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How to Import saved mail

  • 1 reply
  • 2 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by Zenos

tinloes
tinloes
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A week ago Thunderbird stopped working - it would not Get Messages (although it could send). I contacted my hosting support and they told me to delete the account and remake it. Unfortunately I did it. After I did that, all of my email and addresses were gone. The new account still would not get emails but magically it began working correctly again a few days later. After I deleted the account, I copied all of the files from the account to a different directory as a backup. I can see the data in files named Inbox, Inbox.msf, sent, sent.msf etc. Now I have the new account with only those emails I have received since the deletion and I want to restore all of my old emails from the backup directory. Is this possible and if so how can I do it?

A week ago Thunderbird stopped working - it would not Get Messages (although it could send). I contacted my hosting support and they told me to delete the account and remake it. Unfortunately I did it. After I did that, all of my email and addresses were gone. The new account still would not get emails but magically it began working correctly again a few days later. After I deleted the account, I copied all of the files from the account to a different directory as a backup. I can see the data in files named Inbox, Inbox.msf, sent, sent.msf etc. Now I have the new account with only those emails I have received since the deletion and I want to restore all of my old emails from the backup directory. Is this possible and if so how can I do it?

All Replies (1)

Zenos
Zenos
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I would create a folder under Local Folders and name it something like rescue or imports.

Now use Help|Troubleshooting Information to locate the profile. Open the profile in your file manager and then close Thunderbird. Now copy into your rescue folder (look for it under Mail\Local Folders) the files whose names don't have any extension, eg Inbox, Sent etc. You do not need the .msf files, but you should include any files with .sbd extensions.

Now restart Thunderbird and your old messages should be visible in Local Folders. You can move them, if you so wish, into more appropriate folders.