Some other program may be interfering somewhat - but that's just a guess. If you rightclick a unified folder and select properties, you will see a 'choose' button. Clicking that will show a list of tickboxes for the accounts and that folder's tickbox is getting unticked. To reconstruct the unified folders, you might try this: - exit thunderbird - in profile's Mail folder is a folder called 'smart mailboxes' - if you delete the folder and restart thunderbird, the unified folders will be recreated. That may resolve the issue.

Thanks David! I looked at Unified Folder | Inbox | Choose | Properties | <mailbox-name> and the mailbox was unchecked but the Inbox was. I checked the mailbox and it came back in the Unified list. But I exited, went back in, and the peek-a-boo folder was there, but when I looked at the Properties mailbox, it was unchecked again even tho the mailbox under Unfied Folders was still there. So I exited and found and deleted 'smart mailboxes' (and smart mailboxes-1), let's see if the problem comes back.

BTW, I'm just wondering why does Tbird want to generate a random folder name for the profile folder? I've changed mine to a folder I specified, just wondering what the advantage of a random name is?

The fact that you had a -1 version indicates there have been interruptions to Thunderbird. If you are using an antivirus other than the Windows default, I suggest checking to see if you can have it bypass email checking. Please share more info on the random name issue, as I am not aware of it. Thank you

Thanks much for your time! If you were near Albuquerque, I'd take you out to dinner. :-)

I have a Local Folders-1 as well, should I delete that? Also mail.gmail.com and mail.gmail.com-1 and -2 should they get deleted too? And by 'interruption' do you mean the system crashing/rebooting with Tbird running?

I'm using Total Defense, and if I exclude my email folders from scanning, won't it miss catching malware in email messages?

As to the random folder, when I first installed Tbird and created my profile, it wanted to put it in: c:\users\paulkinz\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\022b23yg.default (and each install would have a different ugly number) but I edited the Profile.ini file to point to c:\the-place-I-wanted-to-put-it to make backup and moving my Tbird environment to another PC easier

Check the originals and the -1 and -2 versions. The -2 is probably the current version. You should be able to delete original and -1 and rename the -2 to the original. You may wish to copy all first -- although, if IMAP, thunderbird repopulates any missing data. Thunderbird has a setting to allow antivirus to check messages; it's the scanning of the thunderbird files that is the issue. On your profile name, you have a future 'problem' that may burn you. When moving to another PC, you would need to modify the profiles.ini on new setup but may forget. My suggestion is this: - exit thunderbird first - move profile to c:\users\paulkinz\appdata\roaming\thunderbird\profiles where the original was - edit the profiles.ini in the thunderbird profile to point to the profile in its new location This is to get the two in sync - profiles.ini pointing to the profile, both within thunderbird folder What this achieves is that, when you move to a new pc, all you will need to do is - install thunderbird and exit - copy the thunderbird folder you copied from old PC - paste the copied thunderbird folder at c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming to overwrite the installed default - you will not be able to start thunderbird and everything will be in place

as an aside, this makes for easy backups periodically. Just exit thunderbird (IMPORTANT) and copy c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming\thunderbird to external media then, if the world explodes, you can quickly restore normalcy by - installing and exiting thunderbird - copy the thunderbird profile to overlay the one at the ...appdata\roaming location works EVERY TIME.

Make mine a cheeseburger with extra fries. Hold the salt. :)

I think all my mailboxes are IMAP not POP. I now have a 'smart mailboxes-1' and no 'smart mailboxes'

And 'Local Folders' has a date of a week or so ago with all my local mailboxes. 'Local Folders-1' has a date over a year old and just generic Archives, Inbox, Junk, etc. So I should be able to delete 'Local Folders-1'

And the folders 'mail.gmail.com' and '...-1' and '...-2' all have the same date over a year ago with just generic kind of files Inbox, Spam, etc. when I have 7 actual gmail mailboxes.

