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

I compacted my folders while off-line and now online I have 400 messages in my inbox, but only 30 on my inbox in thunderbird. Help?

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by fireweed77

more options

I was on a plane and it asked me to compact and I said yes. Afterwards, it only had 17 of the past emails, and the new ones that came in. I need to check those past 400 messages. On my phone, or on gmail online I still have those 400 emails in my inbox, but not in Thunderbird. I tried uninstalling thunderbird and re-installing, but when I re-installed, it just automatically had the same emails, rather than downloading them from gmail. I am about to get back on a plane and really want to keep checking my emails, but they aren't there. I am also worried that it will sync with my online account and delete all 400 emails, which would be very bad as I have not checked and responded to them yet (this is my work account). Please help. Thank you!

I was on a plane and it asked me to compact and I said yes. Afterwards, it only had 17 of the past emails, and the new ones that came in. I need to check those past 400 messages. On my phone, or on gmail online I still have those 400 emails in my inbox, but not in Thunderbird. I tried uninstalling thunderbird and re-installing, but when I re-installed, it just automatically had the same emails, rather than downloading them from gmail. I am about to get back on a plane and really want to keep checking my emails, but they aren't there. I am also worried that it will sync with my online account and delete all 400 emails, which would be very bad as I have not checked and responded to them yet (this is my work account). Please help. Thank you!

All Replies (5)

more options

is the account defined on your computer as imap ? or is it pop?

more options

It is IMAP. Thunderbird has worked for me for years. With it syncing properly with my phone and online gmail account no problem. And I have compacted my folders many times, with no issues.

I was thinking if there is no obvious fix, perhaps you could tell me how to uninstall and reinstall so it downloads my emails from the server the first time I installed thunderbird on my computer. When I tried uninstalling and reinstalling it still had saved all the emails rather than downloading what was on the server, therefore not correcting the problem.

more options

"uninstall and reinstall" in most cases will do nothing. But in this case I suspect that your antivirus software is involved in your problems. What antivirus software are you running?

It is good that the account is imap. Please do the following

1. make sure your antivirus software is set to NOT scan the thunderbird PROFILE directory https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-tb

2. delete the thunderbird PROGRAM directory in the %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% directory. (paste %PROGRAMFILES(X86)% into the windows start menu seach field)

3. reinstall Thunderbird from http://getthunderbird.com/

4. start thunderbird, delete thunderbird's copy of the problem account in tools | account settings

5. redefined the account in thunderbird

more options

I followed all of your steps and I now have the 400+ emails in my inbox. Thank you. However, it has not downloaded all of my subfolders, which I have quite a few of. Any ideas on how to get them downloaded?

more options

I replied to soon. THey are there. Thank you very very much for your help!!!!