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

Account and local folder disapeared today when I started Thunderbird

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 20 views
  • Last reply by david

Today when I started Thunderbird, I was asked to enter my email address and password. This created a new account and displayed my new and old emails I lost all my local folders. How can I retrieve my old folders? Your help with this matter will be greatly appreciated. The loss of many years of stored emails is a disaster for me.

Environment Windows 10 Thunderbird 91.7.1 Lenovo P50 ThinkPad

Thank you, Ed

Today when I started Thunderbird, I was asked to enter my email address and password. This created a new account and displayed my new and old emails I lost all my local folders. How can I retrieve my old folders? Your help with this matter will be greatly appreciated. The loss of many years of stored emails is a disaster for me. Environment Windows 10 Thunderbird 91.7.1 Lenovo P50 ThinkPad Thank you, Ed

Chosen solution

I found the folders in C:\Users\ed\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\g3ugs5lu.default\Mail There were two local folders: Local Folders and Local Folders-1

Under Account Settings - Local Folders - Local Directory the Local Folders-1 was selected. I changed it to Local Folders. Restarted Thunderbird and my folders are back.

I am very relieved to have recovered many years of emails but still wonder why Thunderbird hiccupped.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (2)

Chosen Solution

I found the folders in C:\Users\ed\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\g3ugs5lu.default\Mail There were two local folders: Local Folders and Local Folders-1

Under Account Settings - Local Folders - Local Directory the Local Folders-1 was selected. I changed it to Local Folders. Restarted Thunderbird and my folders are back.

I am very relieved to have recovered many years of emails but still wonder why Thunderbird hiccupped.

This sometimes happens with anti-virus software interacting with other updates. the profiles.ini file is a simple text file at C:\Users\ed\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\ and gets somehow corrupted and that is the file that points to the profile. A simple text update (Notepad works fine) can fix it. This is a common topic here on the forum.