And under ImapMail, that seems to be where my mail actually lives. That has imap.gmail-x.com where x = blank, 1, ... 7

As to moving, I understand the risk, and I've successfully moved my entire Tbird data from one PC to another successfully (tho I was holding my breath :-)

I looked at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/security-panel-settings-in-thunderbird#w_antivirus-tab and I didn't see anything that looked like that, but I found an antivirus setting "Allow antivirus clients to quarantine..." and it was already checked. Is that what you mean?

I don't think you're in any problem, as IMAP will always repopulate. What you might, over time, experience is a growth in the Imap folder as the account continues to create -x entries. Thunderbird keeps adjusting. These interruptions sometimes also show in the profile itself, with the prefs.js having multiple copies. Yes, that was the antivirus box I was thinking of.

By 'interruptions' do you mean system rebooting without exiting Tbird first?

I have prefs.js with today's date, and prefs1.js thru 16 some with dates 4 years old. Would it be a good idea to delete them?

And any idea why my Archive folders get used? I've never archived anything, and I even tried unchecking all "Keep message archives in" boxes for all mailboxes, but I still get *some* email being archived. And I never type "A" when reading a message. And sometimes, the archives get several blank messages dated 1969 appearing, and sometimes they're gone. And I can't delete them. They kind of come and go too. I even tried Mailbox | right-click | Repair Folder on all the folders.

Thanks!

An interruption could be a system restart without exiting thunderbird, a crash, or an antivirus interrupting an update (not uncommon). On the prefs.js issue, there are a few here with expertise there. Check the date of prefs.js-16 (or whichever is highest). If it is current, I would delete all the others and rename that as prefs.js. But SAVE the others in another folder until thunderbird restarts.

I renamed and removed the prefs-N.js (N=1 to 16) leaving the latests (prefs.js) and TB seems to still work just fine. Thanks for your help!

Great news! suggestion: - exit thunderbird - copy c:\users\<yourid>\appdata\roaming\thunderbird to external media or to another folder for backup. Just in case.. I do this at least weekly. FREE BEER all around. :)

That's pretty much what I do, a backup every night, tho I've moved the Tbird profile tree someplace else more convenient not under c:\users....

And again(for others who might be following this discussion) I've been successful at moving my entire Tbird profile from one PC to another and everything worked! Science lurches onward. :-)

I'll buy. :-)

I'm glad all is well. I will share what I do: - I install thunderbird to c:\tbird and I place the profile at c:\tbird\profile and I backup c:\tbird to zip. That guarantees that I can not only restore my profile, but also the version of thunderbird I'm using in short order. I share that with you because you seem comfortable with such adjustments.

You're buying? In that, case, can I have a double shot of George Dickel to go along with the cheeseburger?  :)

Yes, I didn't change the installation of Tbird, but I moved where it put the profile. Because you alluded to my background, I thought I'd post a pointer to my resume in case you were curious: http://www.kinzelman.com/professional/PMK/paul-res.pdf

But I am curious why Tbird likes to create that random folder name in case you know.

And also about archiving.

Impressive. I always wanted to fly, but I'm color-blind. My wife has to select clothes for me. On the random names, all I can figure is that Thunderbird sometimes needs to create a new profile and it needs to be a unique name to ensure it is created.

Actually, you can fly (technically you can pass the medical) even if you're colorblind if you can distinguish between red and green, which are the colors that designate the left and right sides of the plane at night. There are also ways you can get in the air without a medical, like with ultralights.

There are ways to generate new unique names, just add a "-1" or something as they already do. The issue is when you first install Tbird and create a profile, it creates that random name instead of always creating the same. I don't see why they would need to do that, it's very irritating. That's why I go into the .ini file and have it point to where I want.

Ah, but red and green are my enemies. And being age 83 may cause some hesitancy on my application. The -1 file is a safe bet because thunderbird already knew the other file. The profile, on the other hand, must be unique, as thunderbird does not have the logic to keep trying for a unique name. But, since you are familiar with changing it, all is well. All the best to you in your future pursuits. :)