All my past emails keep going missing.
So all my older emails have just disappeared. There is no setting for them to auto-delete. I am running the program as installed and have not made any adjustments. Is there any way to recover all my old messages? I can only view back to around less than 1 month ago.
All Replies (3)
Hello
there is no information in your post from which it's possible to hazard a mere speculation. Can you post a screenshot of Help / more troubleshooting, specifically 'Application basics' and 'Mail and news account'. Also did you do any reinstallation / upgrade to Thunderbird or even your system since a month ago ?
Q: Do you have these settings:
- Menu icon > View' > 'Folders' > 'All'
- Menu icon > View' > 'Threads' > 'All'
Q: Do you have any filter in operation ? Check the 'Quick Filter Bar' - Are any of those icons selected ? For example - Is the envelope icon 'show only unread messages' selected ? If yes, then click on the icon to deselect it.
It's always helpful to supply information about your setup because no one is sitting beside you to see what is going on.
Q: What OS are you using eg: Windows 10, MAC, Ubuntu ? Q: What version of Thunderbird are you using ?
Q: Are you talking about an IMAP or POP mail account ? This is where you find out whether pop or imap.
- Menu icon > Account Settings
'Account Settings' opens in a new tab
- Select 'Server Settings' for the account.
- On the right at the top it will say 'Server Type:' - Q: does it say POP Mail Server or IMAP Mail Server ?
Q: What server are you using? Gmail, Yahoo, Charter/Spectrum, BT etc ?
Post the information asked by gp
- Menu icon > 'Help' > 'More Troubleshooting Information'
- Scroll down to 'Mail and News Accounts'
- Either: Copy all the text in that section and paste it into this forum question
- OR: create a screenshot and upload the image file.
You say you can only see about one month worth of emails.
When you lost the emails, did everything disappear, did this loss occur a month ago OR did you lose emails except for most recent emails ?
Q: Do you use any other device to see emails eg: another computer or phone ? If yes, Q: are those other devices set up as POP accounts?
Logon to your webmail account via a browser and report back on whether you can see all your emails or whether you can only see the same as in Thunderbird, just the most recent month worth of mail.
BTW - Do not compact anything.
Modified by Toad-Hall
Q: What Anti-Virus product are you using ?
Q: Do you allow it to scan your Thunderbird profile ? If yes, then is the Anti-Virus product set up to auto fix ? Highly recommend that if you allow any product to scan any Thunderbird profile then it must not auto fix - do not let it fix anything. Ideally, do not let AV or other cleanup file software any access to your Thunderbird profile.
Q: Have you checked to see if your anti-virus product quarrantined your Inbox file?
Q: Do you use anything like CCLeaner or WiseCleaner etc?
Q: Do you normally organise all your email into folders for storage? If yes: Q: Are you saying ALL your various folders are empty ? Or Q: do you keep everything in the Inbox ? It is not wise to keep everything in the Inbox because it is exceptionally risky to keep all the downloaded emails in ONE simple text document.
Q: Do you normally compact your folders on a regular basis ? At this point in time - do not compact anything.