Newly added email account, disappears after restarting Thunderbird.
After using Thunderbird for many years with a couple of email accounts, over the last few days I have been trying to add a new account.
Using the Auto Config option, the account appears to be set up OK, and I have been able to send a test email to another email address from the newly added account which is received OK, but when I close Thunderbird and reopen it, the newly added account has completely disappeared. I have tried setting up the new account manually, but with the same result.
I would add that I have added the new email in other clients without any problems.
I have not included any screenshots, because I don't think they would help. I do have them if it would help, but the first one shows that the newly added account is present, and the second screenshot (after restarting) Thunderbird shows that it isn't.
Any suggestions please.
Chosen solution
I recall there was a user who had several prefs-NNN.js files and had problems with saving settings. I think that once there are more than a certain number of these files, TB stops adding to the current prefs.js, which would explain why your account disappears. Delete all the old ones, with TB closed, except for a few of the most recent, and of course don't delete prefs.js.
If you prefer to create a new profile, that can be done as described above with Profile Manager, or from Help/Troubleshooting, about:profiles. It will be stored by default in the ...Roaming//Thunderbird/Profiles folder.
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Can I simply rename what is now prefs-15.js to prefs.js, renaming prefs.js to something else for now,
or alternatively keep prefs-15.js and copy and replace prefs.js with prefs-15.js but naming it prefs.js?
You can try that and see if the file stops replicating. Replacing a corrupted prefs.js with a good backup is a common remedy.
I have just downloaded the latest version of t/bird and set up onto a new MacBook Pro running Catalina, with a single POP account which worked fine. But same problem: close and reopen and there is no email account. and after numerous attempts I have checked pref.js folder and there were 10 copies of the same pref.js filename! I deleted all but the latest, which seemed to contain my email setup, but when I reopened it created a new pref.js file and no email setup. So I closed t/bird and then deleted ALL copies of the pref.js file. When I reopened and reinstalled the email it created a new pref.js (now with a safari icon whereas before a blank page icon). The email setup stays when I close and open, so far. Weird.
The setup disappeared when I opened t/bird this morning. sigh.
I have discovered what is happening, but not how to fix it. Each time I reopen t/bird it creates a new Profile folder, containing the initial default files, so my old Profile containing my prefs.js file with my email setup is not being read. Any idea why this should be happening, and then how to stop it!
I had this problem and other users offered advice each saying that it was not necessary to reinstal, but in the end I had to do just that.
If you decide to do a new installation, make sure no TB files are hanging about that the instal might pick up. Either delete everything or save the files where the new installation can't find them. This is important because the first time I did new installation it was using some of the old files and the problem was still present.
Since I did a clean installation I have not had any problems.
I discovered where I was going wrong: When doing a new install the download is a disk image (.dmg file). When that is run a small window opens and asks to drag the TB icon into the Apps folder. I had dragged the TB icon into the Apps folder on my desktop Dock (I'm sure I always used to do that), not into the Apps icon in the small window. The consequence was that when I ran the app by clicking on the shortcut icon in the Apps folder, the disk image was run and created a new install with a new Profile folder and a new prefs file. So deleting all, installing correctly by dragging the TB icon to the Apps icon in the small window solved my problem.