Removed email account by mistake
had an old Earthlink email account become compromised so had to shut it down. Installed a new email address (non-Earthlink) in Thunderbird. Everything worked fine, had (2) email accounts showing the old email account and my new email account. The old email address continued to try to contact my compromised email address. So I decided to try to inactivate/remove it from the sidebar. I mistakenly ended up removing the email account and all of my old emails (that I was wanting to save/keep in Thunderbird). Is there a way to restore the deleted emails (Inbox / Sent / Trash) from the old (shut down) email account?
All Replies (9)
Not without a backup to restore the deleted files.
Damn...that's what I was afraid of :( Thank you
Was the old deleted account a POP account? If yes, then it is ikely all the account mbox files are still in the profile name folder.
It is possible to get copies of all mbox files put into the 'Local Folders' mail account to see emails.
Create a folder in 'Local Folders' let's call it 'OLD EL'
In Thunderbird Menu app icon > Help > More Troubleshooting Information Scroll down to 'Profile Folder' - click on 'Open Folder' - see image
New window opens showing the contents of your 'profile name' folder
Exit Thunderbird now - this is important
Click on 'Mail' folder You will see 'Local Folders' folder and all pop mail account folders.
Right click on 'Local Folders' folder and choose to open in a new window - m ove this window so it is beside the 'MAil' window. You will see a folder called 'OLD EL.sbd' - click on it to see contents which is nothing at the moment. This is where you need to put all the copies of mbox files and .sbd folders.
Back in 'Mail' folder - click on the pop earthlink mail account folder to see contents All the mbox files have names like 'Inbox', 'Sent' - they do not have any extention - they all need to be copied and pasted into that 'OLD EL.sbd' folder. So ignore any files with .msf extension as they are just index files. If you see any folders with a *.sbd extension then they may contain subfolders. Copy those .sbd folders and paste them into the 'OLD EL.sbd' folder.
I've included an image which is a generic pop account showing mbox files and copy files to Local Folders, so it may help to show you what files I'm talking about.
Once all is done, start Thunderbird.
Modified by Toad-Hall
Thank you very much Toad-Hall. I'm going to try this tomorrow. I will keep you posted. Thanks again !
Toad-Hall, I see exactly where you're going with this. Thank you ! But after I create the "OLD EL" folder in Local Folders (Thunderbird) and attempt to open and copy to it, I'm noticing a few things...
1) The folder does not show the .sbd extension. It only shows as "OLD EL" with no extension. It does have the "OLD EL.msf" folder showing.
2) When I attempt to open the "OLD EL" folder, it asks "what app do I want to open it with?" What app would be best to view the folder and allow me to paste in? After right-clicking on the "inbox / sent / archives / trash" folders, and clicking "copy"... it is not allowing me to paste in the "OLD EL" folder. Assuming because I need to open and view the folder in order to paste...correct ?
brreinf said
after I create the "OLD EL" folder in Local Folders (Thunderbird) and attempt to open and copy to it, I'm noticing a few things... 1) The folder does not show the .sbd extension. It only shows as "OLD EL" with no extension. It does have the "OLD EL.msf" folder showing.
That's correct. What Toad-Hall forgot to say is that the OLD EL folder in Thunderbird will NOT have a .sbd extension in the profile folder UNLESS it has a subfolder under it in Thunderbird. So, go ahead and create a subfolder under the OLD EL folder in Thunderbird. You can call it Temp. You will then see an OLD EL.sbd folder. You can then copy those mbox files (with no extensions) inside the OLD EL.sbd folder. You can also delete the Temp and Temp.msf files that were created, you won't need them anymore.
Hi brreinf
Yep, sorry I missed out a stage which stans has correctly pointed out. After creating the 'OLD EL' folder in 'Local Folders', create a subfolder called 'Temp' in the 'OLD EL' folder.
Then access profile as before, Exit Thunderbird and follow same instructions, this time you will see the 'OLD EL.sbd' folder. Open the 'OLD EL.sbd' folder and you will see those 'Temp' files which you can now delete. Then copy over all the mbox files etc as mentioned before.
Stans / Toad-Hall... IT WORKED! IT WORKED! IT WORKED! I cannot thank you enough. You helped me out SO MUCH.
THANK YOU! (yes I'm yelling...in a good way Ha!)
Good to hear all has been found and visible again.