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

Can't see emails; account folder in Profiles is empty

  • 1 reply
  • 2 have this problem
  • 15 views
  • Last reply by Bderksen

more options

For several years, I have been using three accounts in Thunderbird. Suddenly, on one account, all emails and sub folders have disappeared. None of the folders show, (Drafts, Trash, etc) except for "Inbox", and clicking on this has no effect, although it does appear that there are "placeholders" but no data for the emails that should be in the inbox. The folder for this account in Profiles\xxx.default\mail is empty. The folders for the other accounts have the appropriate files and sub-folders. I cannot find the missing .sbd folders or .msf files in the Recycle folder or anywhere else on the hard derive. I have tried "Repair Folder" with no effect. There is a possibility that Thunderbird may have been in the process of Compacting Folders when I shut the computer down. Any suggestions for recovering these files/emails would be greatly appreciated! Thunderbird 38.5.1, Win XP SP3

For several years, I have been using three accounts in Thunderbird. Suddenly, on one account, all emails and sub folders have disappeared. None of the folders show, (Drafts, Trash, etc) except for "Inbox", and clicking on this has no effect, although it does appear that there are "placeholders" but no data for the emails that should be in the inbox. The folder for this account in Profiles\xxx.default\mail is empty. The folders for the other accounts have the appropriate files and sub-folders. I cannot find the missing .sbd folders or .msf files in the Recycle folder or anywhere else on the hard derive. I have tried "Repair Folder" with no effect. There is a possibility that Thunderbird may have been in the process of Compacting Folders when I shut the computer down. Any suggestions for recovering these files/emails would be greatly appreciated! Thunderbird 38.5.1, Win XP SP3

Chosen solution

I ran CHKDSK and it found and fixed a bunch of orphaned files. This restored the mail folder and solved the problem.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (1)

more options

Chosen Solution

I ran CHKDSK and it found and fixed a bunch of orphaned files. This restored the mail folder and solved the problem.