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.

after a file repair my emails disappeared. can they be restored?

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by christ1

cplotkin
cplotkin
more options

I was having difficulty "compacting" my emails in my inbox, even though all my other much larger files ie trash, compacted no problem. I came across a repair file option and after that all my emails but a few were gone. Can I retrieve those?

I was having difficulty "compacting" my emails in my inbox, even though all my other much larger files ie trash, compacted no problem. I came across a repair file option and after that all my emails but a few were gone. Can I retrieve those?

All Replies (1)

christ1
christ1
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

It sounds like your mail files were corrupted.

When attempting to rebuild the index file of a troubled folder Thunderbird is trying to repair the damage already done.

Depending on the corruption this may erase messages from the affected folder which cannot be recovered anymore. In that case you'd need to restore them from a recent backup done prior to the corruption.

Corruption is often caused by anti-virus software messing with Thunderbird mail files. It is therefore recommended to create an exception for the Thunderbird profile folder, so that the real-time scanner won't attempt to scan the profile with your mail.

For more information on the profile location see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Thunderbird

Also see http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_-_Thunderbird

Make sure to create backups of your profile folder on a regular basis. https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-tb#w_backing-up-a-profile