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

Help please: can't migrate my old emails

  • 4 iimpendulo
  • 0 inale ngxaki
  • 11 views
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu mommajay

more options

(Editing my question because I solved the first half)

Hi. A Windows rep recently made me reset my computer, and I should have known that would break things. I had two email archives on Thunderbird: I switched to a new email server and had an IMAP account since April, but before that, all of my emails were POP3 and stored locally on my computer and then deleted off the server. I had 9 years of emails archived on my computer and loaded into a folder on Thunderbird. When I re-dowloaded Thunderbird, it no longer shows my old emails, only the new IMAP ones. I found the old profile on Windows.old, but it refuses to import no matter what I do. When I try importing the full old profile, it just says unexpected error. When I try importing just folders within the old profile, they come through blank.

Please help. Thanks!

(Editing my question because I solved the first half) Hi. A Windows rep recently made me reset my computer, and I should have known that would break things. I had two email archives on Thunderbird: I switched to a new email server and had an IMAP account since April, but before that, all of my emails were POP3 and stored locally on my computer and then deleted off the server. I had 9 years of emails archived on my computer and loaded into a folder on Thunderbird. When I re-dowloaded Thunderbird, it no longer shows my old emails, only the new IMAP ones. I found the old profile on Windows.old, but it refuses to import no matter what I do. When I try importing the full old profile, it just says unexpected error. When I try importing just folders within the old profile, they come through blank. Please help. Thanks!

Ilungisiwe ngu mommajay

All Replies (4)

more options

(deleting because I solved this part)

Ilungisiwe ngu mommajay

more options

More information is needed. What do you mean by 'reset my computer"? Did that mean to reinstall Windows from scratch? You mention importing from a path that includes 'appdata', yet you also say there is no appdata folder.

more options

A rep made me reinstall Windows, but kept all my files. When I reinstalled Thunderbird, I had no problem getting my IMAP account back, but the POP (old) account was missing. I've finally found the correct profile in Windows.old, but it won't import no matter what I do. I've been working on this for hours and it's driving me crazy. I've tried using the import tool and it keeps importing blank folders, but I can see the folders aren't blank-- the inbox is 22 gigs! How do I get the folders (with their emails!) into Thunderbird again? The IMAP one is already loaded, but the one under it, the one that just says mail, is the one I need.

more options

(What I was saying earlier is that the import tool shows a default path that included AppData, but there was no such folder showing on my computer. Moot point now because it was hidden.)