I didn’t just delete the program, I did a proper uninstall.
Q - Did you reinstall the same identical version of Thunderbird which you were previously using ?
I doubt it. What I mean is, the installer exe I used for the installation I removed was pretty old. I can’t be specific because I have deleted it now. I guess that installation will have been upgraded periodically, so the net result probably was up to date, technically speaking. But to reinstall Thunderbird I downloaded and used the very latest version of the installer. So even if the reinstalled version was identical in principle to the version I uninstalled, I doubt it will have been an identical installation. If you see what I mean.
Q But did you mean you also wanted to move the profile data itself to a new storage location?
Well, I’ll be honest, I don’t understand much about what a “profile” entails. Ideally yes, I’d have moved the profile data to a new location too, because I have another separate hard disk (E:) specifically for data. I like to try and keep my C: drive confined to Windows as far as possible. But the installer doesn’t give any options with respect to where the profile data should live, and I don’t know if it’s possible to relocate it, or if so how. So what I believe happened is my original profile was deleted when I uninstalled the original installation, and was recreated (presumably in the same default location) when I reinstalled.
re: I managed to recreate my four accounts without any difficulty,
If you merely reinstalled the program then it would have started up and hooked up to the original profile data, thus meaning you did not recreate any accounts. Q Did this occur?
No, I recreated the accounts, same way as I did when I originally installed. The reinstalled Thunderbird didn’t hook up to any original profile data. Like I say, I assume(d) the original profile would have been deleted when the program was uninstalled.
However, if you actually move the 'profile name' folder to another location.... Q Did you do this: Start Thunderbird, create a new profile and pointing it to look at the old profile - this would have updated the 'profiles,ini' file, so the new installed Thunderbird would know where to find the new location of original profile. Q Or this: Did Thunderbird start with a new profile, so you created the mail accounts again and then went into the Account Settings - Local directory and pointed the account to look in a different folder ?
Neither of the above. I didn’t create a new profile and point it to look at the old profile (I wouldn’t know how). Thunderbird started with a new profile, as I understand it; I recreated the mail accounts, but I didn’t do anything about pointing anything to look anywhere else.
re Address Books: In Address Book Q: Have you lost visibility of any actual address books? Q: Do you only use 'Personal Address Book' and 'Collected Addresses'?
I’m not sure if I’ve lost visibility of any actual address books. Not a very helpful answer I’m afraid. I did a bit of experimentation last year with creating one or two new ones, but I think I may have deleted them again because something about them wasn’t working like I expected. What I actually wanted was lists of names in a group i.e. mailing lists. I think I made two mailing lists instead but I didn’t need to use them yet. What I actually see now, under Address Books from the menu, as well as the two you mentioned, is four more all called just Address Book. I believe these four are there because when I recreated my four accounts, Thunderbird asked me each time (something like) if I wanted to link to an existing address book it had found, and it seemed like the sensible answer was yes. They are all empty. Apart from them, yes, I only use Personal Address Book and Collected Addresses. And to say I use them is a bit of an exaggeration; from my perspective, address books just live in the background and take care of themselves, without any input from me. In particular, I don’t understand how or why addresses get into one or the other of Personal Address Book or Collected Addresses; I only recall ever editing existing entries, not adding them. It was only when I started to compose emails after reinstallation, and started to type names that I expected to auto-complete and didn’t, that I had a look at the address books and found lots of missing entries.
Q: Is it only contacts that are missing? Q: What is the name of the address book that has missing contacts?
When you say only contacts ... you mean, as opposed to mailing lists? No, I think there are mailing lists missing too. But only if a mailing list is a line item in an address book. I can't remember if that is the case, or if it is an object in its own right under Address Books from the menu, like an address book.
Personal Address Book now has no contacts in it at all. Collected Addresses has 39 contacts; I couldn’t say how many were in it for the old installation, but I’m guessing two or three hundred at least.
A profile is a folder that contains all the necessary files to display your preferences, mail accounts, calendar and address books.
