Recovering Local Folders and Address book
Hi, I am trying to help my dad get his local folders and address book back. His computer was running very slow so I had him to a basic reset of the computer, deleting apps but keeping files. After it rebooted and we redownloaded thunderbird he had lost all folders that were kept in the "Local folders" tab on thunderbird. I have spent 4+ hours trying to see if they are hidden on the computer somewhere but I haven't had any luck trying to find them. I have found a couple of folders but when I try to open them it comes up with an error message saying that the folder's location is unavailable - "E:\Boat is unavailable" - He can still get emails, send emails, and put new emails into new local folders that are newly created but I can't find his old local folders or the files that were inside of them. I thought they would be synced to his thunderbird account but I guess not? I did take a back up of all of his files that were kept in his File explorer but that did not seem to hold the local folders that were kept on thunderbird. He has also lost his address book and I have no idea how to try to get that back. Thunderbird is not my strong suit to say the least. Any help would be appreciated, is there any way to recover the files? Are the local folders and the files inside of them lost?
Chosen solution
re :I am 99% sure there is only one profile but I could be mistaken. Image shows two profiles.
The top one is the one currently in use. The place where the profile runs from is the 'root directory' and not the 'local directory'.
It is possible you are currently using the wrong profile. So you could try the other one. You can always swap it back if it's no good. Root directory that ends in vgrk81d2.default click on 'Set as default profile' then click on 'Launch Profile'
If all ok then close the original Thunderbird window.
If not ok then look for 'windows.old' folder on C drive. Windows OS may have created a folder called 'windows.old' and it is probably in the C: drive. Please try to locate this folder. If Windows OS created this folder then it may have a copy of your old Thunderbird profile. The 'windows.old' folder is auto created and is available for about a month after which it is auto deleted. Info at this link may help you locate it: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/retrieve-files-from-the-windows-old-folder-f668ada4-701b-204a-73c3-952bc5ceb1c8
Open the 'windows.old' folder, so it opens in a new window at top select 'View' tab and then make sure the 'Hidden items' checkbox is selected. Just to make sure no folders are being hidden. Look for: C:\Users\owner\Appdata\Roaming\Thunderbird\ Get a copy of that 'Thunderbird' folder and put it on the desktop. It is your backup.
In Thunderbird: Menu > Help> More Troubleshooting Information> arriving at 'Application basics':
Profile Folder>click on 'Open Folder' (Local Drive) A new window opens showing contents of the current profile folder
Exit Thunderbird now
click on 'Mail' folder
You will see the current 'Local Folders' folder which I'm assuming does not contain all your files containing emails.
Delete that 'Local Folders' folder or move it to the desktop temporarilly. Leave this window open ready to receive a copy of the backup 'Local Folders' folder.
Access the backup 'Thunderbird' folder on desktop click on 'Profiles' folder click on 'profile name' folder click on 'Mail' folder You will see 'Local Folders' folder - if that folder contains a load of file - Copy that 'Local Folders' folder
then paste that copied 'Local Folders' folder into the 'Mail' folder - (the window you left open on your current profile)
Then start Thunderbird.
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (5)
Hi Look for the article "Profiles - "Where Thunderbird stores your messages and other user data". That explains where to look - in the original Profile. When you installed a fresh Thunderbird, it may have created a new profile, so now you may have two profile folders. Local Folders is usually a subfolder under "Mail". However, Local Folders CAN be placed anywhere the user desires, so although they are probably in the profile, they may not be. You should be able to reset Thunderbird to use the original profile if you do have two - see the article "Profile manager create and remove Thunderbird profiles".
Hello, sorry for the late reply I was on vacation. Firstly, the local directory where it says it stores the local files is empty, so I'm worried they are not on the computer. Along with selecting keep files when I did the reset I also backed up all the files from the computer and I don't see them on my hard-drive. Furthermore, there is only one profile and I'm pretty sure it is the original profile, if I remember correctly every thing else in thunderbird was normal other than the local folders section which was lost. I am 99% sure there is only one profile but I could be mistaken. One additional thing is if I go to troubleshooting info->profiles->Root Directory of the "default profile"->mail->local folders it shows the local folders that I created after the reset and redownload. (I recreated them so he could add new emails into the folders if he wanted to). I attached a pic of the profiles screen if that helps.
Seçilmiş Həll
re :I am 99% sure there is only one profile but I could be mistaken. Image shows two profiles.
The top one is the one currently in use. The place where the profile runs from is the 'root directory' and not the 'local directory'.
It is possible you are currently using the wrong profile. So you could try the other one. You can always swap it back if it's no good. Root directory that ends in vgrk81d2.default click on 'Set as default profile' then click on 'Launch Profile'
If all ok then close the original Thunderbird window.
If not ok then look for 'windows.old' folder on C drive. Windows OS may have created a folder called 'windows.old' and it is probably in the C: drive. Please try to locate this folder. If Windows OS created this folder then it may have a copy of your old Thunderbird profile. The 'windows.old' folder is auto created and is available for about a month after which it is auto deleted. Info at this link may help you locate it: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/retrieve-files-from-the-windows-old-folder-f668ada4-701b-204a-73c3-952bc5ceb1c8
Open the 'windows.old' folder, so it opens in a new window at top select 'View' tab and then make sure the 'Hidden items' checkbox is selected. Just to make sure no folders are being hidden. Look for: C:\Users\owner\Appdata\Roaming\Thunderbird\ Get a copy of that 'Thunderbird' folder and put it on the desktop. It is your backup.
In Thunderbird: Menu > Help> More Troubleshooting Information> arriving at 'Application basics':
Profile Folder>click on 'Open Folder' (Local Drive) A new window opens showing contents of the current profile folder
Exit Thunderbird now
click on 'Mail' folder
You will see the current 'Local Folders' folder which I'm assuming does not contain all your files containing emails.
Delete that 'Local Folders' folder or move it to the desktop temporarilly. Leave this window open ready to receive a copy of the backup 'Local Folders' folder.
Access the backup 'Thunderbird' folder on desktop click on 'Profiles' folder click on 'profile name' folder click on 'Mail' folder You will see 'Local Folders' folder - if that folder contains a load of file - Copy that 'Local Folders' folder
then paste that copied 'Local Folders' folder into the 'Mail' folder - (the window you left open on your current profile)
Then start Thunderbird.
Finally got around to coming back to my dads and it seemed to work! Thank you for your help, much appreciated. You're very knowledgeable and made it easy, one less thing to worry about now that school is in session. Thanks so much for your help!!!
You are most welcome. Good to hear all is ok again.