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

lost emails

  • 4 iimpendulo
  • 0 inale ngxaki
  • Impendulo yokugqibela ngu Rik Smith

more options

For security reasons my computer has had to be re formated. When I have reinstalled Thunderbird I have got all sent emails going back 5 years, deleted emails from the begining of this month and some, but not all, inbox emails from this week. As all my sent emails are listed is it possible to recover my received emails over the same time period.

For security reasons my computer has had to be re formated. When I have reinstalled Thunderbird I have got all sent emails going back 5 years, deleted emails from the begining of this month and some, but not all, inbox emails from this week. As all my sent emails are listed is it possible to recover my received emails over the same time period.

All Replies (4)

more options

You didn't explain how you retrieved the five years of sent mail. Was that in backup you did of the profile prior to the reformat? Did you do a backup? If you did a backup and that is the source of the five years of sent mail and the deleted mail, then more information is needed on how you got where you are. Messages received previously would depend on your account's seup, such as POP or IMAP, and your settings for the account.

Helpful?

more options

Hi David It is IMAP I didn't do a back up as it was my email account that was hacked. All the emails that I referred to appeared when I reinstalled Thunderbird, not immediately but in the space of 30 minutes. I wasn't expecting any emails but just thought that if those appeared was it possible to retrieve any others

Helpful?

more options

Thunderbird automatically repopulates all messages on the server. Check the account online to see what is there. All messages there should appear on Thunderbird. You may need to check account settings, but the default settings are usually okay. If you had a large number of messages there, it may just be a matter of time for the repopulation to happen.

Helpful?

more options

Thanks for that I will give it a day or two and see.

Helpful?

Buza umbuzo

You must log in to your account to reply to posts. Please start a new question, if you do not have an account yet.