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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Cant retrieve emails from backed up profile

  • 3 replies
  • 0 have this problem
  • 3 views
  • Last reply by david

Greg
Greg
more options

Hi

I recently did a fresh install on my computer and had backed up my Thunderbird profile folder however after reinstalling and placing the backed up profile files into the profiles directory I cant see any of my folders or saved emails.

Hi I recently did a fresh install on my computer and had backed up my Thunderbird profile folder however after reinstalling and placing the backed up profile files into the profiles directory I cant see any of my folders or saved emails.

All Replies (3)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Please share the steps you took to back up the profile and I'll try to assist from there. Thank you.

Greg
Greg Question owner
more options

Hi David

Just prior to formatting I copied the Profiles folder from the Thunderbird folder in AppData to a separate drive. After formatting and reinstalling I initially tried just putting the data from the backup folder into the new profiles folder without any success. I then tried creating a new profile and copying the info from the backup folder into the new profile folder again with no success.

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

My guess is that you copied the profile while Thunderbird was running, which creates a corrupt profile. However, the message folders can be saved (e.g., inbox, inbox.msf) by copying them to Mail\Local folders of a new profile. The addressbook (abook.sqlite) can also be salvaged.