See https://support.mozilla.org/kb/rebuilding-global-database

Done that countless times, makes no difference, search IS broken in v128 (as is confirmed by many other users).

I'd be grateful if you could answer my question, which was about other versions

re :search IS broken in v128 (as is confirmed by many other users).

Not sure where you have got that information from because I'm sure I would have come across it. Usually, if something does not work then there is good reason. In some cases people need to check settings, sometimes they are entering the wrong criteria for that particular type of search, sometimes the database needs fixing. Often they are searching for data which returns a result but then they cannot select anything from the result. Usually that's because the email does not exist. They may not be compacting folders or perhaps they have an Anti-Virus product scanning mbox files and trying to fix them and that can result in a loss of email, but AV does not touch the index file, so the display can look like theres and email but in reality it does not exist. Basically there are many reasons for a problem.

So what is causing your issue ? - That would be a good question. I need your assistance to help find out what's going on in your particular case because at this point no one knows. I'm not having any issues, so information from you is vital to see if this really is a bug you have found or whether there is another reason so it can be resolved.

Please tell us the following:

• What OS are you using?
• Do you use Pop or Imap accounts or both?

If IMAP please check and report on finding in this location:

• In 'Account Settings'
• Select 'Synchronisation & Storage' for the imap account
• Is this selected? checkbox - 'keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer'

• Click on 'Advanced' button
• Please check - Are all the folder checkboxes selected to download full copies for each folder ?

Under 'Disk Space'

• Is this selected or something else? : 'Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age'

Please report back telling us what you found - what is or is not selected ?

This helps us to understand your set up.

Just to be clear we are talking about the same method of search, because there are three types. Global Search is using the 'Ctrl+K' option which is seen in the top Unified Toolbar area. It is also invoked if you use 'Quick Filter search (Ctrl+Sift+K)' - enter criteria and press Enter.

Global Search operates only on the folders selected to use it. To check if a folder is included:

• Right click on folder and select 'Properties'
• Select checkbox: Include messages in this folder in Global Search results'
• Click on 'OK'

Spam/Junk and Trash folders are automatically not included. Neither are any special folders created from a search result.

Check the following setting is selected:

• Settings > General
• Scroll to bottom
• Select checkbox : 'Enable Global Search and Indexer'

Having checked all the above is correct please supply visual evidence of the problem.

Need images that show:

1. Evidence of the particular mail you are trying to locate. That means image needs to show the folder and email you want to locate in the Global Search. Image needs to show the search criteria is in the email whether in content or subject etc.
2. Image of what you type into the Global Search area.
3. Image showing the result of the Global Search.

I'm testing Global Search in beta 131.0b2 and all the information you can provide means I can try to replicate the same result as you.

Thanks for your assistance in this matter.

You ask about downgrading to a non ESR version specifically where Global Search is not broken. That's not easy to answer because I've used all the versions and not come across anything where the Global Search did not work. It's also not so easy going back to another version because it involves jumping through a few hoops. Many files have been updated and some use new formats in latest versions.

I've been testing in Global Search.

Setup for test: Account Settings > Synchronisation & Storage Set all folders to download full copies. Select 'Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age'

Local an email older than 30 days - used email received last year. Perform a search on a particular word which I know is part of the body contents of a specific email. Search returned the correct email. This was expected.

I have deliberately done the following.

In one imap account Account Settings > Synchronisation & Storage Set all folders to download full copies. Selected 'Synchronise the most recent 30 days' REstarted Thunderbird Compacted all folders in that imap account to remove all downloaded copies for anything over 30 days, so for those emails I only have headers.

Exit Thunderbird Access profile and delete the global database file to ensure it is up to date. Start Thunderbird

In Global Search deliberately entered a search term which I had previously used.

Result - no result Why ? because the search criteria was for a specific word contained in the 'Body' of an email which currently is only stored as a header. So there is no 'downloaded body content' to search.

Retest: this time type in something which is only in the 'subject of same email. Result - email is returned in search results.

So, it is important for us to understand what you download as full copies and what you only download as headers. It also depends upon whether you are searching for a term in the Headers or in the Body.

I have come across people who said search did not work to locate emails they can see, but what they did not realise was they were only downloading headers so a search on body content would fail.

I hope this explains why it is necessary to understand your account and folder set up. We need to know what is fully download and what is not and what you are searching for eg: something in the content or something in the Subject.

Two extremely generous and detailed responses there, not what I was expecting at all after past experience. A nice surprise.

