Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

On mac, can no longer access any old emails since upgrading to TB 78.10.0

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by fireoz

more options

Since upgrading Thunderbird on a mac, I cannot find ANY of my old emails, or their accounts and folders. Where are they? Emails are stored only on the computer, not in webmail anywhere! How can I access them? I have seen some articles for Windows, about finding the profiels, but I do not understand how to find thess on a Mac. I have been using for years, and have never had such a problem before. Please help, I am panicking. Thanks!

Since upgrading Thunderbird on a mac, I cannot find ANY of my old emails, or their accounts and folders. Where are they? Emails are stored only on the computer, not in webmail anywhere! How can I access them? I have seen some articles for Windows, about finding the profiels, but I do not understand how to find thess on a Mac. I have been using for years, and have never had such a problem before. Please help, I am panicking. Thanks!

Chosen solution

You cannot simply go back to an earlier version, it requires additional steps to allow a downgrade. However, it is possible a new profile was created and set as default and that's why you cannot see accounts etc. So try reselecting the original as default.

You may need to reselect the correct profile name as default. In Thunderbird Help > Troubleshooting Information under 'Application Basics - near the bottom will be 'Profile' - click on 'about-profiles' it opens in a new tab It will list all the profiles. The current one will be set as default. Look for the original and below it will be a 'set as default profile' button - click on that button. Then click on 'Launch profile...' button - it should open in a new window. close the original Thunderbird window.

Helpful links :

Read this answer in context 👍 1

All Replies (3)

more options

I should have also mentioned that the previous app, version, 78.9.1, is still present, but it too lost ALL emails, folders, address books etc! I thought that keeping the previous app would allow me to still access everything it had access to before.

more options

Chosen Solution

You cannot simply go back to an earlier version, it requires additional steps to allow a downgrade. However, it is possible a new profile was created and set as default and that's why you cannot see accounts etc. So try reselecting the original as default.

You may need to reselect the correct profile name as default. In Thunderbird Help > Troubleshooting Information under 'Application Basics - near the bottom will be 'Profile' - click on 'about-profiles' it opens in a new tab It will list all the profiles. The current one will be set as default. Look for the original and below it will be a 'set as default profile' button - click on that button. Then click on 'Launch profile...' button - it should open in a new window. close the original Thunderbird window.

Helpful links :

more options

Thank you Toad-Hall, muchly appreciated!