Call me confused.

I was able to locate the profile folder and successfully copied the inbox, then sent a message to the email account, containing the file as an attachment.

What does that really mean?

Yes - I'm confused too. I tried to follow information provided here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data I ended up with a text file that contained SOME of the incoming messages received by the mailbox in question (once I sorted through gobbledygook as represented by the attached image) Doesn't really solve my problem. At all.

Suffice to say that I do not have the expertise to know what I'm doing... So disregard my "update" entirely. Do you have any suggestions regarding my original question?

I started writing instructions, when I realized your Thunderbird was still working.

Go to Local folders in Thunderbird and create a folder named recovered.

Go to the troublshooting information on the help menu. In troubleshooting information click on the show profile button.

Close Thunderbird. It must not be running when you play with it's data files.

Here there are two choices.

IMAP mail or pop mail.

So open IMAPMAil is the account was configured as IMAP or Mail if the account was POP.

There will be a folder/ folders named after your mail server (for example mail.comcast.com-1) each time you add an address or have tried to add an account on that server you get a new folder with a number. working out which is which really requires you to just poke around in each folder looking at file dates. The last time you got mail on the account being the period you are looking for.

Now you are looking for files named inbox, sent trash etc. These files are always accompanied by a file of the same name with an MSF extension. So you will see inbox and inbox MSF for example.

So when looking for the file you want, look for an inbox file with the right sort of last update date.

When you locate the files.

Copy the inbox sent etc files then navigate using the windows file manager to the folder mail\local folders \recovered folder Select paste.

So it may be your mail is located in mail\mail.comcast.com so you can click the up arrow in the file manager to get back to the mail folder to select Local folders. If your mail was located in the imap mail folder you have to press the up button to the start and work your way down again into the mail folder. It sounds daunting, but it is not. because you are copying you will not lose anything.

Now if you put things in the right place, when you start Thunderbird the recovered folder will have your old inbox etc in it

Wow, Matt. This looks like precisely what I need. I do believe I can make it work. It's too late tonite for me to tackle, but I'll give it a try tomorrow after I've had at least one cup of coffee. I'll definitely let you know (and arrange for that case of virtual beer) Thank you so much for being the wizard-on-call!

Well, partial success anyway. I was able to copy/paste per your instructions, which resulted in the appropriate folders showing up as subs of Recovered in Thunderbird. (see att image) Unfortunately, however, the folders as shown by T-bird appear to be empty. Nothing there when I click on them - which seems odd, since they show to contain data of some size when viewed in the file manager (see 2nd image).

But all is not lost! I have been able to open and save the files as Word docs, so I can at least retrieve the data I really need. Your assistance is GREATLY appreciated. You are a life saver.

I don't understand what the problem was, though. I've removed and reestablished accounts in Thunderbird successfully dozens of times over a period of years and never had this happen before. Any ideas what may have occurred?

right click the inbox in recovered and select properties.

How many messages does it say it contains? does repair folder do anything useful?

Nope. Shows 0 messages and Repair Folder doesn't change anything. Same with the Sent and Drafts folders. I fear there are no magic bullets for me...

I'm actually more concerned now about WHY this happened this time, since I have clients whose websites I host/maintain and who contact me for help with email problems. In the past, I've been confident I could advise them to remove an account and set it up as new without fear they would lose their stored files. Now, I can see it could be a gamble. Just glad this was one of my own accounts that provided a nasty little learning experience...

That said, can you advise me regarding the best way to back up existing data prior to removing an account so that it would be EASILY accessible in the event of a failure such as the one I've experienced?

Those files are relatively small. Would you like to send them to me as an email attachment and will see if I can work out why they are not reading correctly in Thunderbird. Although 70KB might be a single email.

I'm working from a different location today, so it wouldn't be 'til later - but I could do that if you think it will help you determine the original problem. You just want the Word docs I retrieved? And is the email on your profile page the one I should use?

KayMElle said

I'm working from a different location today, so it wouldn't be 'til later - but I could do that if you think it will help you determine the original problem. You just want the Word docs I retrieved? And is the email on your profile page the one I should use?

Any time it fine, yes I make that email public for just these occasions.

No I do not want word docs. I want the original files before you converted them to word format. Having a word document would not help either your problem, or my blood pressure :)