I have had many many examples over months now, of search not finding emails. I have asked, read guides, compacted, deleted database files, done everything over and over, never improves. Emails are often there, but not being found by CTRL-K search. Many ARE found, it's just that sometimes some aren't and unfortunately that means it's unreliable because when i need something, I need it! I can't trust the results of a search, which is a shame and a deal breaker (not that there are many alternative email programs, which is why I am still using TB).

This is the first I have heard of the 'header' only being searched in some cases where users had similar experience. interesting suggestion. Before I dive into that, I will work through each of your many points, so I make sure to cover all. I'll work through your first post, then second.

I am using Fedora OS (Fedora Workstation 40 with Gnome) I use imap, don't use POP, but I do have a lot of LOCAL folders, which is where most my email is stored.

"Is this selected? checkbox - 'keep messages in all folders for this account on this computer'" - Yes it is ticked.

"Please check - Are all the folder checkboxes selected to download full copies for each folder ?" - Yes, all ticked.

"Under 'Disk Space' Is this selected or something else? : 'Synchronise all messages locally regardless of age'" - Yes that is selected/ticked.

Yes I am using Global Search (CTRL K) I have checked (and have before) - every single folder is ticked to be included in Global Search results (most of my folders are local, all checked and confirmed, every folder included for search.

"'Enable Global Search and Indexer'" - Yes this is enabled.

"Having checked all the above is correct please supply visual evidence of the problem."

OK, i didn't take me more than a minute to create a new example. I just browsed some local folders, copied a bit of text from body area, and pasted into the top search bar. No results. I will show with screenshots:

1. https://ibb.co/x5zpJqj - This image is redacted but shows the email in question, showing the body text mentioning "WT-20". I decided to see if Thunderbird can find any emails mentioning that model number.

2. https://ibb.co/Y0LYGyF - No results for the phrase I selected/copied.

3. https://ibb.co/qYyyt25 - No results just for "WT-20".

4. I decided to try copying/searching for a longer string, no joy: https://ibb.co/mS0Sz3H

This is what I have experienced on and off for months now. Extremely infuriating, and of course I don't know of long strings in historic emails, I will usually just search for something like 'invoice' to see all emails with invoices, or maybe a zip code or phone number, or filename or car registration etc, stuff I have but want to find all emails relating to. Hopefully the above example is sufficient to show just one example of hundreds which have led me to have no confidence in TB search.

I will move to your second reply now, thanks again

I have read your second reply. Interesting stuff, but I can confirm I have all settings chosen correctly. But thanks to your explanation of 'header' versus 'body', and even though I have the settings correct, I decided to try searching for the subject line from the email that Global Search couldn't find in my example above.

When I searched for "Pro-forma invoice for payment" (the content of subject line in email used as example), it did indeed find the email. Maybe that gets a step in the right direction? (or at least SOME direction!)

I shouldn't digress, but I simply MUST ask and this process reminded me of it... What exactly is this first results page for? I mean after a search I get a page of results which just doesn't work at all for me, don't really get it even! So I have to click "Show results as list" every single time to get a list of emails nicely displayed in comprehensible format! Is there any way to turn off this preliminary results page or to 'always show results as list'? If so, I'd love to know!

Thanks again

re :What exactly is this first results page for?

It offers more filter options because you may get a lot of results. As a silly example - you may search using a word like: thunderbird If I searched for that criteria, I would have hundreds of results - 997 as I have just discovered :)

For example - on the left you may see the name of a mail account. If you click on it, you can choose options eg: must be or cannot be in that mail account.

At the top there is also a 'Toggle timeline' button. Click on it and you can then choose time frame options so restricting results to a particular eg: year or month or week.

Of course if you only have a few results then you can immediately use the 'show results as list'. Or if you immediately see the email in question you can click on it to open.

• https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/global-search

I notice we are talking about the 'Local Folders' mail account.

Could you help further: When you start up computer and get asked to logon - Are you logging onto a normal computer User Account ? OR are you logging on a 'Microsoft account' ?

Do you have your profile stored in the default location? C:/Users/username/Appdata/Roaming/Thunderbird/Profiles/profile name

In Account Settings Left pane - click on 'Local Folders' Bottom right it will say 'Local directory: followed by the actual path to 'Local Folders'

In my case it says - and I've copied the data as is - just edited the username - after all the location is used by everyone so it's not exactly personal.

• C:\Users\XXXXX\AppData\Roaming\thunderbird\Profiles\nmu5aecl.default-beta\Mail\Local Folders

Please copy what it says in your Local Folders 'Local directory' and post the directory path of what you see.