If the original exists then it will be in this location:
- C:/Users/user name/Appdata/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/'profile name' folder.
re :Personal Address Book now has no contacts in it at all. Collected Addresses has 39 contacts;
That sounds like you have lost everything to do with address books. The 39 contacts in 'Collected Addresses' has been probably collected since you started the new profile.
See if the original profile still exists because just uninstalling a program does not necessarilly mean it removed all the profile folders as well because they are not stored in the same locations.
So access this location:
- C:/Users/user name/Appdata/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/'profile name' folder.
In the profile name folder which typically may be called something like this: 123abc4.default You may have more than one 'profile name' folder, so tell me if you do. One might be the original and the other might be a new one created when you reinstalled Thunderbird.
The 'Personal Address Book' is called 'abook.sqlite'. It used to be called 'abook.mab' and when updates to address book format have occurred (done by developers) you see backup version typically called 'abook.v2.sqlite'. You are looking for files called 'abook.mab' or 'abook.sqlite' or abook.v2.sqlite Post an image of what you see.
If these files exist then I'll provide some more info on what to do with them.
由 Toad-Hall 於 修改
You may have more than one 'profile name' folder, so tell me if you do. One might be the original and the other might be a new one created when you reinstalled Thunderbird.
Yes! See screenshot 1 (tbird profiles 1.jpg). I had a look in both folders and it's clear that one is newly created on 19 April, and the other is what I had before I reinstalled - yes? See screenshots 2 and 3 (tbird profiles 2.jpg & tbird profiles 3.jpg).
All may not be lost after all. Please tell me what to do next! Many many thanks,
Andy
The 'Personal Address Book' is called 'abook.sqlite'
Default address books can be easily copied from one profile to another.
Remember Thunderbird must not be running whilst you do this.
In profile name '4y6gyike.default':
- copy the file called 'abook.sqlite'
In profile name '66xdihbd.default-release'
- Delete the file called 'abook.sqlite'
- Then paste the copied 'abook.sqlite' file into '66xdihbd.default-release', thus replacing the one you deleted.
Whilst you are in this location - 66xdihbd.default-release -
- look for the 'prefs.js' file.
- Open 'prefs.js' file using 'Notepad'.
- scroll down until you see the section that starts with: user_pref("ldap_2.servers.
- Make sure you can see all that section and upload an image of everything you see that has those lines.
- Then close the file - you do not need to save anything.
Start Thunderbird
Report on whether the 'Personal Address book' has been restored.
I notice the current profile - 66xdihbd.default-release - has additional address books called eg: abook-1.sqlite Have you created 4 new address books and do you see all of them in your 'Address Book' or have you deleted them?
upload an image of everything you see that has those lines
Please see attached!
Report on whether the 'Personal Address book' has been restored.
No it has not :( it is still empty
As for the other address books ... I believe they were created when I was recreating my four accounts after I reinstalled Thunderbird. Each time I recreated an account, Thunderbird told me it had found an address book and asked if I wanted to import it. I wasn't expecting this but I said yes. I still see all of them in my address book but they are all empty and I don't see they serve any purpose.
In original profile name folder - '4y6gyike.default': regarding the 'abook.sqlite' file Unfortunately the image you supplied does not show the 'Size' column.
What size are these files:
- 'abook.sqlite'
- 'abook.v2.sqlite'
- 'abook.v3.sqlite'
Please confirm - you did close Thunderbird before copy pasting the abook.sqlite file from one profile to the other.
re :As for the other address books ... I still see all of them in my address book but they are all empty and I don't see they serve any purpose.
Those are gmail calendars, so you may need to synchronise them - that's assuming you actually use gmail calendars ? If you do not have anything in your gmail calendars then you're not going to see anything.
What size are these files:
abook.sqlite - 320 kB abook.v2.sqlite - 320 kB abook.v3.sqlite - 320 kB
I attached a new screenshot with all details.
I confirm I did close Thunderbird before copy pasting the abook.sqlite file from one profile to the other.
I don't use gmail calendars. I guess they exist by default even if empty, and they are what Thunderbird found when I recreated my accounts. I will delete them.
