How can I import emails from a specific email address?
I am running Thunderbird 68.8.0 checking 4 different IMAP email addresses. Two of the email addresses are through GoDaddy servers, and I recently had to make a change to one of them on the GoDaddy side. Before making the change, I backed up my entire Thunderbird profile (all 4 addresses) to make sure I didn't lose anything. I'm glad I did because once the server update was done on the GoDaddy side, the most recent emails showing through the webmail portal were two years old.
My question is how can I restore all the emails for the single email address in Thunderbird? I can see all four of the separate email address folders in my Thunderbird backup location, but when I copy the contents of the email address I want to restore into the current Thunderbird folder, those folders only appear momentarily when I open Thunderbird before the synchronization with the server wipes them out. Is there a way to import them from the backup location while Thunderbird is open so the get synchronized up to the server?
All Replies (6)
Open the account subfolder of Mail or ImapMail in the profile folder of the account you wish to restore, look for the mbox files - the large files with no extension, named after the folder, e.g. Inbox. Copy the mbox files into Mail/Local Folders of the active profile, while TB is closed. When TB is restarted, the folders should appear under Local Folders in the Folder Pane. If you must copy them to folders of an IMAP account, by drag and drop, do so in small batches, as large uploads are not really suitable for IMAP, and in fact most mail providers impose daily upload limits.
Oddly enough, not every folder that was in the original account has an MBOX file (no extension). Some have the mbox file, associated .msf file, and a .sbd folder. Copying those seem to work (though not always with the correct subfolder structure), but many of the original email folders only have a .msf file, which doesn't seem to restore either the folder or any of the emails within it.
If a folder has an msf file but no mbox, it may be because it is a folder that is not set to keep offline folders, i.e. only headers are downloaded. Look in the Sync. & Storage section of Account Settings, Message Sync., to see if some folders are not storing mail in mbox files.
Well, that's unfortunate. Since I just copied the entire contents of the profile before making the changes on the server, I guess those emails are gone if those folders weren't previously set to keep local copies?
If the messages are still on the server, as seen in webmail, and the folder is subscribed, you should only have to allow offline folders, i.e. check the folder in the Message Sync., then right-click the folder, Properties, Repair Folder, and the messages should download.
Unfortunately, the server changes happened once I made the original copy of (what I thought were the correct) Thunderbird folders, so I don't have access to their original server locations. All I have at this point is what was stored locally in the Thunderbird profile, I guess I'm SOL trying to retrieve anything from old folders that didn't have a local mbox file.