If you have cancelled the contract with A, surely company A will have deleted your email account with them? So how would you be able to access these emails?

If your contract doesn't exist (as above my first point) what would you lose by deleting that account from Thunderbird and, therefore, it's ability to attempt to retrieve email? You could, alternatively, switch off automatic email retrieval under the server settings.

Hi frisée,

thank you for you reply.

If you have cancelled the contract with A, surely company A will have deleted your email account with them? So how would you be able to access these emails?

Surely, the emails that were synced last time there still was a connection to the server are still on my computer. Why else would there be a 500+ MB directory? But when I want to look at them in Thunderbird I am blocked by the password prompt. Even if I cancel it, the overview list that should show the mails stays empty.

If your contract doesn't exist (as above my first point) what would you lose by deleting that account from Thunderbird and, therefore, it's ability to attempt to retrieve email?

I am pretty sure that removing the account from Thunderbird would irrevocably delete my mails from my computer. The very emails I wish to access.

You could, alternatively, switch off automatic email retrieval under the server settings.

I have already switched off any checkbox concerning updating of mails I found. Still, as soon as I select the Inbox, it asks for my password. I assume that the checkboxes only passive retrieval so I can get notifications while Thunderbird runs in the background. But as soon as I actively access any of the folders, it tries to sync.

---

My question now is: Is there some hidden feature that makes it possible to view the (old) mails nonetheless? If not, could it be added? Or is there a way to move all the mail to another account on the file system level? Do I have to do something specific, so that Thunderbird does not break or delete anything?

You are talking about an IMAP account?

Thunderbird (unless you program it to - or you make a copy of emails in a Local Folder) only mirrors what's on the main Email Server on the Web. If you delete the account in TB, it doesn't effect the emails on the Mail Server - but if you delete a Mail Server, TB can't mirror what isn't there.

A POP3 account is different.

It's usual to set it up so that all emails are downloaded into the computer, held by TB and deleted from the Mail Server. So, ending an account with an Email Provider would do nothing to the copies of the emails that are held in TB.

Now that's been sorted, we can deal with any other matter that needs to be dealt with. The query has become rather fragmented and I'm not completely sure what's outstanding. You can respond here with a revised query for anyone to answer who feels they can respond. Or begin a new thread. But it's probably best to add the post under this response.

Certainly, TB will continue to try and sync with an Email Account if you haven't deleted the account - but you don't wish to do that at this time. I would have thought that turning off automatic-sync would have prevented that action but it appears not.

You are talking about an IMAP account? Thunderbird (unless you program it to - or you make a copy of emails in a Local Folder) only mirrors what's on the main Email Server on the Web. If you delete the account in TB, it doesn't effect the emails on the Mail Server - but if you delete a Mail Server, TB can't mirror what isn't there. A POP3 account is different. It's usual to set it up so that all emails are downloaded into the computer, held by TB and deleted from the Mail Server. So, ending an account with an Email Provider would do nothing to the copies of the emails that are held in TB.

So we agree how IMAP and POP3 work under normal circumstances. However, that was never under debate here.

Now that's been sorted, we can deal with any other matter that needs to be dealt with. The query has become rather fragmented and I'm not completely sure what's outstanding. You can respond here with a revised query for anyone to answer who feels they can respond. Or begin a new thread. But it's probably best to add the post under this response.

I don't see a fragmentation. My initial query was not answered at all. To quote the subject: "How to access local mails of cancelled IMAP account"

Certainly, TB will continue to try and sync with an Email Account if you haven't deleted the account - but you don't wish to do that at this time. I would have thought that turning off automatic-sync would have prevented that action but it appears not.

That is exactly the problem. It will try to sync whatever I try. And it does not show the existing mails. I just want to access my old mails, which has already been mirrored before and is most likely still on my computer, in order to copy it to my new account. In other words:

"How can I access my old mails? Can I somehow move or import them to account B?"

Oh dear. You put 'local' in the introductory header and not in the body of the problem. No wonder I'm seeing a different problem than the one it actually is!

And the answer is still, if you have deleted the old account, the data has been deleted. Even if it was saved in a local folder.

You could go to C:\Users\[Users]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles\XXXX.default-release and look to see if there are any 'Local Folders' that have been left behind after your deletion of the account. I don't run IMAP so my Local Folders are under 'Mail' - they may be there also even in IMAP but I'd try the IMAPMail folder, too.

If there are local folders unassigned to a profile then they can quite easily be added to an email profile - but I am only confident to do that in a POP3 account so I can't help you.

You can switch Thunderbird to offline mode. You have multiple options:

1. Use the main menu bar: File (Alt-F) > Offline > Work Offline.
2. Click the network status icon: Look for the icon in the bottom left corner of the Thunderbird window and click it to toggle offline mode.

Once in offline mode, this should allow access to your messages, assuming they have been downloaded for offline use while the IMAP server was still available.

You could easily have avoided the entire hassle if you had copied your messages to the Local Folders account prior to moving to the new provider.

In case this helps to clarify the issue here for anyone reading this, what the OP is trying to accomplish is to preserve the copy of the messages that Thunderbird still keeps locally on the computer for this account. Even though it was an IMAP account, Thunderbird would (depending on the settings) keep a local copy of the messages, mainly so the account may also be used offline.

As a result of the account no longer being active, Thunderbird can no longer synchronise with the server, but that wouldn't cause any harm to the local copy of the messages kept by Thunderbird. It's just as if Thunderbird had gone permanently offline for that account, except for the fact that Thunderbird may keep trying to connect to the server, which is annoying.

So that local copy of the messages that no longer exist on the server but do still exist within the account folder in the profile folder, is what the OP wants to get access to without Thunderbird trying (and failing) to connect to the server every time he does.

Now, to answer one of the questions asked, not saying this would be the preferred way to deal with it:

is there a way to move all the mail to another account on the file system level?

IMAP mail is stored within a folder called after the IMAP server, located within the ImapMail folder in the profile folder, which can be found as described here:

https://support.mozilla.org/kb/profiles-where-thunderbird-stores-user-data

Copying the mbox files (text files in mbox format without filename extension) to a location within Mail > Local Folders in the profile folder should in theory cause Thunderbird to show them as local folders the next time it is launched.

Always make a backup of the profile folder before manipulating its contents at the filesystem level, just in case.