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Thunderbird was working after migration to new computer, now lost email/profile when trying to switch to IMAP?

  • 2 replies
  • 1 has this problem
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  • Last reply by Zenos

rkhanso
rkhanso
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I moved Thunderbird to a new PC about 1 year ago. Everything was working OK for me until now. I wanted to switch from POP3 to IMAP and really messed things up.

I kept the old POP3 accounts configured and added them as IMAP. I was thinking that I could just copy from the POP account to the IMAP account once they both showed up there. That did not work. Either something unexpected happened, or I messed things up. Now all my email is gone.

I have since removed all of the accounts and wanted to get back to where I was before, but am not able to figure it out.

When I initially moved the email over about 1 year ago, I moved the profiles from the C: drive to the F: drive to save space on my new SSD C: drive. I think in the process of all of this, I've lost which of the many profiles I've found on the various drives is the original one I've used. Is there a good way to sort all of this out and get my email back in Thunderbird?

I do know that the email is still there, because when I search my PC, the email is still found using Windows Explorer, but I don't see how to get it to show up in Thunderbird again.

I'd really like to switch to IMAP from POP3, but if it's not possible, I can live with that.

I haven't messed with my wife's email (we have 2 users on the PC) - her email is still OK.

Any suggestions how to get the email back into Thunderbird?

I moved Thunderbird to a new PC about 1 year ago. Everything was working OK for me until now. I wanted to switch from POP3 to IMAP and really messed things up. I kept the old POP3 accounts configured and added them as IMAP. I was thinking that I could just copy from the POP account to the IMAP account once they both showed up there. That did not work. Either something unexpected happened, or I messed things up. Now all my email is gone. I have since removed all of the accounts and wanted to get back to where I was before, but am not able to figure it out. When I initially moved the email over about 1 year ago, I moved the profiles from the C: drive to the F: drive to save space on my new SSD C: drive. I think in the process of all of this, I've lost which of the many profiles I've found on the various drives is the original one I've used. Is there a good way to sort all of this out and get my email back in Thunderbird? I do know that the email is still there, because when I search my PC, the email is still found using Windows Explorer, but I don't see how to get it to show up in Thunderbird again. I'd really like to switch to IMAP from POP3, but if it's not possible, I can live with that. I haven't messed with my wife's email (we have 2 users on the PC) - her email is still OK. Any suggestions how to get the email back into Thunderbird?

All Replies (2)

rkhanso
rkhanso Question owner
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OK. I found my old email and was able to restore it. I was not using the correct folder for the Local Folders | Local Directory.

Now I need to delete all of the non-used profiles so I'm not so confused in the future...

Zenos
Zenos
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Good plan.

I'd also advise against changing the location of the individual message store locations, as, as you have found, it makes keeping on top of it all somewhat more complicated. The best reason I can think of for altering the "Local Directory" setting(s) in Account Settings is in a dual-boot system where you want the message stores (but not the entire profile) to be visible to two or more separate operating systems.