It would be interesting to see whether your profile location is actually on your computer or whether it's linked to a server like OneDrive etc It's almost as if it cannot search the body because the body is not actually stored locally.

In addition - did you download/install thunderbird from officail website OR did you use the Windows OS apps to get Thunderbird ?

I notice we are talking about the 'Local Folders' mail account.

I am not sure why people increasingly call local folderds 'an account' these days?! It's not an account, it's just a set of local folders, nothing more. I pull email to them from my imap folders to save server space.

I am using Linux Fedora. I use a normal user account. I don't use any Microsoft stuff, nor Google for that matter.

I am running Thunderbird from the Flathub Flatpak installer. My profile is where it should be for Flatpaks (which is different to where it's stored when using an RPM installer). Not that I think this should make any difference as search does work most of the time and everything else in TB works fine.

Local Directory path: /home/xxrredactedforprivacyxx/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/Mail/Local Folders

OneDrive - I dont use any such things. I have an email account with mailbox.org, connected via IMAP.

I got Thunderbird from Fedora's software center (app store). The Flathub version (I am told) is maintained by Mozilla. I did previously have TB installed via a Fedora repo flatpak and it wasn't working well so I was advised to get the Flathub version as that's updated more regularly and more compatible, since then it has run fine, except for the occasional search issues.

Thanks

The 'Local Folders' is a called a special account created by default - but yes sorry I entered the word 'mail' - on auto pilot :)

You mention Local Folders is in this location: /home/xxrredactedforprivacyxx/.thunderbird

But I was under the impression that Linux Fedora Flathub Flatpack stored profiles in this location:

• ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird

The '/home/user/.thunderbird' directory being the normal place for e-mail files and setting for the non-Flatpak version.

Where is the imap account located ?

• In Account Settings
• Select 'Server Settings' for the imap mail account
• Look bottom right for 'local directory:' ....where is it pointing to?
• Please copy what it says in 'Local directory' and post the directory path of what you see.

I'm wondering if you have the imap account in a different location to the 'Local Folders'.

Also what do you see in : ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird Does it contain any profile name folders etc?

Thank you for yet another impressive reply. This is a curious point, and bear in mind I am fairly new to Linux. My knowledge extends only as far as:

Flatpak and non-Flatpak installations use different folders for their files/preferences etc. No doubt you're correct, which makes it a mystery to me why TB account settings for local folders show in the place it would be if I used the RPM version. I am trying to recall, I MAY have installed the non flatpak (RPM) first time, then uninstalled and switched to the Flathub version as I seem to remember having problems (such as opening file attachments) and someone suggested I go with Flathub as the most compatible and 'friendly' version. IF that's the case, you may be onto something!

I just checked and, indeed, there is no '.thunderbird' folder inside /home/username/ at all!

I then checked my Files and yes, the profile is here in reality: /home/(username)/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird

"Please copy what it says in 'Local directory' and post the directory path of what you see":

/home/(username)/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mailbox.org

"Also what do you see in : ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird Does it contain any profile name folders etc?"

It sure does, as mentioned above. What on earth is going on, how did it get like this, and is it fixable, and does it explain my search problems? THANKS!

Interesting..maybe there is some kind of symbolic link going on.

You would expect mail account 'Local directory:...: ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mailbox.org

'Local Folders' local directory to say: ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/Mail/Local Folders

Do you see that 'profile name' folder called 'i2fydvlh.default-release' in that location ?

In ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird folder

• Locate a file called 'profiles.ini' - open it using a simple text editor
• copy the contents and paste into this question.

It may hold information explaining what is going on.

AS we know the current data used -

• You can try altering the mail account 'Local directory'
• Click on 'Browse'
• Locate and select this folder: imap.mailbox.org

In this location:

• ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mailbox.org
• clickon 'Select folder'

- also the Local Folders local directory.

• Locate and select this folder: Local Folders
• ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/Mail/Local Folders
• click on 'Select folder'

Exit Thunderbird

Wait a few moments for background processes to complete and restart Thunderbird. Are all accounts and folders displayed ok? Check the 'local directory' and see if it is still using the original settings or using updated settings ?

You mentioned you had previous deleted the 'global-messages-db.sqlite' file on numerous occasions to no effect. "Done that countless times, makes no difference, "

Can I assume you found and deleted that 'global-messages-db.sqlite' file from this location ?

• ~/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release folder