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

Tabs not working. Messages not deleting. Tried reinstall AND reset (fixed only for a two days.)

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by Mugsy

more options

Something hinky is going on (and No, it's not a virus.)

Following an "Upgrade" to v40, I started experiencing problems.

When I open Thunderbird, it displays my Home tab, not my Inbox. If I select my Inbox, the window does not change. Clicking the "Read Messages" link does nothing. The only way to view my Inbox is to right-click on it and choose to display it on a New Tab. Then I must manually switch to that tab.

Once there, if I select a message and click Delete, the message is *copied* not moved to my Trash folder (the message remains open on screen while the Trash count goes up by 1.) However, if I close Thunderbird, the "deleted" message will no longer appear in my Inbox.

Clicking the "Write" and "Address Book" buttons does nothing. Clicking "Options" from the "Tools" menu does nothing, but clicking "Account Settings" works fine.

Reinstalling does not help. The data files are likely being corrupted because deleting them and recreating them fixes the problem... but only for a couple of days. Then I'm right back where I began.

I have NO Add-Ons (at least, I didn't before the trouble started. I can't confirm now because the "Add On's" link no longer works) and my PC is virus-free. Thunderbird is the only program behaving oddly.

I even tried *downgrading* Thunderbird back to v38.2 but it didn't help.

Any ideas how to fix this? Thx.

Something hinky is going on (and No, it's not a virus.) Following an "Upgrade" to v40, I started experiencing problems. When I open Thunderbird, it displays my Home tab, not my Inbox. If I select my Inbox, the window does not change. Clicking the "Read Messages" link does nothing. The only way to view my Inbox is to right-click on it and choose to display it on a New Tab. Then I must manually switch to that tab. Once there, if I select a message and click Delete, the message is *copied* not moved to my Trash folder (the message remains open on screen while the Trash count goes up by 1.) However, if I close Thunderbird, the "deleted" message will no longer appear in my Inbox. Clicking the "Write" and "Address Book" buttons does nothing. Clicking "Options" from the "Tools" menu does nothing, but clicking "Account Settings" works fine. Reinstalling does not help. The data files are likely being corrupted because deleting them and recreating them fixes the problem... but only for a couple of days. Then I'm right back where I began. I have NO Add-Ons (at least, I didn't before the trouble started. I can't confirm now because the "Add On's" link no longer works) and my PC is virus-free. Thunderbird is the only program behaving oddly. I even tried *downgrading* Thunderbird back to v38.2 but it didn't help. Any ideas how to fix this? Thx.

Chosen solution

Quick follow-up.

It appears the v40 beta corrupted my mail folders. After going back to v38.2 and recreating my accounts from scratch, the problem has not returned.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (5)

more options

Are you the second person I have seen with an issue that stays fixed for 2 days, or it this the same thing with a different profile?

more options

Matt said

Are you the second person I have seen with an issue that stays fixed for 2 days, or it this the same thing with a different profile?

This is my first posting of the question. Only 1 profile.

Thanks for the reply.

more options

I would suggest until we work out what is happening you stick with the release version.

Reinstalling does not help. The data files are likely being corrupted because deleting them and recreating them fixes the problem... but only for a couple of days. Then I'm right back where I began.

What are you deleting? (what do you mean by data files?)

Note that current version of Thunderbird all ship with builtin add-ons. So try starting Thunderbird while holding the shift key and continue in safe mode when prompted.Do things work?

more options

Matt said What are you deleting? (what do you mean by data files?)

Note that current version of Thunderbird all ship with builtin add-ons. So try starting Thunderbird while holding the shift key and continue in safe mode when prompted.Do things work? </blockquote>

I deleted everything in the "C:\Users\Mugsy\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles" folder, relaunched Thunderbird and recreated my profile.

I already deleted my old profile and did a reinstall to get things working again, so I can't say if Safe Mode would have resolved the issue temporarily, though I can confirm *booting* into Safe Mode and running Thunderbird didn't solve the problem.

We'll just have to see if the problem returns. I'll stick with v38.2 and report back if the problem returns. Thx.

more options

Chosen Solution

Quick follow-up.

It appears the v40 beta corrupted my mail folders. After going back to v38.2 and recreating my accounts from scratch, the problem has not returned.