The jpg attached does the best job of describing this. Problem: The message list (not message pane) disappears. I can still select the invisible message, and it will appear in the message pane. But I can't read the list of messages. It's as though the ink is white, and therefore invisible. For about a month, it only happened on one folder. I thought perhaps my files were too big, so I've been deleting and compacting a great deal. But now a second folder has the same problem. They are possibly the two largest folders. Or the two oldest. By oldest, I mean they are the first and second folders I ever created. I have a Win 7/64 op system. Thunderbird v38.6.0. What I have already tried: # I have turned all add-ons off. I have also run it in Thunderbird safe mode. Same problem. No change. # I have compacted these folders and all folders # I have emptied the trash # I have reduced the number of messages by hundreds, even thousands. # And then recompacted. # I have rebuilt the *.msf file by selecting the Repair button on the Properties menu # I have moved all the messages from one folder to another new folder. And they are still invisible. # The msf file for the INBOX folder is 553 KB. The associated INBOX file is 60 MB. # The msf file for the 1 CYN folder is 864 KB. The associated 1 CYN folder file is 255 MB I have been using Thunderbird since 2007. I'm very happy with it. So again. The problem is in only 2 folders. One has 854 messages, The other has 1100 ish. I can select and read the message. The message pane has no problem I can see and select a folder. The folder pane has no problem I cannot see the list of messages in a folder. But I can select them blindly. This is the problem. I am uploading a screen capture of the problem. I am also hoping to upload screen capture of the windows explorer file listings for the msf and similar files. Thank you.