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Cannot see any accounts or folders but in the "find" menu, I can see the accounts and folders

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I am running Thunderbird 38.5.0 on Windows 10.

I use Thunderbird to capture multiple email accounts, and also copy some details to local folders.

Yesterday, everything was working fine.

Today, I was trying to load Thunderbird, but even in safe mode, it doesn't load the folders and accounts. All I see is a pane on the right hand side, which lists one email account - but I can see no folders. I have also tried loading with all add-ons disabled without any improvement.

If I use "find", it shows all the accounts and folders, but I can't select any search criteria.

I tried renaming one ".msf" file to see if that would then allow me to view the account, but there was no difference.

I have searched the internet in vain for help.

Any clues would be really appreciated.

I am running Thunderbird 38.5.0 on Windows 10. I use Thunderbird to capture multiple email accounts, and also copy some details to local folders. Yesterday, everything was working fine. Today, I was trying to load Thunderbird, but even in safe mode, it doesn't load the folders and accounts. All I see is a pane on the right hand side, which lists one email account - but I can see no folders. I have also tried loading with all add-ons disabled without any improvement. If I use "find", it shows all the accounts and folders, but I can't select any search criteria. I tried renaming one ".msf" file to see if that would then allow me to view the account, but there was no difference. I have searched the internet in vain for help. Any clues would be really appreciated.

Chosen solution

Just to say, that I think I may have solved the problem.

In my list of accounts, there were some that I didn't use any more. I copied the existing account to a new profile, and the problem remained. I then removed those accounts I no longer needed, and the account details (Tools|Accounts) and now I have a working system.

I don't understand why it worked one day and not the next, but I hope this helps.

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In addition to the above, I have found that if I try to "find" and select an account, then if I then press "clear", a selection of options to search for are reveled. If I select a search criteria, and select "open in folder", I can get the mails in the folder displayed on the right hand pane, and see the mail content below, however, even if I do the same with another account, the left hand pane, which normally shows the accounts and folders remains blank. This looks to be a bug - but I would love to have an interim work-around. Any help would be appreciated.

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Chosen Solution

Just to say, that I think I may have solved the problem.

In my list of accounts, there were some that I didn't use any more. I copied the existing account to a new profile, and the problem remained. I then removed those accounts I no longer needed, and the account details (Tools|Accounts) and now I have a working system.

I don't understand why it worked one day and not the next, but I hope this helps.