What type of email account did you have setup, POP or IMAP?

Perry, Sorry - left out some info. Running win 7 pro, 64 bit. Using a POP mail server. The inbox file/folder appears intact under the profile in question (judging by its size of 4 Mb with a 4Kb .msf) but I 'm not sure how to get it back into TB. Appreciate your reply. Michael

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Disappearing_mail

If you are using the inbox to store messages, don't. It was never meant for that.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keep_it_working_%28Thunderbird%29

Thanks. I don't normally use the inbox to store files. Been using Thunderbird ever since the partial demise of Netscape. I have two other profiles that have 40 messages and 140 messages in inbox respectively and never had a problem. I do move them to other folders rather regularly, but I've never had the inbox disappear. I just want to know whether I can salvage the inbox folder. If I understand correctly, you want me to rebuild the .msf file and that may allow the inbox to appear again? I'm not exactly a novice at this - I just don't want to make a mistake. I don't know that I had anything terribly important in the inbox, but the fact the messages keep disappearing is problematic. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Right click on Inbox and select 'Properties' click on 'Repair folder' click on OK

Fresh the folder pane by collapsing and reopening the folder.

Thanks for answering. No change. I deleted the inbox.msf file, reopened TB, did a file repair on "inbox", closed and reopened TB. The subfolders are still all intact and I continue to be able to receive messages. The "inbox" folder still has 4.7 Mb. Antivirus has not quarantined any files. I presume that if I decided to delete the profile (would hate to do) and migrate my current folders, there would be no guarantee that the inbox folder messages would reappear? Any other thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks. Michael

Correct, because it is a POP account there would be no guarantee that these sub-folders will reappear. You will need to archive all mail and sub-folder before removing the account.

Okay. Thought so. Any other ideas at this point or am I SOL? Appreciate your reply. Thanks. Michael

close thunderbird and delete the folder tree.json file and restart.

Thanks Matt. The only file I could find similar to what you listed was an index.json which I deleted with no observable effect. Interestingly enough all new mail is being saved, apparently to the inbox but still no way to recover the inbox messages that are missing. Barring anyone else's suggestions, I will live with what I have and chalk it up to an unrecoverable glitch (bad luck). I don't see any reason to continue the thread at this point. Thank you all for your support. Appreciate it. Michael