OK. I read that cover to cover. I will test again. I do think one of the problems may have been caused by me first installing the Flatpak from Fedora Repo, then changing to Flathub repo. I am now wondering if the simplest thing to do (if I can suss how to do it) is to just:

1. SAFELY back up all TB data. 2. Uninstall TB 3. Install RPM version of TB 4. Import my data

If nothing else this will at least put my profile where TB expects it to be. (if I go to troubleshooting information, in Application Basics section it says "Profile Directory: (Local drive)" with an 'Open Directory' button that DOES NOT WORK, if I click on it nothing happens.)

I suspect running RPM version may make things easier and perhaps function better. Do you have any comments on that idea? And if it sounds wise to do, how can I safely back up my TB data before uninstalling the Flatpak? thanks

It's broken.

"If Edit > Find messages style search finds the message content you are looking for"

What does 'Find messages style search' mean?

I have a local folder which is included in global searches, the folder name is a domain name (lets call it domainxyz.com). I just searched for domainxyz in global search, zero results. Yet if i go to that folder, there are 7 emails in there which have that string in the email contents.

I am at my wits end now, I can not work like this, global search should be finding stuff anywhere, but it's not.

If anyone has ANY useful ideas to try and find out why, please shout. Otherwise I will VERY reluctantly have to leave TB behind and try Evolution Mail (which I detest, but search works).

Linux Fedora Flathub Flatpack stored profiles in this location: /home/username/.var/app/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird

You previously said : 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

In Account Settings Select name of account in left pane look bottom right for 'Local directory:...' You say it is pointing to : Here's what it says for mail account local directory:

• /home/xxxxxx/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mailbox.org

Point it to the place where the emails are stored:

• /home/username/.varapp/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/ImapMail/imap.mailbox.org

In Account Settings: Select 'Local Folders' look right for 'Local directory:...' You said it was pointing to... And here's what it says for Local Folders:

• /home/xxxxxx/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/Mail/Local Folders

Point it to use:

• /home/username/.varapp/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/i2fydvlh.default-release/Mail/Local Folders

REstart Thunderbird

Check you can see everything.

Thanks. I managed to follow that and did both, TB restarted each time to save changes.

Not sure what you mean by "make sure you can see everything", the issue is with searches so it will take me a while to compare and see if that's working, but yes I can see what I normally see in TB, inbox looks same, local folders are there and emails inside them look like they did before. thanks again.

What I don't understand is how it was all working some/most of the time before! (when those folder settings were wrong!) Not a big deal, just confuses me how it worked but at least it's correct now.

One question, in the folder: /home/username/.varapp/org.mozilla.Thunderbird/.thunderbird/ There is another folder with the word 'default' in the name in that folder, it's called 52b66cstm.default I took a screenshot which you can view here: https://ibb.co/Rb8CCXn

Is that ok, or should it not be there? Thanks again

Well, I have deleted global sqlite file several times to force a reindex. 3 times in total. I am now unable to get results for global searches for stuff in my IMAP folders as well as local folders! I search (correctly, having read all guidance) and the emails are there in imap and local folders, no results. In fact the ONLY folder the global search finds ANY results in, is the Inbox!

I am at my wits end. I tried installing evolution and that's finding stuff fine whether in local or Imap folders. Unfortunately I am used to TB now and prefer it, so would like to stay with it, but simply can't if I can't search for emails, it's a big part of my daily work. So... a question:

Since I have installed TB via Flatpak, and switched from Flathub to a flatpak from the Fedora repo some time ago, JUST in case that's anything to do with these problems, I am thinking of doing something and I would be grateful if you could comment on whether this sounds feasible (and worthwhile)...

If I pay to upgrade the storage on my mailbox server (IMAP), I could then move all my local folders up to the IMAP server. Then I could uninstall TB completely, and install again from RPM (which I think may work better, and may as well try it).

Am I right in thinking I could then drag and drop the folders from IMAP to Local Folders (or recreate the folders locally and drag and drop the emails), and that would put me back where I am now but with RPM installation of TB?

thanks