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My personal folders with contents don't show after Thunderbird updates to 128.4.3esr (64-bit)

  • 3 replies
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  • Last reply by david

Mega Mike
Mega Mike
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Yesterday TB did an update and when I started the app today it was like I was using the program for the very first time. I had to re-enter my e-mail account settings, change the window layout (that took one hour) and now find a way to get my personal folders back. There are folders that I myself created and they contain saved e-mails.

Using my ISP's webmail service I can see that these folders still exist on their server. But despite all my one line research, I haven't been able to solve this problem. I did run trouble shoot, but that didn't help.

If anyone has any tips, tricks or other solutions, please let me know.

Yesterday TB did an update and when I started the app today it was like I was using the program for the very first time. I had to re-enter my e-mail account settings, change the window layout (that took one hour) and now find a way to get my personal folders back. There are folders that I myself created and they contain saved e-mails. Using my ISP's webmail service I can see that these folders still exist on their server. But despite all my one line research, I haven't been able to solve this problem. I did run trouble shoot, but that didn't help. If anyone has any tips, tricks or other solutions, please let me know.

Chosen solution

This sometimes happens when Thunderbird is updated. Other software (antivirus? VPN?) interrupts the process, causing thunderbird's update of the prefs.js file to fail. When this happens, the updates appear in prefs-1.js. On a restart, Thunderbird starts fresh, causing you to reenter email info. exiting thunderbird, locating the prefs-1.js and renaming to prefs.js generally restores everything.

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All Replies (3)

david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Chosen Solution

This sometimes happens when Thunderbird is updated. Other software (antivirus? VPN?) interrupts the process, causing thunderbird's update of the prefs.js file to fail. When this happens, the updates appear in prefs-1.js. On a restart, Thunderbird starts fresh, causing you to reenter email info. exiting thunderbird, locating the prefs-1.js and renaming to prefs.js generally restores everything.

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Mega Mike
Mega Mike Question owner
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Hello David,

Thank you for your response. I have been able to use your information to apparently solve my problem. But in my case, I actually had seven prefs.js files, the original plus numbers 1 through 6. So instead of renaming prefs-1.js, I renamed prefs-6.js because it seemed like the newest file from the bunch.

I think that this has solved the problem. We'll see in the days and weeks ahead.

Thank you for your intervention and advice!

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david
david
  • Top 10 Contributor
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You're welcome. :)

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