Lost Inbox and Trash after upgrading to 68.9.0
I allowed Thunderbird to upgrade to a new version first thing this morning (Windows 10) without considering the consequences. It had me enter a new profile. I keep pop my email from Gmail and keep my local account and local folders on a network share.
I got it pointed to my Local Folders just fine, but not my Inbox and Trash. Couldn't figure out how to point the account, then I realized that I just didn't scroll Server Settings. Oops. I pointed my email account Local directory at the folder on the share drive (neglecting to make a copy first, darn it), which is what I normally do when I install Thunderbird on a new computer or whatever. Unfortunately, the 200Mb inbox did not get incorporated like I had hoped, and I don't see any trash in there. Would have liked to keep both but at least the inbox data does still seem to be there. And, there is a backup, so I can still reinstall with the right process and recoup everything.
I installed the ImportExportToolNG add on, but it does not see the inbox, which does not have an extension anymore, as a directory. I just get a single email (subject only) if I try to import it as a file. It looks like there are still .msf files being used but I'm not sure what Thunderbird did to my share folder.
Is there a way to get the old account level emails from inbox and trash into the new account? Can I give the now "File" inbox file an extension that will help the import tool interpret it, so I can at least get it into a Local Folders folder?
Is there a way I can reinstall the old Thunderbird, so I can point it to yesterday's backed up folder and be up and running again without losing so much important information?
I feel like that would be the best strategy, if possible. I'm a bit frustrated here. Now it's downloading a bunch of crap from Gmail, like nothing I would want to keep, I don't think. I thought for a sec it was going to be my missing inbox, but no.
Chosen solution
The address books are stored as mab files (files with a .mab extension). The Personal address book file is called abook.mab, while the Collected address book file is called history.mab. These two can be copied directly from the old to new profile folder and Thunderbird will automatically load them. Extra address books are stored in numbered .mab files, but they cannot be simply copy-pasted into the new profile folder. Thunderbird won't load them. Alternatively, you can load the old profile that has your addresses, Export them as LDIF files, then import those LDIF files into the new profile.
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68.10.0 is the latest stable version, get it from thunderbird.net
Since you have a full backup of the profile, restore it as described here Profiles - Where Thunderbird stores your messages and other user data
I'm thinking my issues are because I set it up to use IMAP, rather than POP. I will try restoring today and re-configuring Thunderbird.
You mention it started a new profile. This means there could be an older profile.
Try this:
- Help > Troubleshooting information
At the bottom of the 'Application Basics' section you will see 'Profiles' and to the right 'about:profiles'.
- click on 'about:profiles'
Its open in a tab and you should see a list of profiles.
Each profile details will say:
- Profile : Name of Profile
- Default Profile yes or no
- Root directory
- Local directory
Currently, the profile set as default is a new one and it might be called 'Profile: default release'
One of the other profiles is your old profile and it is likely to be called 'Profile: default'
Below are the profiles not currently set as default you will see some buttons.
- for the correct profile, click on 'set as default profile' button.
- Exit Thunderbird.
- Wait a short while for background processes to complete.
- Start Thunderbird.
Did it start on the correct profile and show you all folders?
Thanks. That's a cool way to see the profiles. My real issue was a Monday Morning, no coffee yet surprise. I set up the new profile when the upgrade happened but didn't think about what I was doing. I normally use POP3, keep all my root and local folders on a Windows network share and"delete" the downloaded inbox from the server, but I let it set up my new profile, using IMAP. I don't have a "full backup," per say, as it is only the mail folders on the share drive, not the profiles. You have shown me, however, how to find the old profile, which is a fuller backup that I thought.
Anyway, on Tuesday, I deleted that IMAP account, restored Friday night's network share directory that was hosed and created a new POP3 account that pointed to my share directory. That got me mostly back to normal by Tuesday afternoon. The only thing that is missing now is my address book. If I can restore that, I will be good to go.
Are there some files I can copy manually from one profile to the other to get that back perhaps? I see an import under tools, but it doesn't look like you can pick a Thunderbird profile as the source.
Cheers, Dave
Chosen Solution
The address books are stored as mab files (files with a .mab extension). The Personal address book file is called abook.mab, while the Collected address book file is called history.mab. These two can be copied directly from the old to new profile folder and Thunderbird will automatically load them. Extra address books are stored in numbered .mab files, but they cannot be simply copy-pasted into the new profile folder. Thunderbird won't load them. Alternatively, you can load the old profile that has your addresses, Export them as LDIF files, then import those LDIF files into the new profile.
Thanks! I did the copy thing. It turned out that my actual address book was in files called impab.mab and impab-1.mab, probably because I had imported the the last time I set up Thunderbird on a new laptop. I copied those to abook.mab and history.mab, respectively, and now I am truly good to go. Yay!