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"Search" in Thunderbird seems to yield results of e-mails that have long been deleted and expunged

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  • Last reply by Toad-Hall

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Hello. I did a "Search" in Thunderbird, but it seems to yield results of e-mails that have long been deleted and expunged. When the "results list" came up, I clicked on a few of the results which I thought had been deleted and emptied from Trash. After clicking on it, just a blank conversation came up. (So it seems it WAS deleted. Why is it appearing the search-results list?) Question -- (a) If the e-mail is really still there somewhere, then I can I access it? (b) If the e-mail is NOT there anymore, then I can I prevent the Search mechanism from showing non-existent results?

Thank you very much for the help!

Sincerely, J Rosenberg

Hello. I did a "Search" in Thunderbird, but it seems to yield results of e-mails that have long been deleted and expunged. When the "results list" came up, I clicked on a few of the results which I thought had been deleted and emptied from Trash. After clicking on it, just a blank conversation came up. (So it seems it WAS deleted. Why is it appearing the search-results list?) Question -- (a) If the e-mail is really still there somewhere, then I can I access it? (b) If the e-mail is NOT there anymore, then I can I prevent the Search mechanism from showing non-existent results? Thank you very much for the help! Sincerely, J Rosenberg

Chosen solution

The Global Search database needs to be reset - cleaned up.

Exit Thunderbird before you delete the file. Access Profile and then delete a specific file called 'global-messages-db.sqlite' Instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database

I've added a couple of images which may help. First one shows how to get quick access via windows search using '%Appdata% The second image shows the contents of a typical profile name folder.

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Chosen Solution

The Global Search database needs to be reset - cleaned up.

Exit Thunderbird before you delete the file. Access Profile and then delete a specific file called 'global-messages-db.sqlite' Instructions here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/rebuilding-global-database

I've added a couple of images which may help. First one shows how to get quick access via windows search using '%Appdata% The second image shows the contents of a typical profile name folder.

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Thank you!!! Is there a way to see the pictures in big? (I downloaded them and zoomed in, but the resolution was too low see anything in the zoomed-in photo.) Thanks again! Jonathan

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slowtoreply said

Thank you!!! Is there a way to see the pictures in big? (I downloaded them and zoomed in, but the resolution was too low see anything in the zoomed-in photo.) Thanks again! Jonathan

Yes. If you go to this question in the forum, you will see thumbnail size images. Click on the image and it will appear vastly increase in size.