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

How to restore a deleted email account

more options

Verizon sold my email to AOL which uses IMAP instead of POP. Inadvertently I deleted the POP email account and added the IMAP account. After I did this I discovered that all my old email had disappeared. I read the instructions on Mozillazine on how to restore an email account but it does not give a step by step instruction. I tried to follow it but was unsuccessful. Please help!

Verizon sold my email to AOL which uses IMAP instead of POP. Inadvertently I deleted the POP email account and added the IMAP account. After I did this I discovered that all my old email had disappeared. I read the instructions on Mozillazine on how to restore an email account but it does not give a step by step instruction. I tried to follow it but was unsuccessful. Please help!

Saafara biñ tànn

That was the article I referred to in my original post. It was not specific enough. i.e, I need to be told "go here" "click on this" etc.

Jàng tontu lii ci fi mu bokk 👍 0

All Replies (4)

more options

Saafara yiñ Tànn

That was the article I referred to in my original post. It was not specific enough. i.e, I need to be told "go here" "click on this" etc.

more options

This problem is NOT SOLVED yet

more options

This is what Mozilla says:

Start Thunderbird and create a new mail account, using the same email address and server settings as the account you deleted.

I know how to start Thunderbird but the instructions do not say what to do to create a new mail account. I clicked on Tools, Then I clicked on Account Settings, At the bottom of the left side I clicked on the drop down arrow of Account Actions and I cli9cked on Add Mail Account. A new window opened and it said "Mail Account Setup. I entered my name as it was in the deleted account and I entered my deleted account email address and password and clicked on "Get a new account" A new window opened and it said "Welcome to Thunderbird" "Would you like a new email address" At the bottom of the window I clicked on "Skip this and use my existing email" because I did not want a different email address. Now I think I am in a loop, The new window says "Mail Account Setup" and it again asks for my name, email address and password. If I click on "Get a new account" I go back to the "Welcome to Thunderbird" "Would you like a new email address" I've done this at least 10 days, all with the same results. If I choose "Continue it says "Configuration found in Mozilla ISP database. Then I click on "Done" I get this message: "Error Creating Account" Incoming server already exists. My only choice is to click on OK. So what am I doing wrong?

Mozilla further says: It will create a new account directory with a numeric suffix. For example, if your old mail account directory was pop.gmail.com it will create a pop-gmail-1.com.

Where will I find the new account it created?

Use the browse button in Tools -> Account Settings -> Server Settings -> Local directory to specify the old account directory and restart Thunderbird.

When I browse in Tools, Account Settings, Server Settings, I get the message: "Account Wizard" An account with this name already exists. Please enter a different account name." If I click on "Manage Identities" I only see one identity which is not the account I deleted.

What am I doing wrong?