Changed server address in account settings / lost all my old emails
I've been using Thunderbird for more than a decade. I changed my hosting company, and i thought i could simply change the server address in the account settings and continue working.
Thunderbird has some bad behavior where it automatically changes the account name to reflect the email server address. It should instead reflect the email address, and it shouldn't change existing accounts. That seems like a bug not a feature.
I should have guessed that all my old emails would disappear. I desperately need to get them back.
Changing hosting companies is pretty common. The email address is the same, only the mail server address changes, so i expected Thunderbird to seamlessly handle it without drama.
I changed the account name back to reflect the email address as before, but the emails did not come back. I checked the profile folder, and my old emails still exist in plain text in a big file called INBOX. They are there, in the same folder, everything is the same. I just need to figure out how to make the emails reappear in the list so i can easily read them again and access their attachments.
Is there any tool for sucking emails into Thunderbird from an existing Thunderbird INBOX file? I'm a C programmer, is it worth trying to code my own importer? Is there any technical documentation that might help me?
Chosen solution
Help/Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, close TB, copy the INBOX mbox file into Mail/Local Folders, restart TB, find the INBOX folder under Local Folders in the Folder Pane.
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in TB , when a mail-account is setup to use IMAP based access/protocol , then TB only downloads a copy of email from remote mail server into your TB folders to show you locally , according to IMAP protocol standards , unless you manually changed default settings.
in TB , when a mail-account is setup to use POP based access/protocol , then TB downloads+MOVE the email from remote mail server into your TB folders to show you locally , according to POP protocol standards , unless you manually changed default settings.
TB = Thunderbird . email client software.
so if you have used POP based access (from TB or any other email client software) then your emails are in the TB or in the email client software which you used , where you accessed your emails.
if you have used IMAP based access, to view emails, then your emails remained in remote-server.
if you have a COPY of your MAIL-SERVER's ALL DATA & SETTINGS , before you changed HOSTING COMPANY = HSP = Hosting Service Provider (aka Cloud Service Provider, etc) then use that COPY , & find your email files, & put them back into corresponding email-accounts folder/sub-fodler in your mail-server , then TB , email-client , will be able to access/view it again . use IMAP based access from TB email client app.
in TB in a IMAP based mail-account , if you ONCE change email/server & allow it to connect-to/sync-with a remote mail-server , then TB will sync with new (remote) email/server/storage , & will discard all older email/server data/emails in local computer's storage.
please WAIT FOR TB-SUPPORTER's RESPONSE on this , how you can get back older emails/data from TB email client , if possible.
a Mail-Server operator should have made backup/copy all emails/settings,etc from his/her mail-server , before changing HSP.
mail-server only holds/keeps emails when client/user is using IMAP.
mail-server will not hold/keep any email when client/user is using POP.
that behavior/policy/rule is a very well known, and Standard as well.
your previous HSP may have an INSTANCE COPY of your mail-server , you may be able to obtain that , so communicate with them & find out what they want for that.
some HSP may/can keep backup INSTANCE for 1 month or so , before they purge/delete completely.
do not use/do "Compact Folder/Emails" option in TB.
earlier emails are kept as "hidden" email paragraph/section , inside a combined email file (a "MBOX" file that is based on "file per folder").
and if you did not delete any mail-account(s) in TB , then that combined email file (MBOX file) is still available.
so don't delete (and don't do any Compact-Folder/Email) for any "mail-account" in TB in that TB-profile.
wait for other TB-supporters to help you further on this.
Modified by atErik
Chosen Solution
Help/Troubleshooting, Profile Folder, Open Folder, close TB, copy the INBOX mbox file into Mail/Local Folders, restart TB, find the INBOX folder under Local Folders in the Folder Pane.
Of course i should have known IMAP wouldn't like it.
Copying the INBOX files into Mail / Local Folders gave me the old email list back.
You guys rock. Thunderbird forever!