This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

My mails disappear; becomes unreadable.

more options

This is the third time i have got the same problem in 2 years. Some of my mails in received folder becomes unreadable. When i click on a mail the info in the mail (sender, subject, contents) all disappears thoıugh i can see the mail header in the list very well.

In the first two occasions 20-50 mails were lost out of around 500 mails. In the last instance however i could save only a few of the mails out of 300+ mails. If i do nothing new incoming mails also become unreadable but if i move the corrupted mails to another folder and empty the received mails folder, i got no problem with the new mails.

I posted two images one of which shows corrupted mail and other one is with normal mail.

I would appreciate any help and if there is a way to save my corrupted mails, this would be great. Best Regards, Mustafa Isilak

This is the third time i have got the same problem in 2 years. Some of my mails in received folder becomes unreadable. When i click on a mail the info in the mail (sender, subject, contents) all disappears thoıugh i can see the mail header in the list very well. In the first two occasions 20-50 mails were lost out of around 500 mails. In the last instance however i could save only a few of the mails out of 300+ mails. If i do nothing new incoming mails also become unreadable but if i move the corrupted mails to another folder and empty the received mails folder, i got no problem with the new mails. I posted two images one of which shows corrupted mail and other one is with normal mail. I would appreciate any help and if there is a way to save my corrupted mails, this would be great. Best Regards, Mustafa Isilak

Chosen solution

The mailbox is just a file were each mail is listed one after another. When you "delete" you just mark it as deleted. It's still there in the inbox. To rewrite this file that can be very big as all attachments are part of the mails every time you delete can take a very long time. That's why compacting is crucial. Trash/bin has a copy and is a way you can rescue a deleted mail. When you empty trash you just delete this copy.

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (12)

more options

misilak said

This is the third time i have got the same problem in 2 years. Some of my mails in received folder becomes unreadable. When i click on a mail the info in the mail (sender, subject, contents) all disappears thoıugh i can see the mail header in the list very well. In the first two occasions 20-50 mails were lost out of around 500 mails. In the last instance however i could save only a few of the mails out of 300+ mails. If i do nothing new incoming mails also become unreadable but if i move the corrupted mails to another folder and empty the received mails folder, i got no problem with the new mails. I posted two images one of which shows corrupted mail and other one is with normal mail. I would appreciate any help and if there is a way to save my corrupted mails, this would be great. Best Regards, Mustafa Isilak

Images resent

more options

First question, do you compact your folders regularly? Second, do you move them to local folders so that inbox is small.

more options

Gnospen said

First question, do you compact your folders regularly? Second, do you move them to local folders so that inbox is small.

First question: In usual i do but i think at least two of the occasions i didnt accept the program to compact the folders because i would work on some messages and when i compact them though i had sent the "read" message; after compacting it asks me again to send "read" message. Second question: In general "no". Around 300 to 600 messages are in Inbox. (By the way thanks for reminding that its English is Inbox, not "received" folder :) )

more options

Is it POP or IMAP? Who is your Email server provider? If POP do you keep the emails on the server? Whats the limit? If IMAP whats the limit? Not compacting inbox means that you keep all deleted and moved mails in the mailbox, marked as deleted so they don't show up. If there is an offer to compact, that means you reached a limit either your limit or the servers. Don't use folders on the server to store your archive, Attachment take lots of space. Store it on your computer with a link in the email. That way the folder get's smaller and easier to handle

If you have music at the same provider with same account then you share your email-space with music. (some do)

I'm convinced that you loosing emails have to do with limits or maybe a corrupt .msf-file

more options

It is POP mail but i do not keep my mails on the server since i need to reach my mails when i am offline also. From Inbox i either put the mail into my archive at "Local Folders" or i delete the mail. I would like to ask due to your sentence "Not compacting inbox means that you keep all deleted and moved mails in the mailbox, marked as deleted so they don't show up." that even if i empty the deleted mail folder, do they stay there?

more options

Chosen Solution

The mailbox is just a file were each mail is listed one after another. When you "delete" you just mark it as deleted. It's still there in the inbox. To rewrite this file that can be very big as all attachments are part of the mails every time you delete can take a very long time. That's why compacting is crucial. Trash/bin has a copy and is a way you can rescue a deleted mail. When you empty trash you just delete this copy.

more options

The third time this has happened? It is about time to learn how to maintain your email system. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_%28Thunderbird%29

more options

Airmail said

The third time this has happened? It is about time to learn how to maintain your email system. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_%28Thunderbird%29

Thank you very much Airmail and Gnospen. I think in Mozillazine page the first Routine Usage entry saying: "Keep the Inbox empty. Move new messages that you want to keep to another folder after you've read them. This may help avoid corrupting your Inbox folder, and will help maintain best performance." is the reason of corrupt Inbox.

I hope this is valid only for Inbox since i have thousands of mail in my Sent box.

more options

Compacting your folders on a regular basis is very important also.

more options

misilak said

This is the third time i have got the same problem in 2 years. Some of my mails in received folder becomes unreadable. When i click on a mail the info in the mail (sender, subject, contents) all disappears thoıugh i can see the mail header in the list very well. In the first two occasions 20-50 mails were lost out of around 500 mails. In the last instance however i could save only a few of the mails out of 300+ mails. If i do nothing new incoming mails also become unreadable but if i move the corrupted mails to another folder and empty the received mails folder, i got no problem with the new mails. I posted two images one of which shows corrupted mail and other one is with normal mail. I would appreciate any help and if there is a way to save my corrupted mails, this would be great. Best Regards, Mustafa Isilak
more options

I have the problem of disappearing email also, however they do not appear in Trash. I see references to a Junk folder but I don't find a folder by that name, only Trash. I have compacted now so I'll see if that helps but doesn't seem that I had a lot in the folder.

Modified by blueba

more options

blueba, please start a thread of your own with details of your issue. This thread is 4 months old and has been solved tor the OP.